LT Nixon Rants

New Life

2011-05-09T21:49:00.002+07:00

If you're interested, feel free to read about my new life in Thailand here. It'll be great to see some old internet faces. To make a long story short, I got married, have 3 stepsons and a girl on the way, work at an NGO, and I'm trying to write on the side. Come on by!

http://paulsalvette.com

The Internet: Helping Ugly People Get Married Since 1993

2010-02-21T22:58:00.004+07:00

Congrats to the lovely Caroline, from USO Girls, and the not-so-photogenic but all-around good guy, TSO, getting married. The proposal was on This Ain't Hell and she said yes in comment #5. Way to go! Drop by and leave them an encouraging comment, or else they'll shake you down for a wedding present.

The Bureaucracy is Expanding to Meet the Needs of Ray Lahood's Ego

2010-02-19T17:34:00.003+07:00

The Imminent Threat Posed by the Cell Phone

With all that's going on the world, one would think the federal government would be a bit more concerned with the exploding deficit, flying Unabomber types, and other minor issues like the war in Afghanistan. But that line of thinking doesn't create new, do-nothing government jobs and pension plans for your friends like anti-obesity campaigns, and the latest, the War on Distracted Driving. From the Weekly Standard:

The most valuable term for LaHood is “distracted driving.” It is an expansive phrase that a deft government guy can play like an accordion, stretching or squeezing it as his argument demands. The immediate upshot of LaHood’s initiative, he said last month, is that he wants laws that will make it illegal for drivers to use handheld cell phones behind the wheel. State laws, local laws, federal laws, whichever, it seems not to matter to him—just so long as this little slice of unregulated human behavior is prohibited and punished.

Great. We bemoan our collective loss of liberty when the NSA listens in on Mr. Abdullah's call to his weapons-smuggling cousin in Syria, but when little Suzie texts her BFF that she just saw the cute guy from Bio class, we're supposed to treat her like a federal criminal. There's even a website dedicated to this national plague www.distraction.gov. Judging by Mr. LaHood's pork record, I'm sure it was taxpayer money well spent.

Artistic License in War Movies

2010-02-05T16:14:00.003+07:00

Kate Hoit, aka GI Kate, an Iraq vet and internet buddy has an article about The Hurt Locker in Huffington Post that has solicited 400+ comments. She criticizes the film for lacking authenticity, being over the top, and its inability to get simple details correct like rank and uniform. It's tough to go up against a movie with a tomatometer rating of 97%(and the tomatometer don't lie), and the competition in the genre of Iraq/A-stan movie is really crappy, so that fact alone makes this movie look like Citizen Kane.

Coincidentally, I saw the movie last night and thought it was pretty interesting: well-acted, well-shot, and tons of action. I don't know much about EOD, but it is obvious that Hollywood took some artistic license in the creation of this film. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, because a true-to-life war movie would be more like the infamous Onion spoof: sitting around waiting for orders, waiting in line at the phone trailer to call your girlfried, etc. Crimson Tide is one of the more famous submarine movies, and it is quite enjoyable and therefore absolutely not at all a reflection of reality. A submarine movie that was based on real life on a submarine would probably be like watching a double-feature of Heaven's Gate and Ishtar...with Catwoman thrown in for an encore.

So, Kate, I'm not going to fault Hollywood for taking some liberties, as they never claimed this was reality. But, as always, I love your tendency to challenge the status quo on issues pertaining to veterans. I just hope for the day when vets use the GI Bill to become great screenwriters/directors/actors, then maybe there will be something in the cultural mainstream that isn't just another action flick.

Much Like Religion in General, Pope's Website Remains a Mystery

2010-01-25T21:22:00.004+07:00

Apparently, the "Pope2You View" Plug-In Has some Bugs

I'm not religious, but I'm not anti-religious or anything, so I decided to give the Pope's website (Pope2you.net) a look after Il Papa called for a new Christian Army of bloggers on Saturday:

“Who better than a priest, as a man of God,” the Pope said, “can develop and put into practice, by his competence in current digital technology, a pastoral outreach capable of making God concretely present in today’s world and presenting the religious wisdom of the past as a treasure which can inspire our efforts to live in the present with dignity while building a better future?

Unfortunately, the Pope's website has about as much substance and content as a Martha Coakley Facebook page. Maybe my browser is all dicked up, but nothing is working right on this website. That is including the "Piece of Peace" page, which has some graphic of the world that looks like it's from Atari's Pitfall that rotates around spastically when you roll over it with your mouse.

The Catholic Church would be attracting a lot more visitors by posting mash-up videos of the Pope getting tackled or the Pope-mobile riding around set to the Ministry song "Jesus Built my Hotrod".

Unfathomable Hubris

2010-01-21T21:04:00.003+07:00

Most amazingly lame and self-serving comment of the day comes from this Senate staffer who writes in to Talking Points Memo:

My background is like probably the majority of staffers I know. I came to DC, from a far superior climate and quality of life, because I wanted to save the world.

If only they had been given more money to dole out than the $787B in the stimulus monstrosity (which was too small of course), we could have really recognized how the new aristocracy in Washington had our best interests at heart.

Some Non-Phonies For a Gloomy Sunday

2010-01-17T16:11:00.003+07:00

One of Those Days (Borrowed from Oddlyspecific.com)

Anyone else bummed out about the so-called Tea Party Nation convention taking place next month in Tennessee? Charging over 500 bones to take part in a "populist" movement is about as appropriate as a Massachusetts Democratic Party campaign ad. The whole "We're Just Being Capitalists" argument doesn't really cut it, as politics is supposed to be about what's good for the country, not what's good for your pocketbook. The fact that money gets so involved both in DC and the grassroots leads to a whole slew of corruption and cronyism both at the local and national level. I thought the Tea Party movement was supposed to address this problem, but what do I know, I don't even live in the country anymore.

So here's some non-phonies to clean up your head: Army of Dude has a good description of vets going through college, and Vox Veterana is up and running after a long period of disillusionment.

Who Would've Thought That a Public Official Would Be So Incompetent?

2010-01-08T12:56:00.004+07:00

File Photo of Janet Napolitano

President Obama's national security team and the folks that keep America from getting blowed up has been, thankfully, a pretty decent bunch of individuals. However, one official stands out worse than a turd on the Thanksgiving table, and no Marueen Dowd puff pieces on Janet Napolitano's "determination" are going to prevent her from getting inevitably axed for gross incompetence. Here's the latest embarrassing statement to the press, which Jim Hoft has a transcript of, saying that the lone suicide bomber concept was something that caught Homeland Security with its pants down:

Question: What was the most shocking, stunning thing that you found out of the review? And, Secretary, to you, as well...
SECRETARY NAPOLITANO: I think, following up on that, not just the determination of al Qaeda and al Qaeda Arabian Peninsula, but the tactic of using an individual to foment an attack, as opposed to a large conspiracy or a multi-person conspiracy such as we saw in 9/11, that is something that affects intelligence.

Has she been on planet Earth the last 10 years? The typical stereotype of a suicide bomber (the 18-30 year old male who becomes disenchanted and decides to achieve martyrdom through mass atrocity) was the case here. The President promises a detailed bi-partisan review of the matter that will, hopefully, involve some "reassignments" of Napolitano and that other guy who didn't want his skiing vacation interrupted.

As an aside, this could go hand-in-hand with the much needed bipartisan inquiry into why the VA is having so many problems, which Army Sergeant has a great piece about.

Adios to the Ohs

2010-01-03T00:38:00.003+07:00

By most standards of assessment, the last decade was more disappointing than the fact that Bill Paxton, essential comic relief to any James Cameron film, did not make an appearance in Avatar. Obviously, war is never a good thing, even if necessary, and a shit economy doesn't help matters either. However, a depressed society usually produces some very interesting culture (think of all the punk bands that started when Jimmy Carter was in office). But unfortunately, even the music in this wretched decade was downright terrible as Wek has already pointed out.

I thought this Seattle Times editorial summarized it all up pretty well. And I recall a quote from Fight Club (a 1999 movie) that was sort of a precursor to this decade:

God damn it, an entire generation pumping gas, waiting tables — slaves with white collars. Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don't need. We're the middle children of history, man. No purpose or place. We have no Great War. No Great Depression. Our great war is a spiritual war. Our great depression is our lives. We've all been raised on television to believe that one day we'd all be millionaires, and movie gods, and rock stars, but we won't. We're slowly learning that fact. And we're very, very pissed off.

Well, we got our war and sort-of depression alright, but I'm not sure how it's all going to end up in the end. Maybe we'll turn out alright, and even if we don't, it's more enjoyable to live in the decline of an empire than the rise of one. Just like Caligula.

Happy New Year

2009-12-29T17:36:00.002+07:00

Off to Koh Samet (an small island not far from Bangkok that has cheap places to stay) for the New Year. Hope you all have good ones too! I guess I could post something about how this was the worst decade ever for a lot of reasons, but at least we're still hanging. That's something to be thankful for.

Semper Ubi Sub Ubi

2009-12-29T17:17:00.003+07:00

From ABC

This photo is the nasty pair of drawers that thankfully didn't blow a hole in Northwest Flight 253, but managed to spook the civilized world during the holidays. But, the concept of strapping bombs to your genitals is nothing new, as seen in Pakistan last year. From the Daily Times in July 2008:

Would-be suicide bombers could be using explosives “underwear briefs” rather than explosives jackets to evade “conservative” body searches, sources said on Wednesday.

Sihala Police College forensic lab sources told Daily Times that the study of recent suicide attacks showed that suicide bombers used “explosives-laden” under-garments, briefs in particular, to carry out the attacks.

The sources said that the explosives could weigh between five kilogrammes to seven kilogrammes, made deadly by adding glass splinters, metal ball bearings and bullets.

So, like we've seen around the world, the determined terrorist can adapt to achieve his objective. Even if the TSA would scrap its much-criticized political correctness in their prevention methods, would they still be able to nab the terrorist dressed up as a woman? I have to take back my post two years ago giving the TSA a hard time for searching military personnel coming home for R&R, in light of the Fort Hood shootings. But will our politicians cease the partisan ugliness to set forth security policies that reflect the current threat level? I have my doubts...

Merry Christmas from Bob & Doug

2009-12-25T09:49:00.002+07:00

It's old, but it's a timeless classic.

Hipster Goes Mildly Repentant on DC Snowball Incident

2009-12-24T16:08:00.005+07:00

Pic from SD Headliner

Most people grow out of snowball fights somewhere after the age they find out Santa Claus isn't real, but before the age where they realize that women have a thing called boobs. But that didn't stop dozens of DC cool kids from arranging a snowball fight online, and subsequently pelting a police officer with snowballs. A gun was drawn, inevitable pants-wetting happened, and it became a big brouhaha on the internet.

Now, the guy detained speaks out, surprisingly, in a Washington Post column about his respect for the law:

That means respecting the power of the police to break up a snowball fight at a busy intersection (and detain those, like myself, who they have reason to believe are subverting that authority).

But, unsurprisingly, he makes it clear that he and his group of peers are better than everyone else:

I suspect that many of the snowballers were, like me, young, well educated and politically active. Demographics suggest that a strong majority of them support new laws on climate change and health care.

Yeah well, I suspect that many of the snowballers think they're doing God's work in DC, have never worked an honest day in their lives, voted for Obama, and don't see any problem with humiliating a regular guy just doing his job such as the detective.

Get Off My Goddamn Internet

2009-12-23T20:13:00.005+07:00

I'm not saying that you can't make a good argument for our continued War on Drugs, but this article by Mary Grabar has got to be a freaking joke. In a no-good, terrible waste of internet space, she first asserts: "In abandoning the duty to enforce social order, today’s libertarians have made a devil’s pact with the pro-drug forces of George Soros and company". Then says something about marijuana wasn't in the bible, so it's counter-cultural and should be illegal. I thought setting policy on whether or not something was in the bible went out of vogue during the Renaissance, but perhaps I'm mistaken. She also talks about how smoking weed will eventually turn you into a gay porn star. No...really, it's on the bottom of page 1 near the fistgate reference.

The normally "Amen" comments at Pajamas Media are quite unforgiving, and #18 calls her a "little Taliban". I wouldn't go that far, but I wish people like this could mind their own damn business about something as lame as getting high and watching Lost reruns.

Through the Ruins of Detroit

2009-12-22T19:31:00.003+07:00

Pajamas Media takes a trip through the city of Detroit with complete footage of abandoned buildings doubling as heroin galleries (not hard to find in Motown). He doesn't examine the riots and turbulent race relations causing problems for the city over the last 40 years, but I think he hits on the other points rather well (greedy unions, monstrous entitlement programs, etc.)

CJ's Open Letter

2009-12-20T17:08:00.002+07:00

A good NCO and good milblogger thrown under the bus by petty tyrant bureauweenies. A real shame! Here's his full letter, read it all:

I want to take a moment to thank all of those that are participating in the BlogOut on behalf of free speech generally and me specifically. The selflessness show by each of these bloggers, both within and without the milblogging community, has inspired and humbled me. For much of the past year, I have been fighting for Soldiers' rights to freedom of speech. I have always resisted the mindset that when Soldiers join the Army they surrender their rights guaranteed under the Constitution.

Don't get me wrong, I understand that the way in which we EXERCISE those rights is somewhat restricted, but we don't lose them. Every enlisted member of the military signed a DD Form 4/1, or enlistment contract. On page two of that document, it states that "many laws, regulations, and military customs will govern my conduct and require me to do things a civilian does not have to do." Many use this little clause to justify the mentality that we are troops 24 hours a day 7 days a week, and that's true - to a point. But, that doesn't mean that EVERYTHING I do in my life is subject to military oversight. I am allowed to have hobbies, pick and choose my friends, and join civic groups and clubs. But, I'm not allowed to break laws and must abide by additional rules and regulations that are dictated by my employment in the military. These include the uniform code of military justice, army regulations, and DOD directives.

No Soldier, Sailor, Airman, or Marine surrenders their free speech rights. Officers, of course, fall under different sets of rules. For example, Article 88 states of the Manual of Courts Martial states

“Any commissioned officer who uses contemptuous words against the President, the Vice President, Congress, the Secretary of Defense, the Secretary of a military department, the Secretary of Transportation, or the Governor or legislature of any State, Territory, Commonwealth, or possession in which he is on duty or present shall be punished as a court-martial may direct.”

Now, that doesn't give Soldiers the right to use "contemptuous words" against our elected officials, but who decides what "contemptuous words" are? Is any disagreement with an elected official "contemptuous?" Is only certain kinds of disagreement? In my mind, writing about what an elected official says and then highlighting what that elected official DID in contrast to what they said is not "contemptuous" in any way. If someone has lied to the American people and I can prove it, how is it contemptuous to call that person a liar? I see nothing "contemptuous" about calling for the wholesale firing of Congress through the democratic process.

But, beginning in April, I started coming under attack for talking about those very things. Interestingly, the complaints came from blogs that were posted PRIOR TO being invited to the Obama White House. As a matter of fact, while speaking to WH officials, they even acknowledged that we had disagreements, but I was invited anyway.

An IG complaint was filed around that time and after a three month investigation into my blogging came to the conclusion that I was guilty of subversion and using my rank or position to solicit votes for a political cause, both, I maintain, are absolutely ludicrous. After months of trying to get the results of the bogus IG complaint, I finally obtained a copy of it. Interesting what an Army Times article can accomplish. I've since forwarded that nearly 100-page document to my military lawyer for advice on how to move forward on that front. Suffice it to say that everything that could possibly be taken out of context when separated from the post as a whole WAS taken out of context and used in a vindictive, political manner. The school issue is a whole other problem that adds to the problems with poor leadership.

I want to personally thank all the military and civilian bloggers out there that have taken up this cause and support me and my family through this difficult time. It's been humbling to see the outpouring of support from across the country and around the world. My inbox has exploded with positive and encouraging words of support (and some not-so-supportive). I will never be able to repay what you have done for me, but I will never give up trying! Thank you.

Free Our Fobbits!

2009-12-20T16:54:00.002+07:00

Interesting Op-Ed about how our Army officers in combat are too risk-averse, which is hampering operations and long-term objectives:

The results were striking. Many respondents said that field commanders relied too much on methods that worked in another place at another time but often did not work well now. Officers at higher levels are stifling the initiative of junior officers through micromanagement and policies to reduce risk. Onerous requirements for armored vehicles on patrols, for instance, are preventing the quick action needed for effective counterinsurgency. Of the Army veterans I surveyed, only 28 percent said that their service encouraged them to take risks, while a shocking 41 percent said that the Army discouraged it.

I suppose Mr. Moyar is think about things like "How to Win a War" instead of creating US-based manufacturing jobs for the ever-prevalent reflective belt. Shows what he knows!

In Lieu Of Anything Meaningful

2009-12-19T20:48:00.003+07:00

I suppose you could read about Ted Kennedy's corpse being trotted out to ram through another federal entitlement program that the country can't afford...or you could go back to when life was easier. This is a clip from Hard Rock Zombies, which sort of ranks up there in bad movies with the Ed Wood collection. It involves a group of mulleted rockers, creepy lust of some pre-teen named "Cassie", and for reasons only known to the creators of this wretched film, Hitler has a starring role. I am particularly fond of this tune:

Paul Ryan Goes All Anti-Corporate On Us

2009-12-13T18:47:00.003+07:00

Maybe I should've listened to more Crass growing up...despite the fact that they didn't know how to sing or play their instruments. Then maybe I could've recognized what Paul Ryan (R-WI) was saying about powerful corporate interests earlier instead after the economy imploded. From Forbes:

We must champion an aggressive reform agenda to tackle our outdated financial regulatory structure, the convoluted and anti-competitive tax code, and the looming entitlement crisis, and to fix what's broken in health care, energy, and more. We should focus on removing the hurdles the government has erected, rather than further centralizing power in Washington. The legislative reform must focus on empowering individuals instead of bureaucrats.

We cannot lose our commitment to individual liberty--a commitment we've shed blood to defend in generations past. The American idea cannot be defeated.

Even if the bailout saga wasn't an incredible drain on our nation's treasury (which it was), it was a tremendously dangerous precedent since it empowered moneyed interests with gangs of lobbyists and left the average small business owner out to dry. It's refreshing that a true conservative in Washington actually realizes this instead of kissing asses for campaign contributions. Paul Ryan for emperor!

Matt Taibbi Latest Highlights the Problem but Not the Solution

2009-12-11T16:49:00.004+07:00

Chris Dodd: Not an adequate substitute for hope in America

Matt Taibbi of Rolling Stone has another great article on the crony capitalism running amok in the Obama White House, where there is more starched suits than a Tokyo subway terminal. But I sort of lose him when he starts talking about cleaning up this mess of pigs at the trough by calling in...Chris Dodd?!?:

The original measure, drafted by chairman Christopher Dodd of the Senate Banking Committee, is surprisingly tough on Wall Street — a fact that almost everyone in town chalks up to Dodd's desperation to shake the bad publicity he incurred by accepting a sweetheart mortgage from the notorious lender Countrywide. "He's got to do the shake-his-fist-at-Wall Street thing because of his, you know, problems," says a Democratic Senate aide. "So that's why the bill is starting out kind of tough."

It's sort of like he's upset that a bunch of Wall Street people are in charge of the country instead of his progressive buddies being in charge of the country. I suggest that no group of men or women should have so much command and control of the economy, because I believe that "Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely" and sort of extrapolate all my political beliefs from there.

Taibbi then takes aim at the "teabaggers" on page 6 who he dubs a pack of "idiots" because they aren't protesting Obama correctly. I dunno, I thought fistgate was both funny and worth getting outraged about.

Crazy Dictator Says Crazy Shit

2009-12-08T18:38:00.005+07:00

Criticizing Ahmadinejad is about as intellectually taxing as calling Tiger Woods a lousy husband, but this statement needs to be repeated to permanently assure his mentally deranged status. From Fox News:

“We have documented proof that they believe that a descendant of the prophet of Islam will raise in these parts and he will dry the roots of all injustice in the world,” Ahmadinejad said during a speech on Monday, according to Al Arabiya.

"They have devised all these plans to prevent the coming of the Hidden Imam because they know that the Iranian nation is the one that will prepare the grounds for his coming and will be the supporters of his rule," Ahmadinejad was quoted as saying.

Supposedly, the 12th Imam (Mahdi) will rid the world of injustice alongside Jesus and Xenu, but I'm not a religious scholar or anything. However, it is painfully obvious that Ahmadinejad is dishing out another ridiculous statement to distract the public from the regime's domestic woes. Previous whoppers Ahmadinejad has told the public include holocaust denial and an assassination plot against him involving X-Rays at the airport.

Sarah Palin: Master of Karate and Friendship

2009-12-04T17:15:00.004+07:00

Well, this is where the conservative movement is at. Sarah Palin, who has strong approval amongst the right, has descended into the incredibly ridiculous. She has suggested that the Obama Birth certificate is fair game. No need to comment on the birth certificate issue for the same reason there is no need to comment on President Obama being from the Klendathu galaxy: there's zero evidence of either. Hot Air is definitely feeling a bit squeamish about the whole affair, and you know David Weigel (best political journalist out there, I just wish he was on our side) is going to have a field day when he wakes up.

I'm just finishing watching the John Adams mini-series, and, even though I despise elitism, it makes you sort of wish for when politicians were well-educated, well-spoken, and took the task of governing the country seriously. After 230+ years of our republic, we are sort of left with this celebrity nonsense.

Another Day, Another Crummy Iraq/A-stan Movie

2009-11-30T18:41:00.004+07:00

Opening Night for "Brothers"

Not sure what it is about Hollywood, but when it comes to war movies about Iraq and Afghanistan, they seem to crank out more duds than a Chinese fireworks factory. This latest installment is called "Brothers" and is a remake of a Danish film from 2005 about the stereotypical Marine that comes back home and goes bonkers. Pretty dull and contrived stuff. Here's what Blackfive has to say:

More likely, I think, is the possibility that this is just another Big Hollywood movie that stereotypes soldiers or Marines as angry (because the military is where people go when they can't get into prison!), humorless men (which is why they don't go to college!) who scream a lot, beat up on family members, hate hippies (because they hate their own latent homosexuality!), throw dishes for no good reason at all, and beat up on women and little brothers.

It's not that all of the good coming home movies were "pro-war", but rather the characters in them seemed a lot less phony in movies like The Best Years of Our Lives and Born on the 4th of July. I mean, seriously, Tobey Maguire's character is looking like he's auditioning to be the third Bushwhacker in Wrestlemania V.

Maybe if the production didn't look like it belonged on Michael Moore's Youtube page, it might be worth seeing. But until more vets start becoming filmmakers and more involved in the creative arts, I predict we're going to see turd after turd on the touchy subject of the modern veteran. If the VA can actually figure out how to pay out on the GI Bill, perhaps we could have some decent war movies hitting the big screen.

Obots in the Media Gettin' Desperate

2009-11-26T12:59:00.004+07:00

The same water-carrier at TIME who tried to label all conservatives nihilists is back with another ridiculous defense of this horrendous Obama administration, which still continues the cult of personality one year after the election. Here's what Joe Klein offers up:

The most obvious pattern, however, is the media's tendency to get overwrought about almost anything. Why, for example, is the 20th anniversary of the Berlin Wall demolition so crucial that it requires a President's presence?

So that's sort of the level of cognitive dissonance we're at in the media and how far they are willing to revise history: Berlin wall coming down - not a big deal, but the President pardoning a turkey - that's huge!

Great News: Two Yahoos Break Into the White House

2009-11-26T10:27:00.003+07:00

Can't imagine why two derelicts breaking into an event with the President of the free world and the Prime Minister of the world's largest democracy would be such a big whoop. From NY Times:

In fact, the couple — Michaele Salahi and her husband, Tareq — are Virginians who have been auditioning for a possible role in a different housewives TV franchise: “The Real Housewives of Washington.”

They swept past the camera crews and followed the trail of other bigwigs attending the dinner.

But neither Mr. nor Mrs. Salahi, best known in the Washington area for promoting wine and polo in Virginia, were on the guest list for the event, a fact first reported Wednesday morning on the Washington Post Web site.

A White House official confirmed Wednesday that the Salahis had not been invited nor seated for dinner.

It was not clear Wednesday night how close the Salahis got to Mr. Obama and his wife, Michelle, or to the guests of honor, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh of India, and his wife, Gursharan Kaur.

This type of nonsense might be common in LA, but in DC these theatrics threaten national security and cost the taxpayers money. It goes to show that DC is becoming the new home of the glamorous and self-indulgent as they mooch off the wealth of the rest of the country. What a shame.

Achtung! Nice Guys Finish Last

2009-11-24T11:40:00.005+07:00

Ouch! You know your foreign policy strategy is in dire straits when the Europeans accuse you of being too much of wimp. First it was the French President Sarkozy saying Obama was being soft on Iran, now the Germans are saying Obama is Jimmy Carter II. From Der Spiegel:

The mood in Obama's foreign policy team is tense following an extended Asia trip that produced no palpable results. The "first Pacific president," as Obama called himself, came as a friend and returned as a stranger. The Asians smiled but made no concessions.

No word yet on whether or not MSNBC is going to condescendingly criticize our German allies like they usually do for Obama's detractors. But, in defense of President Obama, there's really not much he could do to influence the Chinese on anything, since they are effectively financing our over-consumption and we the people will not elect politicians who will get our fiscal house in order. Perhaps Der Spiegel is just saying welcome to the club of nation-states that are burdened with a massive entitlement complex and a geezerly population. At least we'll ride out the Decline of Western Civilization in solidarity.

One Acceptable Reason for the Obama Bow

2009-11-16T17:27:00.003+07:00

Someone needs to contact Gibbs about the whole bow to the Japanese Emperor row. Because in the Hot Air comments, someone has come up with an excellent excuse that any guy can sympathize with. If Obama was sporting a major boner, then it would be acceptable to hunch over at that ridiculous an angle.

In Defense of Populism

2009-11-16T16:36:00.004+07:00

Generally, Christopher Hitchens has some pretty interesting things to say, but I thought this dull criticism of Sarah Palin was a bit routine with the same tired attempts to summarize the "teabaggers" as imbeciles who can't think for themselves. And I'm not Pro-Palin either. From Newsweek:

The United States has to stand or fall by being the preeminent nation of science, modernity, technology, and higher education. Some of these needful phenomena, for historical reasons, will just happen to concentrate in big cities and in secular institutions and even—yes—on the dreaded East Coast. Modernity can be wrenching, as indeed can capitalism, and there will always be "out" groups who feel themselves disrespected or left behind. The task and duty of a serious politician, as Edmund Burke emphasized so well, is to reason with such people and not to act as their megaphone or ventriloquist.

It's not a bad thing that there are well-educated people on the East Coast. What's a bad thing is the same boneheads that fucked up the economy are the ones trying to establish new policies that will benefit a group of our "betters" in Wall Street and Washington. That and a dollar falling into post-Soviet Union ruble status is enough to create a large group of pissed-off Americans.

President Obama told a group of Chinese students that the free-flow of information is an important way to hold the government accountable. It's certainly allowed a lot of ordinary people to realize how awful everything is in Washington and Wall Street.

Veterans Day

2009-11-11T19:18:00.003+07:00

Maybe if our society understood that going to war is a shared responsibility among the nation, we wouldn't be treated to such nonsense in our Op-Ed pages on Veterans Day. Today's turd is from David Ignatius, who, having an apparent change of heart from his Harvard days, once referred to the "needle-popping" Army in an article about why Mao would make a decent President:

Through all its own difficulties, the military has kept its stride. That sense of balance comes partly from the fact that soldiers are anchored to the American bedrock. This includes the stereotypical small towns in the South and Midwest that have military service in their DNA. But it also counts plenty of hardworking, upwardly mobile Hispanic and African-American families in urban America who produce some of the best soldiers I know.

Great. All the military folks David Ignatius "knows" are probably the people he called the cops on when they drove by his country club. As long as the nation's elite continue to see military service as something only poor, desperate rubes would take part in, we're going to have a pretty fucked up republic.

So this Motorhead tune is for all the vets out there, because it seems appropriate. I don't really think it's anti-war or anti-religion necessarily, but it's kind of a harsh criticism about the leaders of the world making everyone else doing all the sacrificing:

Nobody gives a damn about anybody else,
Think everyone should feel the way they feel themselves,
Rich men think that happiness is a million dollar bills,
So how come half of them O.D. on sleeping pills,
Eye for eye, tooth for tooth, you all know what I mean,
What's the use of a cry for help, if no one hears the screams,
No one hears the scream,

No voices in the sky, confusion blinds the eye,
Can't take it with you when you die,
No voices in the sky,

The ones who dedicate the flags to make you brave,
They also consecrate the headstone on your grave,
Ritual remembrance when no one knows your name,
Don't help a single widow learn to fight the pain,

Politicians kissing babies for good luck,
T.V. preachers sell salvation for a buck,
You don't need no golden cross, to tell you wrong from right,
The world's worst murderers were those who saw the light.

Wall Street Descends into Cartoonish Super Villainy

2009-11-09T15:42:00.004+07:00

The CEO of Goldman Sachs

Not long ago, Godman Sachs was famously called the Great Vampire Squid Wrapped Around the Face of Humanity. Well that squid certainly has some good connections with the CDC to get this many H1N1 vaccines when health care workers and the military are up in arms about the shortage. From Guardian:

New York's health department confirmed that vaccines had been shipped to banks - Citigroup, which asked for 7,200 doses, received 1,200 while Goldman Sachs, which applied for 5,400, was given 200. A spokeswoman said distributing vaccines in workplaces would "alleviate stress and pressure from community healthcare settings and hospitals"

The NYC health commissioner tries to defend this egregious blunder by saying the boobs on Wall Street are going to distribute it to at-risk employees. After the events of the last few years, I would place Wall Street execs that took bailout money somewhere in line between the surviving cast of Three's Company and the Fluffers' Union on the scale of national priorities. Not even Robert Gibbs would defend this ridiculous policy.

Fort Hood Massacre

2009-11-06T15:28:00.003+07:00

Not much to say. It's all very sad. And I think that sadness is captured pretty well in this image that was part of an MSNBC slideshow.
People in the military are accustomed to mentally preparing for danger and carnage abroad, but you just never really expect it on the homefront. I'm not going to speculate here, since the facts are still coming in, but Noah Shachtman has some eye-popping statements that the shooter made previously. And I'm a bit surprised that David Neiwert is criticizing "wingnuts" for being so judgmental, because I'm sure if it was a white guy, he would've talked about how Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin made him do it, which Crooks and Liars has been known to do.

The guys at This Ain't Hell got a hold of his Officer Record if you are interested.

Say What? Sex Change Operations in Obamacare

2009-11-05T12:56:00.004+07:00

This is one of the Miss Tiffany contestants from 2009 in Thailand, and it's probably one of the hottest babes that's actually a dude you've ever seen. Thailand is world-renown for its Katoeys (transgender/transvestite peoples), and they often work in the bars of Bangkok, Pattaya, and Phuket to save up for that expensive surgery, which Thailand is also well-known for. But, according to some culture warrior types, the new Obamacare plan may allow for taxpayer dollars to pay for these types of operations in the States. From Politico:

A senior aide to a Republican senator said that a public insurance plan could easily end up covering sex-change procedures if that’s not specifically banned in the bill.

“It's not that hard to imagine that a new federal health plan crafted and implemented by this administration would cover sex-change surgeries. Anything not explicitly prohibited in the bill is effectively on the table. Most Americans probably would prefer that their tax dollars not pay for or subsidize transgender surgery,” the aide said.

The obvious libertarian take on this issue is that people can live their life however they want, just don't expect me to pay for it. But as government increasingly gets mixed up in every facet of human existence, it puts the libertarian in an ethical dilemma where you are forced to side with either progressives (who want to spend everybody's money, as they see fit) or social conservatives (who want to tell everybody how to live, as they see fit). There isn't really a viable position one can take in this case, and a true libertarian alternative isn't going to come around in this lifetime or the next the way things are going.

Kumar in Trouble

2009-10-31T10:38:00.004+07:00

When Kal Pen (aka Kumar of the great movie, Harold & Kumar go to White Castle) left the beautiful people of Hollywood to spend time with the bottom-feeding parasites in DC, he received some praise for serving his country or something. But now a FOIA request has revealed that he was mixed up in the recent NEA scandal which forced its Communications Director into resignation. From Washington Examiner (h/t Jammie):

Former actor and present White House associate director of public engagement Kalpen Modi was directly involved in planning the controversial conference call hosted by a National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) flack to encourage tax-supported artists to create propaganda for President Obama, according to emails obtained by Judicial Watch via a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request.

Uhoh, making trouble for Hollywood's messiah, that'll probably get you blacklisted. Which is unfortunate, because I thought Kal Pen was a great actor. Well, he'll always have the ability to write crummy HuffPo articles alongside all the other has-been celebrities.

Our Longstanding Corrupt Practices

2009-10-30T21:22:00.004+07:00

USA Today had a well-researched article about all the political appointees in the Obama administration who just happened to have fundraised over $100,000 for the campaign. But, for some reason, the story generated less interest in the blogosphere than the 25th anniversary of Ice Pirates. I don't know if it's because the article was in the Mikky-D's press, or because the practice is so common amongst both parties that none of the partisan operatives dare criticize, or because there was other corruption allegations that stole the limelight. But it seems like we just brush it aside as "business as usual" in Washington and wonder why the government is being run by incompetent boobs whose only purpose in life is to make speeches and false promises.

UN Continues to Make a Mockery of Itself

2009-10-27T19:14:00.003+07:00

NYC: Downgraded to Totalitarian Backwater

Not that there's anything wrong with the UN Millennium Development Goals, I mean, who doesn't support ending poverty and world hunger? It's just a bit odd about how the entire organization takes its approach. After the UN Human Rights Council recognized "exceptions" to freedom of speech to appease Islamic dictators, and thinking that letting a thug like Ahmadinejad have the podium would be a swell idea, they now have their sights set on that miserable, hellhole of humanity...New York City. From NY Times:

The United Nations Human Rights Council appoints a rapporteur, or independent experts, to investigate human rights conditions around the world. In the case of Ms. Rolnik, a professor of urban planning at the University of Sao Paulo in Brazil, her “mission” is to tour New York City and six other places in the United States and to report back to the United Nations General Assembly about housing rights violations and advances.

After that, “We send off letters to governments to ask, ‘Is this true? What’s going on?’ and to please intervene,” she said.

This is a great use of my tax dollars. Yes, NYC is expensive, as any American could tell you. Maybe they can ask why I had to pay $20 for a wireless connection at a hotel in Manhattan that was already $250 a night for a wedding I went to last year. They could even appoint Muammar Qaddafi to preside over the investigation instead of looking into human rights abuses like child soldiers, refugees being brutally killed, and other minor issues.

Honky-Land

2009-10-24T10:29:00.003+07:00

There's an interesting article at New Geography that has angered progressives which challenges the assumptions on America's liberal bastions (Portland, Denver, Seattle, etc.). The author cites facts and figures which concludes that all the cities hipsters love to champion have more crackers than a Jack Johnson concert:

This may explain why most of the smaller cities of the Midwest and South have not proven amenable to replicating the policies of Portland. Most Midwest advocates of, for example, rail transit, have tried to simply transplant the Portland solution to their city without thinking about the local context in terms of system goals and design, and how to sell it. Civic leaders in city after city duly make their pilgrimage to Denver or Portland to check out shiny new transit systems, but the resulting videos of smiling yuppies and happy hipsters are not likely to impress anyone over at the local NAACP or in the barrios.

I would humbly suggest removing barriers and red tape to small businesses for urban revitalization, which seems to have been doing a good job in facilitating newly-arrived Americans to overcome poverty ever since Jamestown was founded in 1607. But, I don't have a Masters in Urban Planning, and I'm sure all those Green Jobs and more bike lanes that progressives love to champion will help the Latino immigrant community achieve middle-class prosperity.

Richard Nixon Would Be Proud

2009-10-21T17:24:00.002+07:00

Politico:

Obama aides are using their powerful White House platform, combined with techniques honed in the 2008 campaign, to cast some of the most powerful adversaries as out of the mainstream and their criticism as unworthy of serious discussion.

Here's to our tax dollars being put to good use. Cheers!

Our National Boneheadedness

2009-10-21T16:58:00.003+07:00

An article in Reuters points out something that absolutely no politician in America wants to say (unless of course it's a boring Ron Paul monologue), America's entitlement spending is sending it into collapse. This article is in reference to the $250 checks for old people to keep them from making trouble:

Two examples — one ridiculously expensive, one just ridiculous. But both reveal a nation completely unwilling to deal with current trillion-dollar deficits or long-term shortfalls many multiples of that number.

What confidence should dollar investors have that America will really cut entitlement spending? Very little. Instead, we are more likely to see huge tax increases that could cripple productivity, or further dollar neglect, or a central bank that turns dovish on inflation. Or perhaps all three.

If Washington doesn’t care to support the dollar, why should investors?

But who cares about the long-term economic stability when you can demonize Fox news for another news-cycle to distract the public. Politicians could care less about long-term viability and only seem to give two shits about pleasing their pet interests so they have campaign cash for the next go-around. But sooner or later, we have to blame ourselves for continuously electing these yahoos.

Press Releases on Anita Dunn Make For Boring Journalism

2009-10-16T10:18:00.004+07:00

Here's a real schnoozer of an article on Anita Dunn, the White House Communications Director, that has more hot air than the Balloon Boy odyssey. From a lengthy piece in the Washington Post:

With her CNN appearance on Sunday attacking Fox News as "a wing of the Republican Party," the White House dispatched its communications director to make one of its most aggressive salvos, in part because she alone in the communications department can withstand the blowback.

"She's tough, she knows how to handle herself in the national media, she's not intimidated by it and she enjoys the fray," said David Gergen, a former White House communications director. "It surprised me to see Anita Dunn out there, but if you are going to do it, go with your pro, and she's your pro."

Yawn. Nothing in the article about her husband's attempt to silence free speech during the Obama campaign, and nothing about the criticism Beck has brought up by citing quotes from mass murderers. Just a lame puff piece about how awesome she is and how it's justifiable for government officials to shut down Fox News like some Hugo Chavez public affairs strategy.

Dow 10,000: Let's Party Like It's 1999

2009-10-15T17:35:00.004+07:00

Crank up the Hanson, buy some more shares in Pets.com, and pop the champagne, because it's 1999 all over again. Similar to March 1999, the Dow has gone above the 10,000 mark (again), and you can watch this retro CNBC video if you don't believe me. But, Peter Schiff drops a big turd in the party punchbowl by saying that the Dow is up because the dollar is in the crapper, and there's no real recovery in sight.

Eh, well.

Politics Makes for Strange Bedfellows (sometimes Gay)

2009-10-14T17:11:00.003+07:00

Gay Patriot has an article in Pajamas Media about how gay liberals are perpetually disappointed by the politicians they help elect. This is in reference to how much ass-dragging is happening with the Obama administration on Don't Ask Don't Tell:

And Americans have become increasingly aware that the gay community does not speak with one voice. Nor does it march it lockstep to the tune of the Democratic Party.

Military.com notes that, contrary to conventional wisdom, it would actually require an act of Congress instead of just an order from the White House. But, it still seems as though Obama is waffling on a campaign promise that he could easily fulfill.

It's correct when Gay Patriot notes that gay issues aren't exclusively the realm of the democratic party. Some fellow reich-wingers have publicly stated that DADT has got to go including Ed Morrissey, CDR Salamander, and even the Sniper (no shit, the Sniper). I for one am for the repeal of the DADT, simply for the sake of no more awkward powerpoints for our troops during GMT sessions.

Shut Up and Drink the Kool Aid!

2009-10-13T21:34:00.004+07:00

You really have to feel sorry for our intellectual betters sometimes. After suffering through an awkward adolescence of getting pantsed and watching the quarterback pull all the tail in high school, they can't even get any respect in their adult lives. With the information age well upon us, any slack-jawed rube with a 'puter can tear down their policies they seek to enact over the rest of the country.

That's just one possible explanation for this no-good, terrible Op-Ed where Neal Gabler, last spotted calling everyone not on Team Obama McCarthyites, simply resorts to calling Americans a generally stupid lot for not trusting their government all the time. Not to overuse the "elitist" meme, but this is pretty up there. From Boston.com:

There is something bizarre about a country whose leaders have constantly to toady to their constituents and in which any criticism is tantamount to a lack of patriotism, but that describes America today. Every politician feels compelled to ape Jimmy Carter’s old words to the point where our alleged greatness has also become our national mantra.

Like it would be better if politicians didn't bother listening to their constituents and we had power-hungry madmen making all the decisions for us. That alternative had devastating consequences for much of the world's citizens during the 20th century, and I would suggest that a good deal skepticism towards the government is necessary for a nation's survival.

This editorial is clearly a response to the fevered populist piss-offedness that has gripped our country and prevented the sychophants of the Obama administration from getting everything they wanted. However, it wasn't Bubba Joe at the assembly plant that fucked up the economy, but eggheads like this guy. Why don't they engage in some self-assessment of their own policies before denouncing the frustration of our society at the moment.

New Liberal Agenda: Let the Dollar Collapse, All Hail Inflation

2009-10-11T14:22:00.006+07:00

It's a bit of a concern when the top blogger from the influential Center for American Progress advocates that a weakened dollar would be a good thing for the country. From Yglesias:

Meanwhile, the interests of American tourists aside, a falling dollar is exactly what the American economy needs. It’s a way of, in effect, driving wage levels down to a level at which increasing employment is economical and getting us out of current sky-high unemployment. Of course for the same reason foreign central banks will want to bolster the value of the dollar in order to prevent unemployment from rising in Europe and Asia. I think the real risk here, however, is that foreigners will go to far in terms of trying to sustain an unsustainable situation and ultimately prompt a bigger breakdown.

I understand that Keynesian economics focuses on massive spending programs to get the country through tough times, but how is turning the dollar into monopoly money going to do anything but lower the standard of living and piss off the Chinese. True, it's a natural market correction that the dollar is dropping into the crapper, but doesn't that have to do with the federal government printing too much money? Maybe, the President and Congress should, you know, stop pissing away the taxpayer's money like the world was going to end.

I don't pretend to understand this crap, but I do know that I made the decision to convert all the surplus dollars I had into Thai Baht, and a lot of other people are buying gold like it was nude pictures of Megan Fox. Yes, I chose a country's currency where a coup could break out at any minute over Uncle Sam's money. Yes, that means I am allied with the Taliban and Hamas, and I'm sorry for that, but I've got to live off this money. Ever since we nixed the gold standard in the 70s, money has been backed by the credibility of the US government, and that credibility isn't looking too promising at the moment.

Must Have Been a Slow Year in the Peace Business

2009-10-09T17:25:00.004+07:00

Uh, aren't you supposed to actually do something to win the Nobel Peace Prize (see the 2006 Nobel Prize winner Muhammad Yunus, who actually accomplished quite a bit besides running a presidential campaign). Shit, at least Al Gore made a half-ass documentary. Politico cites the reason:

"Only very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world's attention and given its people hope for a better future," the committee said. "His diplomacy is founded in the concept that those who are to lead the world must do so on the basis of values and attitudes that are shared by the majority of the world's population."

But what major foreign policy breakthroughs has he accomplished, not just promised to accomplish? If these are the standards for winning the award, then Band Aid's "Do They Know It's Christmas" should've won it every year. And, yes, this post obviously means I hate America.

I Bet They Didn't Think He Was a Milblogger!

2009-10-08T15:25:00.004+07:00

It's difficult to explain what it's like to be a vet these days. Flat-out bigotry is rare. But, veterans seem to be like this politically-correct class of society that many folks seem to pity and avoid acknowledging because of some guilt complex...which is unfortunate. A disturbing disconnect from the warrior class and society at large can mean big trouble down the road, and at the very least leads to awkward situations like this. From CJ at A Soldier's Perspective:

Since I know that you spineless bastards in the school system are reading this, be prepared for a lawsuit! You were way out of line in bringing my personal life and my struggles with PTSD into a dispute with the school on the uniform policy. UNIFORM POLICY, FOLKS!! Where do you get off contacting the military about a private citizen matter? If I worked for Wal-Mart, would you have called the management there? If I were a REAL threat to anyone at that meeting, you should have called the police, not the military.

Despite the big game that CJ talks at his blog, I have met him personally and he is an extremely nice fellow. So it is a bit surprising that a dispute over his child's wardrobe at school would warrant a phone call from officials to his chain of command. A lot of veterans have PTSD, and it doesn't mean they are going to go run around the school screaming about Charlie coming over the wire like some Oliver Stone movie. But it is indicative of the growing divide in our American society.

The Great Paulson Puke Saga of 2008

2009-10-07T17:58:00.003+07:00

Reason notes that the criticism from Andrew Sorkin of the Masters of the Universe on Wall Street that ruined our country is subtle, but it pretty much shows that the cronyism between Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and the feds was worse than a Skull and Bones meeting. The piece is very informative, although somewhat dry. However, he does throw in this little tidbit to make people without MBAs happy:

Paulson, who had been living on barely three hours of sleep a night for a week, was beginning to feel nauseated. Watching the financial industry crumble in front of his eyes—the world he had inhabited his entire career—was getting to him. For a moment, he felt light-headed.

From outside his office, his staff could hear him vomit.

At least there is a little justice in this world.

The Case of the Uppity General

2009-10-06T14:16:00.004+07:00

A lot of hand-wringing has taken place regarding General McChrystal's controversial comments regarding policy in Afghanistan. I'll take the uncontroversial view that being governed by a military junta might not be a good thing as Eugene Robinson explains:

How to proceed in Afghanistan will be among the most difficult and fateful decisions that President Obama ever makes. But he's the one who has to decide, not his generals. The men with the stars on their shoulders -- and I say this with enormous respect for their patriotism and service -- need to shut up and salute.

Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, is entitled to his opinion about the best way forward. But he has no business conducting a public campaign to build support for his preferred option, which is to send tens of thousands more troops into a country once called the "graveyard of empires."

Some folks on the left say that the top general in Afghanistan only sees things through his "own narrow experience", which probably means another General Betrayus type ad from Moveon.org is coming soon to a newspaper near you. But taking the position that elected leaders should be responsible over the military does not categorically place you with the Code Pink crowd. However, in any chain-of-command, you hope and pray that those appointed over you are competent, have their priorities straight, and have your interests at heart. And, the President devoting his time and political capital to the 2016 Olympics, command-and-control economics, and not to the rapidly worsening Afghanistan situation doesn't inspire a lot of confidence.

Not Having the Olympic Fever Cause for Treason?

2009-10-03T09:46:00.003+07:00

Strange Sports Always Won by Europeans Not Coming to Chicago

If calling Obama's plea at Copenhagen a gigantic waste of time is tantamount to Hanoi Jane, the concept of patriotism and nationalism sort of loses all meaning. Because, not supporting Obama's cronies in Chicago from feasting on an overburdened taxpayer to construct shoddy facilities for the Olympics is hardly grounds for being a moran, IMHO. Jonn has the last word on this:

You know who really lost today? Those folks we’ve sent to Afghanistan. Out of the 15 hours the President spent in Denmark, General McCrystal got 25 minutes with him. Imagine that; all of the time he spent on getting the Olympics brought to Chicago - seven years from now (apparently three years after Obama will be out office if he keeps acting like this) - he spent twenty five minutes with the guy fighting his war for him.

Oh well, highly important priorities like Ballroom Dancing will have to be done somewhere else.

Radicalism and Punditry

2009-09-25T16:43:00.004+07:00

You can't visit the NY Times opinion page without someone opposing Obama (a good chunk of Americans) being called a racist (a very serious accusation), and they're dropping in credibility faster than the SPLC. Reason examines this phenomenon in American history in a very interesting piece:

A similar dynamic is at work in 2009. When pundits weave a small number of unrelated incidents into a "pattern" of crime, then link it to the rhetoric of Obama's opponents, it becomes easier to marginalize nonviolent, noncriminal critics on the right, just as a red scare makes it easier to marginalize nonviolent, noncriminal figures on the left.

Admittedly, there been an uptick in crazy lately. After all, shoddy economies and Americans coming home in body bags tend to produce a more extreme politics, and right now America has both. But, the lame attempts to discredit Obama critics as being a pack of racist, barnyard yokels is pretty transparent partisan politics.

Oh Yeah...You Mean THAT "Secret, Underground Nuclear Fuel Facility"

2009-09-25T16:36:00.002+07:00

President Obama, Prime Minister Gordon Brown, and President Sarkozy are dropping a bombshell (pun intended!) at the G20 summit today...well not really that surprising considering Iran's track record. From the NY Times:

President Obama and the leaders of Britain and France will accuse Iran Friday of building a secret underground plant to manufacture nuclear fuel, saying it has hidden the covert operation from international weapons inspectors for years, according to senior administration officials.

The revelation, which the three leaders will make before the opening of the Group of 20 economic summit here, appears bound to add urgency to the diplomatic confrontation with Iran over its suspected ambitions to build a nuclear weapons capability. Mr. Obama, along with Prime Minister Gordon Brown of Britain and President Nicolas Sarkozy of France, will demand that the country allow the International Atomic Energy Agency to conduct an immediate inspection of the facility, which is said to be 100 miles southwest of Tehran.

That's certainly one way to approach diplomacy, and a much more effective one that inviting Iranian officials over for hot dogs.

SECDEF The Wolf

2009-09-22T17:36:00.002+07:00

Interesting profile of SECDEF Gates in the NY Times today. Due to his nature of being capable of cleaning up the proverbial bag of dicks that is our involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan, NY Times likens him to this Pulp Fiction character:

Mr. Gates’s shifting role can be summed up in terms familiar to the defense secretary, an avid film buff who routinely brings piles of DVDs on long trips and cites favorite movies in conversation to make a point.

In his new memoir, Matt Latimer, a Pentagon speechwriter under Mr. Gates’s predecessor, Donald H. Rumsfeld, compares Mr. Gates to the Harvey Keitel character in “Pulp Fiction” — the one who shows up after the grisly killing to wipe away all traces of blood.

A good analogy, however I disagree with this strawman:

For Republicans, Mr. Gates poses a quandary in assessing Mr. Obama’s national security decisions:do they look at him as a turncoat for dismantling some of Mr. Bush’s policies or as the best hope for moderating changes brought by a Democratic administration?

A turncoat...hardly. It's not like the guy is Arlen Specter or something. It was a logical choice by an incoming administration that faced a wartime transition for the first time in over 35 years. And, as you recall, the rare bit of opposition to SECDEF Gates being re-appointed was from lefties upset because this move would signal that Democrats were weak on national security. The guy could be registered with the Bull Moose party for all I care, as long as he gets the job done, which I believe he is.

Pre-Emptive NEA Goes Under the Bus Post

2009-09-21T16:34:00.003+07:00

After the devastating muckraking done on ACORN this month, Breitbart promises some more against the NEA. Although, Big Hollywood has already revealed some pretty serious dirt regarding financing the creative arts in exchange for health care reform support:

But, there is even a larger issue that hasn’t yet received much attention in the press. Among the Obama Administration officials on the call were Buffy Wicks, Office of Public Engagement and the lead White House official on the President’s Serve.Gov initiative to promote national service. Also on the call was Nell Abernathy, Director of Outreach for Serve.Gov. One of their main goals on the call, it seems, was to encourage artists to produce works that would reinforce the President’s call for service; specifically through the Serve.Gov web-portal.

Andrew Breitbart is amongst the Hollywood creative arts crowd, so I can see why they would want to go after the NEA. But, really, how much are these people ripping off the US taxpayer for to fund annoying Obama-art? I hope that Breitbart's next target is to go after the bozos on Wall Street who fleeced us for billions while the rest of us are scrounging for breadcrumbs. The media seems to have fallen down on the job with the new administration, and I think Breitbart has proven himself quite capable of sticking it to the man during a liberal administation.

Big Trouble in (Little) Tourist Thailand

2009-09-20T20:17:00.003+07:00

The title alone is a reference to the John Carpenter classic, so you know the documentary has got to be good. It takes a look at the seedy side of Thailand and how if you're a tourist here, you're going to either end up getting fleeced by the locals or in Thai prison for a 10-year stretch. Not exactly everyone's experience, but who doesn't love a little bit of sensationalism!

However, if you act like a rowdy and drunken boob, you can probably get in trouble in any country. And as for sheisty locals ripping off the throngs of rubes on holiday, remember the rule of thumb that the better English they speak, the more sketchy they are.

Please Mr. President, No Amateur Hour at the UN

2009-09-19T19:16:00.003+07:00

Our President's liberal domestic agenda may be loathsome, but I would at least hope that he's good at the whole grip-n'-grin thing with international leaders (like Clinton was). Something that has been important for American heads of state since our Founding Fathers had to ham it up in France to get support for the Revolutionary War. He already has the media, unions, and Wall Street lining up to kiss his ass, how hard can it be to schmooze a few people with hard-to-pronounce last names?

Apparently though, it's pretty tough. Obama is heading off to the UN this week, and Politico has an interesting article about all the work the White House staff has to do to make sure nothing gets fucked up. From Politico:

But avoiding an insistent suitor at the bustling U.N. headquarters can be difficult – despite the painstaking efforts aides sometimes take to send a U.S. president down a different hallway, or into a different corner of a meeting hall to avoid unwelcome diplomatic advances.

“It’s inevitable that you’re going to be in the same room with people,” said John Bolton, U.N. Ambassador under President George W. Bush. “It’s not like the Secret Service controls the floor of the Security Council. If Ahmadinejad just comes up to Obama and talks to him, who’s going to stand in the way?”

Sure, keeping the President away from Ahmadinejad might prevent dickheads like me on the internet from posting funny pictures, and avoiding a few Middle Eastern thugs-in-chief might be no problem. But, I think the real trick will be avoiding the Chinese delegation. After the trade war Obama seems to have kicked off with tariffs on tires and our dollar sucking ass, I'd spend more time thinking up clever excuses.

Joe's Back with a Good Rant on the GI Bill

2009-09-18T18:33:00.002+07:00

Long ago silenced by his superiors for having a milblog that was deemed too risque (although brutally honest), Joe joins us again with some great criticism on VA healthcare and the GI Bill backlog, which seems to be a recurring theme with vets heading off to college.

P4 Desperately Pleas With the Brits

2009-09-18T18:18:00.003+07:00

You know public opinion of the war in Afghanistan is reaching epic lows when you've got General Petraeus writing Op-Eds for British papers...but that seems to be where we are at. From The Times:

General Stan McChrystal, the Commander of Nato’s International Security Assistance Force, who has spent most of his career since 9/11 leading the US’s most elite counterterrorist element, the Joint Special Operations Command, is employing a comprehensive, counterinsurgency campaign. He is the first to recognise not just the extraordinary capabilities but also the limitations of counterterrorism forces in Afghanistan...
...If Cecil Rhodes was correct in his wonderful observation that “being an Englishman is the greatest prize in the lottery of life”, and I’m inclined to think that he was, then the second greatest prize in the lottery of life must be to be a friend of an Englishman, and based on that, the more than 230,000 men and women in uniform who work with your country’s finest day by day are very lucky indeed, as am I.

Damn, he even spelled recognize with an "s" to try and keep the Brits in the game. With NATO allies looking to pull out, you have to wonder if society has the will to combat extremism half way around the world while domestic economies are still in the toilet.

Stranger Than Fiction: Burglar Gets Whacked with Samurai Sword

2009-09-17T12:15:00.004+07:00

File this under the department of What the Fuck, because this real-life tale, combining elements of Revenge of the Nerds with Kill Bill, involves a break-in being foiled by a samurai sword. Apparently, a recently-released convict tried to lunge at a mild-mannered, 20 year-old Johns Hopkins student during a break-in and his hand chopped off. From The Baltimore Sun:

To inflict lethal damage requires some skill, Dibble said.

"To be that confident with it that he would go grab it, he may have been into martial arts," he said. "You would have to hold it with two hands and be confident that you would really know what you were doing."

Mantis Swords, an online outlet based in Westminster, specializes in sharp weapons. "Our swords are ready for cutting," owner Shawn Salafia said.

Remind me not to fuck with that guy.

Now That's a Crowd

2009-09-13T15:08:00.004+07:00

More Funnies Over at TAH

Jonn from This Ain't Hell was at the rally and has some good photos, along with some shots of LaRouchers do whatever the hell it is Lyndon LaRouche people do. El Marco has some great ones too. But, overall, the theme of the massive DC tea party seems to be less "Teh Crazy" and more about a grassroots uprising against the past 8 months where Obummer has put America on a pretty dangerous path towards collapse. Matt Welch has a good report and puts the crowd in 6 figures (it doesn't look like the inauguration did, so I'm a tad skeptical of Malkin's 2M number), but what do I know, I wasn't even in-country?

Despite lame characterizations by the Obots that this was some redneck hate fest, Matt Welch offers some better insight:

Nineteen out of 20 signs were hand-made. My favorite was "Stop spending our tacos. I love tacos." The most popular were variations on "Don't tread on me," "You lie," complaints about Obama's "socialism," warnings about the 2010 elections, references to the deficit or big spending, critiques of Obamacare, and (especially) cracks about various czars (including not a few that equated czars with Soviet Communism). Godwin's Corollary was satisfied on multiple occasions, including "Hitler gave great speeches, too," "the Nazis did national health care first," and someone comparing Obama's 2009 with Hitler's 1939 (alas, we didn't get to ask him whether America was about to invade Poland). Michael Moynihan did have a nice chat about George Marshall with the fellow holding a sign saying "McCarthy was right." There was an "Obama bin lyin," "Feds = treason," "Birth certificate," and "Glen Beck for president." Greatly outnumbering such things were references to the constitution, taking our country back, and so forth.

Pretty good and straight up observations, so read the whole report. Or you can head over to the far-left Americablog where Joe Sudbay comments with disdain "this wasn't the healthiest looking group of people who were descending on the Capitol" while he was on his "15 mile run". He's definitely holding up the progressives are smug douchebags stereotype, although pushing a politically-correct lifestyle on to everyone else has been a goal of liberalism for as long as I can remember. I wish some of these luminaries would self-examine their own policies that have been dominating America's politics for the last 8 months and ask themselves why so many Americans would spend their weekend marching on Washington.

Time Traveling Back to 9/10

2009-09-12T15:40:00.004+07:00

One of my favorite bloggers concurs with Will Wilkinson that we should get back to the "head-up-our-collective-ass" days of 9/10 when we chose to ignore that there was people actively seeking our destruction:

Yet those responsible for this disaster have been successful in hiding behind the shock of the crumbling towers, as if support for their dangerous and deadly policies is inexorably implied by feeling deeply the full weight of 9/11’s tragedy. Those most insistent that we “never forget” 9/11 are those who need our continuing collective complicity in the erosion of our civil liberties, in the weakening of the rule of law, in the unjustified invasion of unrelated foreign countries and the murder of their people, in the policy of state-sanctioned torture.

A very serious criticism that would take a thesis to dissect, but let's look at this "erosion of our civil liberties" thing. As a society, we entrust law enforcement with more powers than your average citizen to maintain the security of our nation. Without security, you can't really have anything (an economy, rule of law, etc.), so I'm willing as a citizen to sacrifice a small portion of liberty to prevent something as catastrophic and devastating as 9/11. So, I don't really constitute having to take my shoes off at the airport and the possibility that my phone calls from Thailand about me having the runs being possibly monitored by the NSA as an "erosion of our civil liberties". I suppose I lose some libertarian credibility, but I'm just too sympathetic to the underlying purpose of law enforcement. As long as its terrorism we are talking about and not something silly (like seatbelt laws).

Dems Freaking Out Over DC Tea Party

2009-09-12T15:16:00.003+07:00

Not Really

Bomb threats against Tea Party organizers, the inept GOP trying to capitalize on the rowdiness, and even though the press is predicting "thousands" of protesters in DC on 9/12, the Dems in Washington are fearing two million. From The Plum Line:

Looks like there’s serious concern among Dems about the big 9/12 rally that’s being heavily promoted by Glenn Beck, Fox, and the tea partiers for tomorrow.

A top House Dem leadership aide has emailed a memo to Dem aides on the Hill and outside liberal groups warning they should brace for a turnout of up to two million people, suggesting Dems worry that if enough conservatives descend on the Mall it will amount to a major PR victory for the right.

The aide, Doug Thornell, warned in the memo that the dust-up over Joe “you lie” Wilson has been invigorating conservatives. “It looks like Saturday’s event is going to be a huge gathering, estimates ranging from hundreds of thousands to 2 million people,” Thornell wrote in the memo, which was forwarded by a source.

Speaking as no good bitter and as previous observer of a DC Tea Party, I can assure you that libertarian-conservative types are really bad at organizing these types of things. The one I went to in April had permit SNAFU and the protest in front of the Treasury Department got nixed. There was a few clever signs here and there, but I felt like I was at a family reunion on Grandma's farm rather than something which was really going to shake up the system. So, I'm not sure what the Dems are so worried about. Perhaps it's the fact that their shoddy leadership of the country has led us into an irreversible deficit spiral whereby the dollar will be as valuable as old VHS tapes of Mr. Belvedere, but why take responsibility when you can blame "teabaggers" and Sarah Palin for all your problems.

Anyhoo, sounds like the protest might be kind of interesting, so we'll see how it plays out.

Proud to Be

2009-09-11T20:50:00.002+07:00

Can't go wrong with an American flag on this day. The Sniper goes with the more politically incorrect "Fuck You Haj", but he's just saying what we were all thinking on 9/12/01.

The New Funny Liberal Word: Tenther

2009-09-09T15:55:00.004+07:00

I was a Tenther before it was cool!

Since Teabagger, Nazi, and right-wing terrorist are pejoratives that have been so overused to defend the hapless Obama administration that they have lost all meaning, Washington Times notes that the new keyword to show your hate for the red states is "Tenther". This is a reference to those radical right-wing populists that believe in the 10th amendment, I guess. From Washington Times:

Liberal activists have a new name to disparage conservatives: "tenthers."

The nickname refers to those who cite the 10th Amendment to argue that federal intervention in areas not authorized by the Constitution, like health care for example, is unconstitutional.

This follows other names such as "birthers," "deathers" and "tea baggers."

Health care reform supporters at the Center for American Progress, the American Prospect, MSNBC and other outlets have deployed the term against Republicans who cite the 10th Amendment as reason not to create new programs. Some of the leading Republican proponents of the allegedly "dangerous" and "conspiratorial" theory include Sens. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma and Jim DeMint of South Carolina, and Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota.

Apparently, the term stems from this American Prospect last month and Digby, Yglesias, and Crooks and Liars have both incorporated it into their musings. If taking a strict interpretation of the constitution makes you a square, I'd sure like to know where these progressives think the power of the federal government to intervene stops.

Learning Thai in the Big Mango

2009-09-06T11:40:00.004+07:00

Since I have to go to the countryside for my job (where English is not often spoken), I've been trying to navigate the Thai language. Five tones, no similarities to English, and frequently getting laughed at for my mispronunciation has contributed to the struggle. But, I'm making progress and I guess that's what is important or some shit. Anyhoo, the books available for foreigners to learn Thai are in the 800-1600 baht range (25-50 bucks), but the books for Thais to learn English are only like 100-200 baht (3-6 bucks). Being a cheap bastard, you can guess which ones I pick up.

This one I bought yesterday is entitled ไวยากรณ์ อังกฤษ (wai-yaa-gawn Ang-Grit or English Grammar) However, I question the choice of icons for the English-speaking world used on this book's cover:
Uh, I guess the Eiffel Tower is in London now.

But, the cutesy cartoon characters in the margins of the lessons more than make up for this crass error:

Change of Venue

2009-09-05T19:43:00.002+07:00

I'll be over blogging at This Ain't Hell for the weekend, so come on by and shoot your mouth off, in case you have nothing else going on for a holiday weekend.

The Long-Term Obama Campaign Strategy

2009-09-02T11:03:00.004+07:00

Don't ever question the Obama administration's ability to get new converts. The President is set to give a speech addressing America's K-12 students on September 8th, and the Department of Education has released guidelines for how teachers can solicit student participation during this "historic" and totally shameless moment (h/t Legal Insurrection). For K-6:

Students could discuss their responses to the following questions:
What do you think the President wants us to do?
Does the speech make you want to do anything?
Are we able to do what President Obama is asking of us?
What would you like to tell the President?

Great, the President has now become Dad-in-chief. Can this guy get anymore ego-maniacal? Here's the program for Grades 7-12:

Listening with a purpose: Inspiration and Challenges. Using a similar double‐column
style notes page as the one above, the teacher could focus students on quotations that either propose a specific challenge to them or inspire them in some meaningful way. Students could do this individually, in pairs or groups...Create decorated goals and steps on index card sized material. The index cards could be formatted as an inviting graphic organizer with a space for the goal at the top and several steps in the remaining space. Cards could be hung in the room to create classroom culture of goal setting, persistence and success, and for the purpose of periodic review.

Not that I was a model student or anything, but shouldn't kids be learning Algebra or reading Shakespeare instead of making hokey glitter collages of President McDreamy. At least they'll have a great future as community organizers.

George Will Throws in the Towel on Afghanistan

2009-09-01T11:34:00.002+07:00

In a piece that is certain to stir up some controversy today, conservative heavyweight George Will questions what the hell we are still doing in Afghanistan. This follows the month with the most casualties during the 8-year war with no end in sight. From George Will:

U.S. strategy — protecting the population — is increasingly troop-intensive while Americans are increasingly impatient about “deteriorating” (says Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff) conditions. The war already is nearly 50 percent longer than the combined U.S. involvements in two world wars, and NATO assistance is reluctant and often risible.

U.S. strategy is “clear, hold and build.” Clear? Taliban forces can evaporate and then return, confident that U.S. forces will forever be too few to hold gains. Hence nation-building would be impossible even if we knew how, and even if Afghanistan were not the second-worst place to try: The Brookings Institution ranks Somalia as the only nation with a weaker state.

Military historian Max Hastings says Kabul controls only about a third of the country — “control” is an elastic concept — and “ ‘our’ Afghans may prove no more viable than were ‘our’ Vietnamese, the Saigon regime.”

I really don't have much to criticize George Will for on this. His arguments are based on facts and our lack of clear objectives, but maybe General McChrystal come up with a more suitable strategy with his recent report to CENTCOM and the Pentagon. I don't pretend that I have some master plan, but at least the guy who is supposed to has a good-looking set of pants.

Great Britain Goes to the Bums

2009-08-31T16:09:00.006+07:00

If you would've said 100 years ago that the country responsible for most of the modern world's ideas on everything from democracy to military tradition to the world's international language would be some second-tier socialist backwater, it would've been bullocks. But it seems the once great nation is having some very serious problems apart from their Prime Minister getting caught up in a "Blood for Oil" scandal. Newsweek pinned the decline of Great Britain on the economic crisis, but the Sunday Times notes a dangerous entitlement mentality that is dragging down the country from within:

Those cautionary words haunt us now as we discover that 5m adults have not worked since Labour came to power 12 years ago. Even excluding those who are in education or have only recently completed it, and discounting those who have left the labour market through age or ill health, 2.5m have been jobless since 1997 at least. There are now 3.3m households — one in six — with no one over the age of 16 in employment and 1.9m children living in families without a parent in work.

While the recession is increasing the numbers, it clearly did not cause the problem. Those millions remained idle during 10 years of boom when the economy created many jobs that immigrants happily filled. The workless have been immune to programmes of training and mentoring. No reform in our education system has dented their numbers and repeated efforts to tighten the criteria for invalidity benefits or “sharpen” claimants’ contact with the labour market have failed.

Why would you work if you could sit around playing Xbox all day and collecting paychecks from the government? Sure, society should do something to help the poor, but at what point does it become a dangerous cycle of dependence? These are questions I don't think politicians think about as they buy votes by sending their respective country's deeper into debt.

Federal Bureaucrats Livin' High on the Hog

2009-08-28T13:11:00.004+07:00

It's bad enough that Washington DC is riding out the recession quite well and sucking up a high proportion of stimulus dollars, but do federal workers have to continue giving themselves massive pay raises? At least they know what their priorities are. A CATO analyst found that federal wages have risen at a significantly higher percentage than civilian wages over the last 8 years, and IBD has more:

Chris Edwards, director of tax policy studies at the Cato Institute, touched quite a nerve earlier this week when he relayed the latest wage data, categorized by industry, from the Commerce Department's Bureau of Economic Analysis. "The new data show that average federal compensation is now more than double the average in the private sector," Edwards noted.

He added: "In 2008, the average wage for 1.9 million federal civilian workers was $79,197, which compared to an average $49,935 for the nation's 108 million private sector workers. The federal advantage is even more pronounced when worker benefits are included. In 2008, federal worker compensation averaged a remarkable $119,982, which was more than double the private sector average of $59,909."

Not that I have anything against public servants...hell, I was one for close to 7 years. But, I question how much taxpayers dollars have to be spent towards the salaries and benefits packages of people who figure out what color beer cans Americans should be allowed to drink.

WTF: That's Not How We Used to Do It

2009-08-25T20:49:00.003+07:00

Way back in the "Surge" days (2007-2008), we used to do this type of "media assessment" of news coverage of Iraq, but it was mostly for situational awareness for the brass and PAO types, and wasn't meant to ban embeds. From Stars & Stripes:

Rendon examines individual reporters’ recent work and determines whether the coverage was “positive,” “negative” or “neutral” compared to mission objectives, according to Rendon officials. It conducts similar analysis of general reporting trends about the war for the military and has been contracted for such work since 2005, according to the company.

“We have not denied access to anyone because of what may or may not come out of their biography,” said Air Force Capt. Elizabeth Mathias, a public affairs officer with U.S. Forces Afghanistan in Kabul. “It’s so we know with whom we’re working.”

U.S. Army officials in Iraq engaged in a similar vetting practice two months ago, when they barred a Stars and Stripes reporter from embedding with a unit of the 1st Cavalry Division because the reporter “refused to highlight” good news that military commanders wanted to emphasize.

While senior leadership in the military want the press to write great stories about how everything is going swell, the same leaders generally understand there's something called the first amendment, and the military is obligated as a public organization to provide truthful information. If this type of vetting had anything to do with Michael Yon getting his embed canceled, someone's really fucking up. Maybe J is onto something?

Hulkamania Coming to a Town Hall Near You

2009-08-25T20:18:00.003+07:00

David Weigel pokes fun, but I say that whenever a celebrity wants to get behind any type of conservative cause, they should be embraced. How many conservative celebrities are there? Ted Nugent, the other not-so-famous Baldwin brother, uh...that dude from Robot Jox, not many! From Guaranteed Lower Property Tax:

Dear Friend,
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Simply enter your information below or call 888.331.1599, and we will share with you exactly how we guarantee that we can lower your property taxes! If we are unable to get you $995 in tax savings, we will give you a full refund.

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The Hulkster may have a slew of personal problems, but as long as he's not a 9-11 Truther douchebag like Jesse Ventura, I'm onboard.

Admiral Optimism Calls Afghanistan "Deteriorating"

2009-08-24T15:57:00.004+07:00

pic from NYT

This certainly isn't what you want to hear from the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, but Admiral Mullen is not known to have a penchant for bullshit. From NYT:

The assessments come as the top American commander in the country, Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, has been working to complete a major war strategy review, and as the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen, described a worsening situation in Afghanistan despite the recent addition of 17,000 American troops ordered by the Obama administration and the extra security efforts surrounding the presidential election.

“I think it is serious and it is deteriorating,” Admiral Mullen said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union” program. “The Taliban insurgency has gotten better, more sophisticated, in their tactics.” He added that General McChrystal was still completing his review and had not yet requested additional troops on top of the those added by Mr. Obama.

With logistics problems due to the country still being stuck in the 8th century, as well as a government that is barely functional outside of Kabul, we might be asking a bit much from our military to completely rebuild a society that was never much in the first place. Admiral Mullen's statements might be a prelude to throwing in the towel...

Robbing Peter to Pay Goldman Sachs, Big Government is Back

2009-08-23T09:11:00.005+07:00

Awesomely Awesome Graphic From Rapture Ready Radio

So, I was sent to this luncheon for work hosted by the UN and the speaker was talking about sustainable agricultural practices and how to improve the environment in rural areas of developing countries. He stated that the development sector needed to stop acting on a "Soviet Union-type central planning" model and start thinking more about markets (i.e. making environmentally-friendly ag practices beneficial to consumers and what not). If the motherfuckin' United Nations recognizes that central planning might not always be the way to go, why is the United States reverting to a cross between the WPA and Mao's Great Leap Forward? Matt Welch has an article in the NY Post about the new era of big gummint started with Bush's TARP fiasco:

This isn't about liberal or conservative, Democrat or Republican. A majority oppose Obama's policies because they fly in the face of this country's bedrock values of personal liberty and limited government. Robbing Peter to pay Goldman Sachs does violence to that fundamentally American ethos.

And increasingly, Obama administration policy does violence to European values, as well. The continent has for the last two decades been systematically disengaging national governments from domestic industries. Top officials from Sweden, of all places, complained about Washington's auto bailout, tersely announcing that "The Swedish state is not prepared to own car factories."

It's complete arrogance that any politician can manipulate the economy as efficiently and productively of the free market. John Stossel makes the point with health care that the free market is a representation of the wills, needs, and capacities of billions of people around the world, and what centrally-planned bureaucracy is going to be able to do that more efficiently? Certainly, I would argue that there needs to be government-run, central-planning models for institutions like the military (because of its unique purpose), but this whole concept that governments need to intervene in failing markets has proved a colossal dud these last 10 months.

GOP Status Downgraded From Racist Hicks to Nihilists

2009-08-21T10:39:00.003+07:00

The GOP has been called so many "-ists" in the last month, it's becoming increasingly difficult to track. Skippy tries to shed some light on what Joe Klein means when he applies the "nihilist" label, but all I can think of is German guys trying to cut off my johnson. From Time:

This is a difficult situation for the President. Cynicism about government is always easy, even if it now seems apparent that it was government action — by both Obama and, yes, George W. Bush — that prevented a reprise of the Great Depression. I watched Obama as he traveled the Rocky Mountain West, holding health-care forums, trying to lance the boil by eliciting questions from the irrational minority that had pulverized the public forums held by lesser pols. He would search the crowds for a first-class nutter who might challenge him on "death panels," but he was constantly disappointed. In Colorado, he locked in on an angry-looking fellow in a teal T shirt — but the guy's fury was directed at the right-wing disinformation campaign. Obama seemed to sag. He had to bring up the "death panels" himself.

Klein seems upset that is incumbent upon the majority party to explain to the public, which allows government to exist, of why a fundamental restructure of the health care industry is necessary. Klein is completely unable to fathom why every other American isn't completely in love with the President like he is and why the bumpkins in Walmart land aren't worshiping the ground Obama walks on. So when they can't back up White House talking points with concise rational arguments, they resort to this lame name-calling.

The Foreign Policy Expertise of the New Ambassador to France

2009-08-17T21:41:00.004+07:00

The New York Times discusses the newly appointed ambassador to France, Charles Rivkin, whose experience with all things diplomatic consists of being an executive producer of a Nick Jr. show about one-eyed blingwads and hanging out with muppets. Of course the President wouldn't appoint any old yahoo to such an important position, just yahoos who were able to raise a lot of campaign cash. From NY Times (by way of Yglesias):

As it stands, Mr. Obama could not now come close. Thirty-eight of his first 65 ambassadorial appointments were political. Even if every political envoy remaining were replaced by a career officer, the percentage would fall only to 26 percent. The lowest among recent presidents was 24 percent, under President Jimmy Carter.

For the Prez to appoint some rich guy from the civilian world to the position of General or Admiral would be criminally insane. Why is doing so with the Foreign Service a standard political practice?

The Problem With Freedom of Speech

2009-08-16T14:37:00.004+07:00

pic from WaPo

Seeing how it's a day ending in Y this month, intellectual elites with unresolved emotional issues stemming from getting wedgied by the football team in high school are taking to the dead tree media to chastise the NASCAR-loving rubes in flyover country for not supporting Obamacare. Rick Perlstein is the latest person to call folks concerned about adding a trillion bucks to the deficit crazy birther/rednecks who bear more resemblance to Ed Gein than hard-working Americans. From WaPo:

It used to be different. You never heard the late Walter Cronkite taking time on the evening news to "debunk" claims that a proposed mental health clinic in Alaska is actually a dumping ground for right-wing critics of the president's program, or giving the people who made those claims time to explain themselves on the air. The media didn't adjudicate the ever-present underbrush of American paranoia as a set of "conservative claims" to weigh, horse-race-style, against liberal claims. Back then, a more confident media unequivocally labeled the civic outrage represented by such discourse as "extremist" -- out of bounds.

Yes, it's such a shame for the powerful elite that us little people have things like blogs and cable news alternatives instead of 3 crummy TV stations to voice our opinion. Perlstein also attacks right-wing paranoia of communism in America's past and certainly there is some legitimacy to that claim. But, if there's anything that the tragedies of the 20th century taught us (the Cultural Revolution, Gulags, Pol Pot, etc.), it's that the grand experiment of Marxism led to a very high number of stiffs. Maybe it wasn't completely irrational to be concerned about the spread of communism.

The more I see the progressives in charge of the country, the more I believe that it's being led by power-hungry politicians who to seek to continuously win elections by coercing constituents to be dependent on government charity. If they are so true to their "power to the people" principles, then why is there so much opposition to average people speaking their mind?

Update: Forgot to mention that there has been no increase in security threats for the President during all this town hall hoopla.

Lizette Alvarez Redeems Herself

2009-08-16T14:27:00.003+07:00

pic from BlackFive

I've been known to label NY Times military columnist Lizette Alvarez a moran in the past for her slanted coverage, but she has a pretty decent article in the NY Times about women in today's military. The article states that the military acknowledges that women serve an important role in combat, but that the general American populous has yet to recognize this reality (h/t GI Kate's Twitter). It's similar to the case of SPC Brown who received a Silver Star in Afghanistan but got pulled off combat duty once the press made the public aware of what she was doing.

From My Side

2009-08-15T12:32:00.003+07:00

Reading a Doc Zero column on a lazy Saturday morning is kind of like sex or a Denzel Washington movie: it's never really bad. He tends to write in the first-person plural when referring to this side of the great partisan rift, which a tad presumptuous, but effective. This particular column refers to how the GOP can get its act together:

Republican candidates must recognize the Obama disaster as a unique opportunity to explain the fundamental flaws in the statist model our nation has pursued for generations. Obama was not a transformational figure. He merely jumped liberalism ahead by a few election cycles, and demonstrated the final, fatal absurdity of its philosophy. Republicans should take this unique opportunity to attack the horrendously mistaken, supposedly invulnerable assumptions which have guided the devolution of our federal government since the New Deal. Obama was the inevitable product of machinery that has been groaning and clanking in the American basement for decades. We don’t want Republicans to tell us how they could deliver the nanny state for a bit less money than Obama wanted to spend. We don’t want to hear the 2008 Democrats portrayed as well-meaning reformers who just over-reached a little bit, or handled the marketing effort for their programs badly. We need leaders with the courage to head down into the basement with sledgehammers, and start knocking Roosevelt and Johnson’s nightmare machine to pieces. It’s not enough to just roll the current madness back a little, then let the whole tragedy play itself out again, with our children as the captive audience.

The steady drumbeat of Democrats demonizing their opponents and even the President deciding who and who isn't an "American" is the sound of their backs hitting the wall, and there will need to be room for alternatives in 2010. But I'm a bit less optimistic on the Republicans than Dr. Zero, because like all politicians, they make false promises about "fixing the economy" with "tax cuts for small businesses" at the expense of our national security as our debt piles up. I'm waiting for the politician to tell the American people that the recession happened because America is consuming more than it is producing and the recession is a result of market-forces correcting this discrepancy. But then again I hear Peter Schiff is running for Senate in Connecticut.

Greeting From an Un-American

2009-08-11T14:19:00.003+07:00

So, I've been in upcountry Thailand for awhile and didn't have the world's fastest internet connection. But imagine my surprise to find out I wasn't really an American because I dared criticize The Obama deficit-ridden health care thingy. Rather than whine about how mean the Democrats are bullies, I'd rather just use this opportunity to morph into a caricature that has no national boundaries, like Captain Planet (but not as gay) or Lord Humungus or something. Who's with me?

Part of the Astroturfing Terrorist Masses

2009-08-06T15:47:00.004+07:00

There's been a ridiculous push by the left to categorize anyone who disagrees with the President's healthcare agenda as part of some corporate/GOP-funded pod people. Have these people seen the state of the Republican Party lately? I'd be surprised if they could even have the competence to hire someone to answer the phone at RNC headquarters. But, this isn't just your standard bottom-feeders in blogoland either, the DNC has made a video calling protesters an angry mob. The gentleman in unpleated Dockers hanging an effigy of some other guy in unpleated Dockers seems to have ignited that convenient outrage amongst Obama supporters where you can demonize your opponents as boorish rubes. TPM is shocked that one Democratic congressman received a death threat:

"The call to the D.C. office was, 'Miller could lose his life over this,'" said Canipe. "Our staffer took it so seriously, he confirmed what the guy was saying. He said, 'Sir is that a threat?' and at that time our staffer was getting the phone number off caller ID and turning it over to the Capitol Police."

It's a sad reality, but in America if you are a public figure you're probably going to get death threats and you're probably going to have a creepy stalker. The secret service fields 3,000 threats a year against the President. There are always going to be crazies in America, and I don't know why they should define a broad section of the American people unless you're looking for low-hanging fruit to criticize your political opponents. This attempt to equate anyone who disagrees with Obamacare as some sort of lowlife thug seems to be the only strategy the Democrats have at the moment as support for this federally-subsidized monstrosity goes down the tubes. As ABC's Jake Tapper notes, the non-support for Obamacare seems to be genuine.

Surprise: Concealed Weapons Permits Through the Roof

2009-08-05T16:23:00.002+07:00

Having the Democrats in power again has certainly provided some much needed economic stimulus for one industry: firearms. And it didn't even require a billion dollar program that went broke after 5 days. From USA Today:

Interest groups on both sides agree that demand for permits is up because of economic uncertainty and concerns about a new president and a Democrat-controlled Congress.

"People pay attention to politics. … They're afraid of another effort" to try to enact more gun control, says Andrew Arulanandam, spokesman for the National Rifle Association. "Part of the concern is spurred by the economic downturn and fear that crime will go up."

Since violent crime has been dropping despite the economy going kaputz, I'd say that it has more to do with the traditional fears that the Democrats are coming for your guns (a characterization that lives on from the Clinton years). Even though the 2nd Amendment has not come under fire (yet), you can never be too safe these days.

Blogosphere Moran Contradicts Himself in a One Page Post

2009-08-03T22:46:00.004+07:00

Apparently being a university professor doesn't excuse someone from being an embarrassing imbecile. Just like he did during the 2008 campaign, Juan Cole, the self-professed Middle East expert who was horrendously wrong about his Iraq predictions, continues his lame schtick of comparing Sarah Palin to Islamic fundamentalist groups. This time it's Ahmadinejad and how using right-wing populism is a trait shared with Palin or something. From Salon:

Right-wing populism, rooted in the religion, culture and aspirations of the lower middle class, is often caricatured as insane by its critics. That judgment is unfair. But it is true that such movements often encourage a political style of exhibitionism, disregard for the facts as understood by the mainstream media, and exaltation of the values of people who feel themselves marginalized by the political system. Not all forms of protest, however, are healthy, even if the protesters have legitimate grievances. Right-wing populism is centered on a theory of media conspiracy, a "my country right or wrong" chauvinism, a fascination with an armed citizenry, an intolerance of dissent and a willingness to declare political opponents mere terrorists. It is cavalier in its disregard of elementary facts and arrogant about the self-evident rightness of its religious and political doctrines.

So comparing political enemies to terrorists (like Juan Cole's recently published article!) is a political tactic only used by us schlubs who don't have a PhD. Maybe Professor Cole should ask himself why so many Americans are increasingly pissed off at the dangerous cronyism in the Wall Street/DC corridor while the rest of the country goes down the toilet. I'm much more likely to trust this guy working the nightshift at 7-11 in Texarkana than some Ivy League pizzaface in the Obummer administration.

Nothing But Bombs

2009-08-03T19:57:00.003+07:00

Interesting chart over at Boing Boing which shows that military production has cranked up, but civilian production in the US is down in the crapper.

PC Weenies in the Big Mango

2009-08-01T19:49:00.005+07:00

Clip from the classic film PCU

Just when you thought you escaped the eggheaded busybodies in your home country that are quickly sending America down the tubes, you read about some non-Thai guy getting offended because he was called...a foreigner! I sure hope the ACLU has a chapter out here in Bangkok.

The Thai word "farang (ฝรั่ง)" means "Non-Asian Foreigner" and, being a white guy in an Asian country and not speaking the language well, that would be a pretty accurate description for me. But a gentleman on a Bangkok Post seems to take deep offense when someone states the obvious:

This and various other objectionable uses of the f word are endured by Westerners every day in the LOS. I loath and despise this word and know that many others feel the same way.

However I also know that Thailand is a developing country, and relatively speaking, is not very multi cultural. I should be patient someone may tell me. However is it too much to expect the English language press, the expatriate community, and the educated Thai classes to have an understanding of why most of the uses of this word are objectionable, so that when I explain to my partner why I don't want my daughter learning it, I can point to the fact that I am not alone?

Thailand's not "multi-cultural" enough? When Hillary was out here last week, he should've asked her to deploy a team of sensitivity czars to correct this problem.

Some Sheize Pr0n to Kick Off the Weekend

2009-07-31T17:00:00.002+07:00

A German co-worker shared this video with me during a discussion focused on Kitsch 90s music. If you're looking for creepy euro-industrial dancing set to schlocky bass beats, you've come to the right place!

Flat Earth Society

2009-07-29T21:04:00.003+07:00

BBC has a little of background on the Islamic fanatics that have been wreaking havoc in Nigeria. From the BBC:

"Like rain. We believe it is a creation of God rather than an evaporation caused by the sun that condenses and becomes rain. "Like saying the world is a sphere. If it runs contrary to the teachings of Allah, we reject it. We also reject the theory of Darwinism." Mr Yusuf himself is something of an enigma. He is believed to be in his mid-thirties, and analysts say he is extremely wealthy and highly educated. "He is graduate educated and very proficient in English," says Nigerian academic Hussain Zakaria. "He lives lavishly - people say he drives a Mercedes Benz. And he is very well-educated in a Western context."

Sounds like a swell guy. Where can I sign up?

Birther Nonsense Goes From Funny to Extremely Embarrassing

2009-07-28T22:09:00.005+07:00

God bless America. It has has always had it's share of crazies. Just a natural by-product of a nation which honors freedom of speech that can actually provide some laughs after three beers. But there's a point when folks who might otherwise be considered political allies start to make you get a little uneasy. The Army guy (an junior officer no less) who demanded that President Obama show him his birth certificate was a punch in the face. But the fact that congress had to pass a resolution that Obama was indeed born in Hawaii shows this meme residing in the dark corners of the internet has gone too damn far.

I don't think that Obama was born overseas in the same way I don't think my little brother is secretly a robot, there's no rationale reasoning to come to either conclusion so I don't really think about it. National Review has an interesting editorial trying to distance themselves from birtherism like Harrison Ford distanced himself from the Star Wars Holiday Special:

Much foolishness has become attached to the question of President Obama’s place of birth, and a few misguided souls among the Right have indulged it.

There's a lot too criticize Obama about...a lot. Why choose this bullshit?

Obama Propaganda Sure Isn't Subtle

2009-07-27T17:05:00.003+07:00

Imagine the irony when I was reading up on the Thailand government's strange internet campaign to promote national unity, clicked on something on Bangkok's The Nation about the stimulus failing, and this google ad popped up:

Great, so we're spending taxpayer dollars on google ads for Obama Blogarama to explain why wasting taxpayer dollars on the stimulus was a good idea. At least the Thai propaganda operates under the guise of promoting stability. Our propaganda is just about one guy: The Obama. Not even the power of google is going to save this guy's falling approval rating.

Well At Least It's Not the LA Riots

2009-07-25T11:02:00.003+07:00

Obama has backpedaled on his initial comments of the Cambridge police officer who arrested the Harvard professor. No problem, everyone has a gaffe, even messiahs. In my opinion, the case seems to be more about society's elite thinking the law doesn't apply to them and they don't have to explain themselves to lowly-paid guys with their names on their uniform. Kind of like the people who whine about having to take their shows off at the airport, but I digress. The Cambridge mayor didn't even stick up for one of her police officers, which shows that it must be swell to be a cop in that city. Police are tasked with probably the most essential task in ensuring a civil society, and I wish more people would drop this adolescent bullshit of always blaming them without giving a little benefit of the doubt. The media is attempting to re-ignite the racial profiling debate, but I don't think it's as big a deal as their making it, and it'll drop off the news cycle once some other governor gets found indiscretely boning. As long as there's no LA riots ripping society apart at the seams, I think we will carry on as a nation, however imperfect.

British Paper Badmouths America For Not Loving Obamacare

2009-07-23T21:22:00.003+07:00

Well if you don't like snooty American bloggers telling you why you're a terrible person for not supporting a debt-ridden, centralized health care monstrosity, you're probably not going to care much when someone from Europe does it. From the Independent in London:

Like anyone who writes in a national newspaper, I'm used to abuse, but nothing prepared me for the venom unleashed when I dared to suggest, on an American website earlier this year, that "rational self-interest" might have its limits. My suggestion, said one correspondent who tracked me down months later, was "an attack" on his "happiness, freedom, income, survival and family" and I clearly had "(a) no education and (b) no experience". Suffice it to say that he, and his fellow Christina critics, were less than delighted about the "obscure left/socialist leanings" of "an American Idol President". Socialist? It would be tempting, as a Brit, to say 'you're having a larf!', but these people are not, I think it's safe to say, overly endowed with a sense of humour.

If Obama can't do this, nobody can. If Obama can't do this, America's poor are screwed. Sure, America's got talent, but it's also got some of the most unpleasant, uncompassionate, unerringly ruthless people on the face of this planet. Boy will that boy need some luck.

Well, that certainly doesn't have much of the British charm. And what's up with calling Obama "boy" like it's some 1950s diner in Biloxi, Mississippi. This is not the first time scary, middle-aged women have referred to Obama as "boy".

You kind of get a sense of the commentator;s demeanor with this line later in her stream-of-conscious blatherings:

The pub, cosy cornerstone of the community, hub of happiness and harmony etc, is in decline and this, apparently, is a national disaster.

Could this be the same institution that has been castigated for fostering the country's only serious national pastime, the mass pouring down throats of the drug regarded as the biggest threat to the nation's health?

Great. Another know-it-all, self-roghteous liberal who wants to mind everyone else's personal business to compensate for god-knows-what. Please stay in England, we have too many like you in the States.

Thank You, Hillary

2009-07-23T21:02:00.003+07:00

A friendly สวัสดีค่ะ(Hello) from Hillary

Phew! Good thing they didn't send Biden, he probably would've remarked on their "funny looking oriental clothes" or something. Hillary is wrapping up a successful diplomatic visit to Thailand. From Xinhua:

Meanwhile, Thailand's Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya, who also joined the press conference with Clinton, said the United States and Thailand promises to strengthen the bilateral tie.

In addition to that, the two countries will work closely within the ASEAN context particularly in the ASEAN-U.S. dialogue and also in the other regional organizations, Kasit said.

The United States has reaffirmed its continued interest and full participation for the well-being of the Asia-Pacific region and Southeast Asia's peace and security development, Kasit said.

Libertarian-Feminist Kerry Howley notes that it's often embarrassing to be an ex-pat because our leaders are "hubristic". From where I'm sitting, I don't know what the fuck Howley is talking about (even though I usually agree with her). Hillary Clinton is trying to voice U.S. interests in the region of promoting free trade and stopping aggression from rogue states. Uh, isn't that what diplomats are supposed do? Let our nation's foreign-policy interests be known?

Besides, it's not embarrassing to be an American in Thailand. Besides my own personal experience, I can cite this poll which shows that 21% of women from Northeastern Thailand (Isaan) prefer American husbands (trailing slightly behind the Brits). Isn't that what's most important when living abroad, the local women?

The Evil Roundabout Empire

2009-07-22T20:26:00.002+07:00

So some poindexter who writes books about the exciting world of traffic engineering uses a bunch of facts and figures to discuss why we should surrender our sovereignty and allow the roundabout to be a mainstay on our roads. Despite the fact that trying to walk across one of these monstrosities is a death sentence, he's obviously never seen a little movie called National Lampoon's European Vacation.

This and another annoyances that make you want to shoot yourself in the face will be coming soon to a backed up traffic circle near you.

Will Hillary Clinton Embarrass America in Thailand?

2009-07-21T20:27:00.003+07:00

So Far, So Good! (photo of Hillary Clinton with Thai PM Abhisit from BP)

It's pretty tough to fuck up diplomatic relations with a country that is generally welcoming of foreigners and has had friendly ties with the US for over 100 years. About the only way to do it would be to insult the King, knock over a Buddha statue during a drunken bender, or con your way out of a bar fine. And I'm proud to say our country's top diplomat has not done any of these losing-face gaffes as of 8:30pm in Bangkok. Uh, U-S-A, U-S-A. From Wall Street Journal:

Total trade between the U.S. and Asean exceeded $178 billion in 2008, and, in an opinion piece Mrs. Clinton wrote that was published in Bangkok newspapers Tuesday, she said "there is no doubt that our economies' fortunes and our nations' futures are more intertwined than ever before."

Some regional analysts see the Asean grouping as the kernel of a broader free trade bloc spanning the Pacific and also encompassing China, Japan, South Korea. Mrs. Clinton is scheduled to sign a non-aggression pact with Asean in Phuket, as China did in 2003, which diplomats say could enable the U.S. to later enmesh itself within the so-called East Asia Summit group, which includes the ten Asean members plus trade partners China, India, Japan, South Korea, New Zealand and Australia.

The free trade stuff with Southeast Asia is all well and good, and she's trying to get the ASEAN countries to put the squeeze on the usual suspects (Islamic terrorists, North Korea, Burma), which is good as well. I'll give her bonus points if she can calm the country down about this CIA black site business.

Believe it or not, besides her scary offical cabinet photo, I have a lot of confidence in Hillary as the Secretary of State. IMHO of a good diplomat, you need someone smart, well-educated, and the ability to be conniving and manipulative while putting on a bullshit smile, something Hillary Clinton has in droves.

Should I Bring the Gun or the Flowers?

2009-07-20T20:18:00.005+07:00

Wired Danger Room is on an embed in the Panjshir Valley in Afghanistan and they note the poo-pooing by NGO types of the PRT in carrying out civil-military operations:

Not everyone is fan of the military’s embrace of the humanitarian mission. Since their inception in late 2002 as “Joint Regional Teams,” many in the aid and development community have worried that the PRTs were encroaching on a traditional humanitarian space, blurring the line between civilian aid work and military operations. In a recent opinion piece, Anna Husarska of the International Rescue Committee quotes an unnamed colleague who tut-tutted that the PRTs are “Humvees in a china shop.” For the purists, relief and development work are a task best done by independent aid agencies, not the military.

This isn't the first time that humanitarians have bad-mouthed this entire component of counter-insurgency. As a guy who used to be in the military but is now a tie-dye wearin' NGO geek, I feel the need to comment. Yes, showing up with an assortment of weapons might not be the key to convincing folks you are there to help, but it is incredibly naive to not understand that security and the rule of law must be established before any real social/economic development takes place in troubled areas. That's why the 2007 strategy in Iraq was successful, because it primarily focused on improving security, instead having contractors half-assedly building schools that were going to get blown up anyways.

There is/will be a need for humanitarian workers in Afghanistan, but until law and order can be established, it will have to have a military component. Don't let idealism result in you getting killed by reality.

Fighting Back

2009-07-18T09:57:00.003+07:00

Even though Massachusetts' near-universal health coverage is bankrupting the state by the second, liberal types are making the rounds saying that government-run health programs (like the VA) are actually swell. I guess veterans-related scandals were only the meme of the day when Bush was president. You can take a look at Joe's comment if you want to see what a pain in the ass it is to deal with the VA, and you can read this IBD editorial on how much this monstrous Obamacare is going to cost:

Few of the plans now coming out of Congress will save anything, says the CBO's current chief, Douglas Elmendorf. In fact, he says, they'll lead to substantially higher costs in the future — costs that will be "unsustainable."

As it is, estimates for reforming health care range from $1 trillion to $3.6 trillion. Much will be spent on subsidies to make a so-called public option more attractive to consumers than private plans.

To pay for it, the president has suggested about $600 billion in new taxes, meaning that $500 billion to $2.1 trillion in new health care spending over the next decade will be unfunded. This could push up the nation's already soaring deficit, expected to reach $10 trillion through 2019 without health care reform. Massive new tax hikes will probably be needed to close the gap.

If the Obama administration is going to throw taxpayer money around, you'd think they would wait at least a year to blow another trillion dollars. After a while, these trillions really start adding up.

Obamacare is On the Way

2009-07-16T21:04:00.003+07:00

Can you hear that slow death rattle of American civilization? Not even the "blue dogs" are going to save us from this turd. Yesterday, Ed Morrissey noted that the government can't even get the VA under control, so why the fuck are they going to try and supervise health care coverage for everybody. Having been in the military, most of us are pretty good at filling out ridiculous paperwork and dealing with bullshit, I feel sorry for everybody else.

Surviving the Supreme Court Schnoozefest... with Gwar

2009-07-15T20:53:00.003+07:00

This bullshit about the Supreme something or other is #1 on Memeorandum? It must be a pretty slow day.

The guys at TAH have some choice words about Major Bonehead who refused to deploy because he hasn't seen Obama's birth certificate, but other than that, it's pretty dull out here on the internet. So here's an old Gwar video to get over the hump. And if you know who Gwar is (or have ever been showered in fake blood at one of their concerts), then you probably have a VHS copy of Army of Darkness sitting around and are wondering why kids today are such little weenies.

Happy Trillion Dollar Deficit Day

2009-07-14T16:28:00.004+07:00

Might as well yuck it up before the Chinese pull the plug on us and turn America into Barter Town because the dollar ain't worth a shit. From Sun-Sentinel:

The Treasury Department said Monday that the deficit in June totaled $94.3 billion, pushing the total since the budget year started in October to nearly $1.1 trillion.

The deficit has been propelled by the huge sum the government has spent to combat the recession and financial crisis, combined with a sharp decline in tax revenues. Paying for wars in Iraq and Afghanistan also is a major factor.

The country's soaring deficits are making Chinese and other foreign buyers of U.S. debt nervous, which could make them reluctant lenders down the road. It could force the Treasury Department to pay higher interest rates to make U.S. debt attractive longer-term.

"These are mind boggling numbers," said Sung Won Sohn, an economist at the Smith School of Business at California State University. "Our foreign investors from China and elsewhere are starting to have concerns about not only the value of the dollar but how safe their investments will be in the long run."

It seems Obama's team had too many rosy predictions about an excessively shitty economy. Well, at least bailed-out Goldman Sachs is having a good fiscal year.

New Military Policy From the Morale Supression Squad

2009-07-13T19:32:00.003+07:00

For years, the Pentagon has been cranking out cheesy anti-smoking ads targeted at servicemembers, along with other bizarre PSAs, in the hopes of curbing the associated health costs. But now it looks like they are just going to try and outright ban those delicious cancer-sticks. From the Daily Mail (h/t Wek):

The investigation by the Institute of Medicine, commissioned by the Pentagon, found that a third of the country's three million servicemen and women uses tobacco, compared with a fifth in the general population.

The heaviest smokers - perhaps not surprisingly - were soldiers and Marines on active duty in Iraq and Afghanistan.

About 37 per cent of soldiers and 36 per cent of Marines used tobacco. Combat veterans were 50 per cent more likely to smoke than troops who hadn't seen any fighting, the report said.

Brandon Friedman seems to think this is a good idea, after all military members surrender their freedoms on all sorts of matters. But, I wonder, if any senior enlisted personnel were consulted on this matter? Because they're the ones who are going to have to deal with the inevitable mutiny that takes place once this policy goes into effect. We had to stop smoking on the boat once when we had a freon leak out at sea. That was the worst 24 hours ever, and that's saying a lot for the Navy!

Another concern is that by using the logic that "it'll save taxpayer money", you can use the same line of reasoning to ban smoking, and anything else that makes life tolerable, for the entire country under Obamacare.

From the Department of WTF?!?

2009-07-12T13:07:00.004+07:00

"Adolf Hitler Good Movie On"

Spotted this strange creation at Bangkok's monstrous JJ market yesterday. I'd like to say this is the first time I've seen Hitler's mug being used in jest on a Thai T-shirt, but that wouldn't be true. I guess I'm lucky to be from a country where sporting Nazi paraphernalia would make you about as popular as an H1N1 outbreak. The only people seriously interested in reviving the Third Reich are uneducated rednecks and Obama's creepy, eugenicist science adviser.

When $787B isn't Enough

2009-07-09T21:10:00.003+07:00

Only in the twilight zone of Obamanomics is the ghastly size of the stimulus not a lot of cash, which has to-date been about as successful as T. Boone Pickens' plan to conquer the Texas Panhandle with wind turbines. Paul Krugman thinks there's a conspiracy to sabotage plans for more money being shoveled at special interest groups, and HuffPo thinks limiting federal spending is akin to incest. A simple meme of the frightening red ink the CBO predicts has been a mainstay for bloggers in the days of Obama, but I think Leskoization video from Reason needs some more air time: