Saturday, November 7, 2009
Backlash
Speaking of audacity, the AP has a handwringing piece about renewed Muslim fears of an anti-Islamic backlash, highest ever since 9/11: (more…)
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 9:57 am Comments (2)
“Young Man Of Morals”
Mourned. Boston Herald on the funeral of USMC Capt. Kyle VanDeGiesen. His pregnant wife is following the casket.
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 9:35 am Comments (0)
The Audacity Of D’oh
Mary Katharine Ham at the Weekly Standard on White House flack Gibbs’ exasperation … “Imagine just a few years ago had somebody walked around with images of Hitler” … helpfully points out that they did. Also observes more redneck bashing and comments, “I guess this is what they meant by ‘audacity.’”
Meanwhile, Jules Crittenden at the Weekly Standard, “Obama’s Leading Indicator.” It’s about using Massachusetts as a testing ground, and despite an initial good showing, how it hasn’t worked for him. D’oh!
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 9:32 am Comments (0)
Big Guns Make Bad Neighbors
I say, Muffy, that deuced gunnery is flattening the bubbly! Old Ironsides’ la-di-da waterfront condo neighbors want to muffle the guns … a.m. and p.m. salutes to the flag, unsettling. Boston Herald: (more…)
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 8:26 am Comments (1)
Friday, November 6, 2009
Combat Wounded, Combat Dead
… deserve Purple Hearts. Their killer probably deserves desertion, treason and terrorism charges if, as all indicators seem to very strongly suggest, he was engaged in jihad, from his violence-inciting, hateful rants about the Koran, his denunciation of the United States as “the aggressor” in arguments with fellow soldiers, to his shouts of “Allahu Akhbar,” to what they believe were his Internet defenses of suicide bombings, to his choice of targets, the Soldier Readiness Center at Fort Hood. If al-Qaeda is an amorphous enemy, an idea made situationally manifest by the will of its adherents, and he was in fact an adherent of its violent agenda, then he is the enemy, his actions were acts of war, and they bled and died under enemy fire. (more…)
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 9:13 pm Comments (4)
Jackass 101
Prof. Hullabaloo Digby, lefty blogger extraordinaire, instructing: (more…)
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 9:26 am Comments (1)
Dots, Not Connected
Not in time, anyway. The murders of 12 people and wounding of 31 others by one man with two handguns probably made a lot of things painfully obvious, and probably helped cut through a lot of clutter and red tape pretty quickly.
But when, within a matter of hours, the following facts and suspicions are widely reported, it suggests there may have been insufficient urgency in some quarters, maybe official obstacles in others, maybe reluctance to act on concerns elsewhere … maybe a desire to see the problem known as Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan go elsewhere … and in the end, a lot of dots not connected.
Culled variously from AP, Washington Post, New York Times: (more…)
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 1:10 am Comments (7)
Thursday, November 5, 2009
The Many, The Generous …
Team Marines. Leading by more than seven grand and double-digit percentage points as of 11:30 a.m.
Just because Team Marines is kicking A doesn’t mean the war-wounded vets of all branches that Valour IT serves don’t still need your help.
Don’t hate Team Marines because we’re beautiful. That goes double for the lovely Cassandra at Villainous Company. Donate via Team Marines. All proceeds go to buy laptops and specialized electronics for war-wounded vets.
Here’s Villainous Company on wounded Marines taking care of each other.
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 11:38 am Comments (0)
The Phillies Won!
I would approve of this fine snark at Legal Insurrection, but then I’d have to think the New York Yankees and their Evil Empire are the GOP of baseball, and I can’t do that. As long as we’re plumbing the baseball-sports nexus, hope to change ”There’s always next year” to “There’s also next year.”
Speaking of next year, Surber mulls the prospects of 15 percent unemployment. He ties it to a drop in private business investment. I’d tie that to a porkulus that shoveled big piles of deficit-financed cash to non-productive sectors and assorted boondoggles that it could have shoveled into job-generating and ultimately revenue-producing tax cuts. Bad play. Yer out?
“Weak knees keep shaking,” Benen at the Washington Monthly sneers at an insufficently Change Hopeful media that failed to note what a resounding victory the Dem Cong won Tuesday night. Sure. The Surrender Team could always use a few more enthusiastic white-flag wavers and players on the self-inflicted DL.
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 11:37 am Comments (1)
Did O’s Re-Invented Politics Bubble Just Pop?
Flip side of that ancient “All Politics Is Local” wisdom, and Gibbs’ claim that it isn’t. The reinvented-politics dotcom startup has been looking a little inflated ever since it failed to mobilize for the stimulus or health care. So did it just get its shoe-leather, bricks-and-mortar, pocketbook issues comeuppance? Maybe ear-to-ear bandwidth, glitzy graphics and a catchy slogan isn’t enough.
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 10:00 am Comments (0)
All Politics Is Local
Congratulations, New Jersey and Virginia. You’re Obamically insignificant! Gibbs, Virginia and New Jersey politics are local. via CNN: (more…)
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 8:39 am Comments (1)
Ready To Hurt More
Two more waiting to receive their copies of Fit for Combat: When Fitness is a Matter of Life or Death for a total of 18 since last month.
Two got The Complete Guide to Navy SEAL Fitness. One got The Official United States Navy SEAL Workout. And one, sensibly, got the Joist Mount Chin Up Bar. Which is a pretty neat-looking item.
I’m impressed, and pleased if the “Live Forever Or Die Trying” series of posts played any role whatsoever in encouraging that many people to start working out again. Particularly impressed that you’re actually seeking out people who know what they are talking about and not relying on this program: (more…)
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 8:22 am Comments (4)
Hope And Shrimp Tacos
You get the presidency if you buy everyone else shrimp tacos. via Director Blue.
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 7:46 am Comments (3)
Economic Stimulation
Never mind the inflated job counts and pay raises counted as jobs saved. I’m still stuck on the subsidies to social service agencies counting as economic stimulus part. That’s not economic stimulus. That’s welfare. AP. (more…)
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 12:01 am Comments (3)
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
Damn …
Check out Team Marines. As of 1:30 p.m. the scrappy little ocean-going, beach-hitting, mud-and-dust-loving service commands 59 percent of the Valour IT take to date … $20,866 of the $50,737 raised for laptops and specialized electronics for the war-wounded of all service branches.* (more…)
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 1:34 pm Comments (2)
O No!
He had a bad day. The lefty chatter is that it was all local politics. Which is true, somewhat, maybe, though you can’t exactly have it both ways when your messiah commits himself to the local races. Reynolds rubs it in at NY Post: “The Obama magic has faded.” (more…)
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 10:52 am Comments (4)
Hurt More
Before we get around to that “injuries” post I mentioned yesterday, here are some more ways to hurt.*
The Official United States Navy SEAL Workout by Andrew Flach. The boss passed this on at work yesterday, I did a quick flip-through. A lot of basic information about the SEALs, with easy-to-follow photo guides on how to hurt just like they do. Looks useful, with a lot of variants, some of which are already part of my routine. Because if you aren’t doing three kinds of pushups and three kinds of crunches, you’re ignoring entire parts of your pects, abs, arms, back, etc. Don’t worry, no one’s going to make you do 200 of each, you lazy bastard. Ten of each is a good place to start your whimpering …
All of it, with the exception of the pullup bar and the obstacles, involves just you and gravity in nature’s gym, which is good if you’re cheap like me and don’t like being in confined spaces with sweaty strangers. Some nutrition information, too. The obstacles look like fun. What, you don’t have a low-crawl barbed-wire obstacle in your backyard?
Uh oh, apparently it’s a competition. Dueling SEAL workout guides. Why am I not surprised? (more…)
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 10:20 am Comments (4)
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Jihadilocks & The GWOT Bear
Don’t worry, it has a happy ending. Bear vs. AK-toting muj in a Kashmiri cave, bear wins. Scratch two jihadis. BBC report suggests a sort of Islamic extremist take on the Goldilocks story. Jihadilocks occupy the bear’s den, are making pudding when GWOT Bear comes home. “Who’s been making pudding in MY cave.” (more…)
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 1:15 pm Comments (2)
Injuries
Lynne in comments on Danger Zone! is interested in a “How To Live Forever Or Die Trying” post on workout injuries: (more…)
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 1:12 pm Comments (1)
DC Cabbies Like McChrystal
3-2. Lydia Khalil at the Washington Post: (more…)
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 9:28 am Comments (1)
The Obama Work-Out
This really is a new era of hope and change, when the president looks better, more relaxed after taking office than he did before. What’s his secret? Drudge: High-stress basketball, rigorous gym workouts. And lots of golf! It’s that simple. Here’s the best part: It’s taxpayer funded and helps him avoid responsibility! (Important: Avoid straining yourself on weighty war-strategy decisions. No heavy lifting on top agenda items.)
Almost sounds like the president’s been following my advice on how to Live Forever, Or Die Trying. He could stand to focus more on being Fit for Combat, but I dunno about you, I’m inspired. I probably should do some bills, balance the checkbook this morning, but screw it, I’m going running! Get with the program. You can be presidentially studly for the holidays and widely admired for accomplishing nothing, too!
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 8:40 am Comments (0)
Tabloidification Of America Continues!
Welcome to the dark side. At the Washington Post, they’re working it from the inside out. Politico: Fists fly! It’s a case of Style section rage: (more…)
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 7:56 am Comments (3)
Monday, November 2, 2009
Bush Bad
O’s GWOT-handling public approval numbers just hit pre-Surge levels. Only 34 percent think we’re winning. The American public hasn’t had this dim a view of American war leadership since January 2007. That’s not just bad. That’s Bush bad. Rasmussen.
Maybe it’s because, from Guantanamo to Afghanistan, he isn’t handling the GWOT. WSJ, on Karzai’s new term and Obama’s as-yet unmade decision: (more…)
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 11:35 pm Comments (1)
Thanks To You
Team Marines was still out front, leading the pack by $1,300 at $14,561 as of 1 p.m. today: (more…)
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 1:14 pm Comments (2)
Danger Zone!
It’s the horrible nexus of holidays and winter, arriving right around the time that you might be losing a little steam from your summer/spring startup. Finding it a little harder to get out and work out. The kids just brought home bags of Halloween candy and there will be more piled up at work. What are you going to do, not eat it?
Part 6 of Crittenden’s “So You Want to Live Forever” series: (more…)
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 12:09 pm Comments (2)
“White Men Are Not Very Progressive”
That’s Matthew Yglesias looking mournfully, or maybe more accusatorily at this electoral map. Sounds like a vast swath of the American elecotrate needs its politics corrected: (more…)
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 8:25 am Comments (5)
Great News!
Al-Shabab, the Somali al-Qaeda affiliate, has threatened to attack Israel. It’s PO’d about al-Aqsa, which shows a new worldliness for a group whose top agenda items have been getting a cut of the local piracy bonanza, getting Somalia off its khat habit, and turning Mogadishu into an Islamic paradise, or else. CNN: (more…)
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 7:14 am Comments (1)
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Vietnaming It
DC’s alive these days with Vietnam analogies which, thanks to today’s news, probably will rear up again, newly re-envigorated.
Before we get to the news of Abdullah Abdullah’s election pullout, here are the fundamentals of the analogy, compliments of a Financial Times analysis that flogged the dead Vietnam horse – it’s more of a zombie-like Vietnam horse, because inexplicably, it still has life and keeps clopping along — before Abdullah made his announcement yesterday. (more…)
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 11:01 am Comments (5)
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Nerds Don’t Wanna Have Fun
Sad but true. Apparently they’re all too busy playing with their slide rules. MIT sex survey finds many remain in the control group. Boston Herald: (more…)
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 4:55 pm Comments (1)
Happier Hours
Boston mayoral candidate Mike Flaherty’s drink ticket looks like the place to crawl for a later “last call” in bluest Beantown, where the Irish and Italians took over from the Yankee bluebloods a long time ago, but Puritan Blue Laws never quite gave up their deathgrip on the nightlife. Boston Herald: Bar group backs Flaherty in bid to boost nightlife. (more…)
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 12:50 pm Comments (2)
“We Enjoyed It”
The smallest of the four combat branches leads the Valour IT push as of 10 a.m. this morning. It was Marines, $13,486; Army, $11,910; Air Force $5,060; and Navy, $4,790. (more…)
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 11:09 am Comments (6)
Advanced Baby Splittage
President Barack Obama, half-pregnant with Bush’s Afghan war, apparently is leaning toward splitting the baby … surgically. Washington Post: (more…)
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 10:00 am Comments (2)
Friday, October 30, 2009
Wack-A-Mole Advance 360 For Windows 7 Wii
As Obama heads into what is purportedly his last big Afghanistan meeting, he’s trying to outplay his own generals, gaming a sort of sophisticated wack-a-mole strategy … not just that clunky, grimy old arcade game with a choice of wacking the “Afghanistan” mole or the “Pakistan” mole, but a high-speed Afghan province-specific one. Light. It raises the question of whether he’s actually manuevering for 3-D ”Go.” (It’s the Washington version of the ancient Japanese strategic board game. No “h.” Very complex and counterintuitive. One wins by quitting. The enemy, by undermining one’s out-of-theater public opinion, becomes is one’s strongest ally.) OK, here’s what the board looks like, and what the reviewers are saying: (more…)
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 11:12 am Comments (4)
HD Wars
It’s the battle of the HD channels. Smithsonian Channel HD has its own offering for Veterans Day. “Apocalypse: The Second World War.” Good title … WWII was about as close to apocalypse as our world has seen this side of the Black Death … also looks like good viewing, making the usual claims of previously unseen archives-scoured footage. With noted lefty peacenik Martin Sheen, the former faux feel-good President of the United States, narrating. Smithsonian is also screening Iwo Jima and Omaha Beach in HD the same night, Nov. 11. Sneak peaks for all of the above at the link.
Then, the week after that, Nov. 15-19, you get the History Channel’s weeklong WWII in HD, with Unapologetic-American Gary Sinise narrating, but directed by flaming Obamist Fredric Lumiere. Could make for some heavy irony, if Obama is as expected splitting the baby on Afghanistan and his Hollywood cheering squad is busy extolling all that “Infamy” and “We will fight them on the beaches … we will never surrender.”
Speaking of which, remember the guys who have been fighting them in the sand, fighting them in the dust, fighting them in the mountains, and now fight on in the hospital wards. The Valour IT push is on, to give laptops to wounded servicemen. At the invitation of Cassandra at Villainous Company, whose Marine husband is forward deployed in Afghanistan, we’re with Team Marines this year. Pushing the Marines ahead is just the fun part of the drive. It all goes to everyone in all branches. Give as you can.
Apropos of all of the above, VC offers up a good quick read: Marines though the Lens of History.
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 9:51 am Comments (1)
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Beer Summit II
Gates and Crowley share informal suds. I’d love to know what they talked about. Because I have a dream. Boston Herald: (more…)
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 10:40 pm Comments (0)
Bad Rap
It’s a small town. Wire, with a Boston Herald assist:
AMERICAN FORK, Utah - McDonald’s wasn’t lovin’ it. But maybe these kids deserve a break today.
Four Utah teens are in the fry-o-lator, cited for disorderly conduct for rapping their order at a Mickey D’s window, imitating a YouTube video: “I need a double cheeseburger and hold the lettuce . . .”
Spencer Dauwalder said the burger flippers told him and his pals they were holding up the line. Dauwalder says there was no line. The group left without buying anything. The four menaces to society were tracked down by the diligent local Barney Fifes at a high school volleyball match. But the parents will fight the charges. Sharon Dauwalder said, “It was basically harmless. It wasn’t interfering with anything and it’s just hard to believe a ticket would be issued for that.” McDonald’s couldn’t be reached for comment.
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 9:55 pm Comments (3)
Lawful
An armed, licensed off-duty security guard’s shooting of a mentally ill man with a knife who was attacking his psychiatrist was not only lawful, it probably saved other lives, DA says. Boston Herald: (more…)
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 9:53 pm Comments (0)
Gen. L.B.J. “Fightin’ Joe Biden” Obama
The Hero of Altgeld Gardens* asks for a province-by-province analysis of Afghanistan to help decide where, whether, he’ll deploy his troops. Washington Post: (more…)
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 7:45 am Comments (3)
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
The Fourth Star
The Fourth Star: Four Generals and the Epic Struggle for the Future of the United States Army by Washington Post Pentagon reporter Greg Jaffe. Judging by an interview on NPR’s Fresh Air today, it sounds interesting. The focus is on four generals, their backgrounds, how they were influenced by the military’s Vietnam and Gulf War experiences as they went into Iraq, and how Petraeus, though looked down on in some quarters as a political general with too much time in DC, had the political skills combined with the philosophical background to advance what has turned out to be the right battlefield answer, counterinsurgency. It’s the personal politics of warfighting. Now reshaping an Army near you.
Fresh Air excerpts make a fascinating read. After the dustjacket copy, via Amazon: (more…)
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 9:34 pm Comments (0)
If He’s Unfit, They Must Acquit!
Faced with a murder rap, Edward Ates hopes to beat it,* saying there’s no way he could have climbed the stairs, got the shot off and bolted fast enough to do what prosecutors said he did … kill his son-in-law in the middle of a bitter custody dispute with his daughter. WPIX.
AP serves up a legal defense expert who says it’s a fresh, tantalizing, maybe even irresistible approach. Here in Fat Nation, with a sympathetic fat jury, maybe not so half-baked to cook up a defense like … too fat to kill!
I dunno about you but I’m grabbing the Cheez Doodles and checking the Court TV schedule.
* No cruel Weird Al Yankovich jokes please.
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 9:05 pm Comments (1)
The Audacity of Hope-Ocrisy
Helen Smith, from her unique position as a non-swooning, conservative woman,* examines Obama’s discriminatory business socialization practices … playing golf and basketball with dudes … and counsels attacking the enemy with his own rules. Pajamas Media: (more…)
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 10:10 am Comments (4)
Live & Learn
It’s about that partisan civility thing. Turns out, if you yell “You Lie!” and say things like “Kiss my gay ass!” there can be consequences. Not just consequences, but cleverly embedded snark! It’s Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s two-fer response to California Assemblyman Tom Ammiano’s request for help and his rude outburst. San Francisco Bay Guardian’s Tim Redmond: “Arnold to SF: Fuck You.” (more…)
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 10:00 am Comments (4)
Never Know How You’ll Go
I’m guessing he never saw this coming. Silver Star-decorated Normandy, Bulge combat veteran, 87, killed while raking leaves. Salem News: (more…)
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 9:41 am Comments (2)
Standing Tall
I met USMC Lance Cpl. James Crosby in June 2004. He was 19. He was a kid from a blue-collar background in Winthrop, Mass., and his body was a mess. But I could tell within minutes of meeting him that he was no ordinary kid, and I was pretty sure I’d hear his name again. From the Boston Herald archives: (more…)
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 6:00 am Comments (3)
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Major Apology Tour Attractions
Not on the itinerary. Obama won’t be going to Hiroshima and Nagasaki. A-bomb blast sites … under the Apology Tour bus! Which is frankly more of a surprise than you’d know from reading this AP story: (more…)
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 10:05 pm Comments (4)
Golf For We, Not For Thee …
War-weary Obama manages a decision … more golf! Boston Herald: (more…)
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 2:05 pm Comments (3)
Resignation
A disappointment. Former Marine Capt. Matthew Hoh, with intense and traumatic duty in Iraq, who became a PRT team member in Zabul, Afghanistan, has resigned from the Foreign Service and refused high-level offers to stay onboard. Washington Post: (more…)
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 11:08 am Comments (4)
Fallen Marine
Local boy made good, had it all, gave it all. One of 14 Americans to die in Afghanistan yesterday. Another 12 were injured. Boston Herald: (more…)
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 9:28 am Comments (3)
Monday, October 26, 2009
Just Gimme Some Of That Rock’N'Roll Music
Boston Herald’s Darren Garnick wants to celebrate American music. Specifically, all the great tunes that weare played for the benefit of Guantanamo detainees. (more…)
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 9:01 am Comments (3)
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Alternate Iraq War Universe … Obama Won!
It’s a weird Tom Friedman dream sequence: (more…)
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 10:35 pm Comments (2)
