Sunday, November 29, 2009
Where You Will Eat
When you and your loved ones are in with the swine flu, getting bypasses, whatever … Boston Herald: Hospital cafeterias in one of the world’s premiere medical areas fail health inspections. Badly. (more…)
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 12:05 pm Comments (2)
Good, Cheap, Tough, Built To Last
Checking in at Amazon, I noticed they are pushing Casio G-Shocks. Two thumbs up. I’ve been wearing G-Shocks for about 20 years. From the bottom of the North Atlantic, through blizzards high in the mountains of New England. (Through blizzards on the North Atlantic, now that I think of it, with mountainous 15-foot seas crashing on the bow … and scuba diving on the side of a mountain in mid-winter, for that matter.) Under fire from the terrifying cliff-hanging roads of Kashmir to burned-out Kosovar villages to the howling sands of ancient Uruq and the war-torn boulevards of Baghdad. Also, at the very Final Battleground of Good and Evil at Armageddon itself, on the eve of dread and terrible Millenium. (more…)
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 9:56 am Comments (2)
Barn Door Check
John Kerry, at the helm of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, determines the barn door’s open. New report finds the Bush admin bollixed it when they let bin Laden get away.
So, eight years later, what’s the point? (more…)
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 7:54 am Comments (2)
Saturday, November 28, 2009
Briar Patch Spotted
By Kos! Don Surber explains all, how the Kossacks notice the presidential polling plummet, fret about the Dems’ 2010 prospects and determine that “seems to make passing legitimate health care reform an absolute political necessity for Democrats.”
“By all means do,” comments Surber. (more…)
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 10:44 am Comments (2)
No Dithering Around
Decisive presidential action as O leaps into action, orders a full review of how the reality TV crashers managed to take over his party, make him look silly. Politico: (more…)
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 9:27 am Comments (9)
Friday, November 27, 2009
Yak Friday!
You can brave the malls if you like. Or you can sit around and chew the fat. Story Corps’ “National Day of Listening” is here.
The NPR, CPB-backed effort looks to have young people listen to old people, record the stories, which is a great idea. Avoid the malls, stay home, and talk. You never know what tales the old dears have locked up if you don’t get them talking. (more…)
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 10:58 am Comments (3)
Give Me Your Tired, Your Poor, Your Huddled Masses …
Of repeat border hoppers wielding chainsaws! Howie Carr with a howler on a document-challenged American’s travails in the courts of Massachusetts. He’s “only committing the crimes that Americans will no longer commit,” but this fraudulent document holder gets slammed with six months for holding off an entire shift of Danvers cops with a running chainsaw. Boston Herald.
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 10:56 am Comments (2)
American (Double-Reverse) Gorbie
Weird, paradoxical Wall Street Journal article about SecDef Robert Gates’ Afghan war flashbacks notes some of the fundamental differences between the U.S. and Soviet experiences — legitimacy, broad international support, orders of magnitude difference in civilian and military casualties — but only pays passing lip service to the most relevant one under the circumstances. Gen. McChrystal is not fighting a Soviet-style Afghan war, something Gates of all people is in a position to understand. And as you get into the article, it becomes apparent Gates was looking for assurances on a question he must have already known the answer to.
The article makes a lot of superficial similarities to the Soviet misadventure and includes some nostalgic griping of Kabulis longing for the Pax Sovietica they enjoyed inthe 1980s. True to the genre, the article’s doom-and-gloom ”last war” comparison skips one war … Iraq … which would render this analysis nonsense.
But the most significant weird and paradoxical similarity between the two conflicts may be buried in these graphs and is entirely overlooked, which is too bad, because it would have made it interesting, and maybe even Cassandra-like (double-reverse) visionary: (more…)
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 10:16 am Comments (2)
Thursday, November 26, 2009
O Presidency Shark Jumped
Never mind the schlocky Oprah-Obama Christmas special. I’m pretty sure this means the Obama admin … and maybe even the presidency of the United States … has jumped the shark. NYT: Bravo films reality TV wannabes crashing Obama’s state dinner. (more…)
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 11:04 pm Comments (6)
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Things To Be Thankful For
Because Providence and Pat Purcell have been so good to the Boston Herald, I still have a job where I will working the holiday. No worries, there’s holiday pay and mounds of food being delivered, compliments of the boss, whose undying efforts have ensured that Boston remains a two-newspaper town for now and that I am able to continue toiling on in the best job I’ve ever loved.
Limited holiday time with family means this is it for the holiday post. Here’s an update on Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community, and War by Nathaniel Philbrick, which is this week’s read before passing out after work in the middle of the night.
This book rocks. A must-read, friends reported. Fifty-five pages in, Philbrick’s delivering the dirt on the manuvering of sachems Massasoit and Epenow, and wannabe sachem Squanto, plus the counterproductive misdeeds of assorted pre-Pilgrim English opportunists, such as Thomas Hunt, who PO’d his commander, Capt. John Smith, by seizing Indians as slaves and setting back relations significantly.
Also, a great discussion of the Mayflower Compact, as well as the religious/political education of William Bradford, the Leiden experience, and the finagling with investors to get the story on the road. Judging by the table of contents, it looks like the early settlement’s travails and the Thanksgiving part come on quick, in the next 50 pages or so. Then there’s the war bit.
Redux of this week’s early American settlement and conflict post, plus a quick TG roundup: (more…)
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 1:19 pm Comments (2)
War & Peace
A little war, a little peace. War first: Just picked up what looks like a good one. In Words and Deeds: Battle Speeches in History Richard F. Miller (more…)
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 12:51 pm Comments (2)
“I Have Seen The Enemy And I’m Thinking About It”
Brit defense minister, annoyed with the dithering. UK Telegraph. Apparently counting daisies while soldiers are pushing them up is deemed politically awkward.
Look, the Brits may have a history of going off half-cocked against assorted Normans, Corsicans, Nazis and what have you, but they apparently don’t fully appreciate the way we Americans fight our wars. Historic U.S. precedents for painstakingly mulling action: (more…)
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 10:09 am Comments (4)
Free The Fallujah One!
In global law-enforcement news, American war criminals face courts martial for denying civil rights of man-caused disaster activist. FOX: (more…)
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 8:35 am Comments (5)
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
All In Good Time
Three months later, the president is gearing up to give his field commander what he asked for. Sort of. McClatchy is still reporting it’s going to be 34,000 … a figleaf of futzing around to justify all the dithering. Sure hope those 34,000 aren’t going to look to their right and left and wish they had another 8,000 helping out when it gets hot. Politico: Primetime announcement next week. (more…)
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 9:38 am Comments (4)
Barbarians At The Gates
The Warm Gates. Confusion, consternation in the enemy camp is forcing rending of garments, gnashing of teeth, bitter recrimininations … and snarkiness. Plus some blithe, witty obtuseness. Heads up: Gore-buttonholing op at noon in downtown Chicago! (more…)
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 8:43 am Comments (3)
Monday, November 23, 2009
More Like Bush
Cowboy diplomacy, back in vogue? We’ve already noticed that Eurobamadoration has its limits … they like their Americans to bow and carry a big stick … and all that kowtowing got him nowhere in Asia. Now Gabor Steingart takes another jab at him at Der Spiegel, suggests O’s getting ready to trade in his tired Carter nag for a Bush pony: (more…)
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 11:27 am Comments (3)
This Jihadi Moment
Brought to you by the United States Department of Justice. via Fox: 9/11 conspirator lawyer says his client is looking forward to the limelight. OK, that’s not exactly how he put it. (more…)
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 8:01 am Comments (1)
RMS Global Warmic
Obama admin’s full-speed-ahead on reordering our economy mid-recession with an onerous and controversial health-care initiative threatens to throw off-course the Obama admin’s efforts to reorder our economy mid-recession with an onerous and highly controversial climate-change initiative. Politico explains … but neglects to mention the iceberg:
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 6:55 am Comments (3)
Sunday, November 22, 2009
A Thanksgiving Read
Finally knocked out the 900-odd pages of The War of Wars at my late-night pass-out pace, turned to another long on my list. By pure coincidence, on Thanksgiving week, it’s Mayflower: A Story of Courage, Community, and War by Nathaniel Philbrick.
A must-read, friends report. A few pages in … the religious/political education of William Bradford, the Leiden experience and a little on the Mayflower crossing … so far so good. It looks like the early settlement’s travails and the Thanksgiving part come on quick, in the first 100-odd pages. Then there’s the war bit. (more…)
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 10:07 am Comments (3)
Saturday, November 21, 2009
And Yet It Cools
Well, it’s Day One in the post-warmalist world. Waking up, looking around. There’s a delightful nip in the air. They’re denying it and explaining it away like crazy, plus skewering messengers. Memeorandum’s got the squirmy vitriolic roundup. “Trick” to “hide the decline,” just scientific buzzwords … “can’t account for the lack of warming at the moment and it is a travesty” so much give-and-take, a glimpse behind the curtain at the scientific process … “Next time I see Pat Michaels at a scientific meeting, I’ll be tempted to beat the crap out of him. Very tempted” and “until they rid themselves of this troublesome editor” … Good Lord, man, they’re only human!
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 9:27 am Comments (5)
CrossFit Update
Reader Mark, acknowledging that yes, the CrossFit website is obtuse, recommends contacting your local affiliate for an orientation. And offers this quick-and-dirty rundown: (more…)
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 9:25 am Comments (2)
Friday, November 20, 2009
Warmal Gloating
Booyah!* … UK Telegraph. (more…)
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 8:56 pm Comments (6)
Turkey Flu
Swine’s aloft! Less than a week from now, the biggest travel day of the year. Moms, dads, kids and grandparents, packing into planes, SUVs, minivans and trains to fly and drive in from all over the place and pig out together, then flying and driving home … just as the swine flu hits a historic high. Boston Herald: (more…)
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 11:52 am Comments (0)
Home For Christmas!
Come on. That’s so old war. Here’s the Obama age take on the old wartime troop-rallying standby. No rush, guys, no decision before Thanksgiving. Fox.
President Obama will not announce a decision on his war strategy in Afghanistan before Thanksgiving, his aides told Fox News on Thursday.
The latest development on the fate of up to 40,000 U.S. troops came at the tail end of the president’s eight-day Asia trip.
For several weeks, Obama has been weighing whether to send as many as 40,000 additional troops to Afghanistan as his top commander there, Gen. Stanley McChrystal has requested, or to scale back the war effort and focus on pursuing Al Qaeda in Pakistan as his political advisers, including Vice President Biden, have urged.
McChrystal has said that without the additional troops, the U.S. effort in Afghanistan would likely result in failure.
Sooner or later. Chill, general dude. It isn’t like the president doesn’t want to show the boys and girls over there that he cares. O on the front lines in that way old school war, Korea:
“You guys make a pretty good photo op,” the president reportedly joked with the 1,500 troops at Osan Air Base.
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 11:38 am Comments (2)
Crazy Is As Crazy Blogs
OK, indulge my obsessed-lefty obsession for a minute. A quick wellness check on two of my favorite serious, thoughtful, expert moonbat commentators, Glenn Greenwald and Andrew Sullivan. First Sullivan, a professional political observer whose mental health we’ve been closely monitoring (and whose Daily Dish since resuming “as normal” yesterday has racked up no fewer than 23 Palin posts), on why feverish obsession is the only logic resort of a thinking man. “Don’t Feed The Trolls“: (more…)
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 10:48 am Comments (7)
CrossFit
Reader Pat likes CrossFit, a dynamic combination of all kinds of things reportedly employed by various military and police units. Sounds like a great concept. I think this is what my cop brother-in-law was talking about, need to check. I enjoyed the torture session where he made me and our sons run up and down Coast Guard Hill six times, knocking out pushups and crunches between each run.
Pat says: ”My schedule isn’t great for getting to the gym but I still get decent results even when I can’t make it consistently.”
OK, so what is it? (more…)
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 9:28 am Comments (2)
Lefties For Palin
It’s a kind of post-feminist shout-out. “Democrat goes rogue, declares Palin’s book ’great’!” Sandra Tsing-Loh at Salon: (more…)
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 8:06 am Comments (2)
Thursday, November 19, 2009
So We Don’t Need To Interrogate Him …
But is it OK if we just leave the lights on, crank the AC/DC,* give him a bath or 183, and maybe walk the dogs? Not to extract information or anything illegal like that … but no jihadi’s martyrdom at the hands of the hated Crusaders is complete without it. Wouldn’t want to disappoint.
I guess not, seeing as they probably would be holding the criminal suspect known as Osama bin Laden at Rikers Island if they did capture him, and the most ill-treatment he’s likely to get is the incessant badgering from the ACLU and American Friends Service Committee, which would be all over it.
“Have you been tortured yet?”
“No, inshallah maybe today.”
I hope he gets along with the other inmates. Sorry, here’s what it’s about … via The Hill, Vermont Sen. Patrick Leahy: No need to interrogate OBL. It’s just the latest lunacy of that sort that has Khalid Sheikh Mohammed headed to the Big Apple for the jihadi grandstanding opportunity of a lifetime. Speaking of which, here’s Lindsay Graham stumping Eric Holder.
* Crittenden’s own GWOT Hit Parade: Decadent Western Musicians For Jihad
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 1:14 pm Comments (6)
Normalcy Promised
It’s a tall order. It’s Andrew Sullivan, coming down off his Palin-induced state of brain implosion, or whatever that was: (more…)
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 9:51 am Comments (13)
Rat Happy
It’s one of the dirty little secrets of intense exercise. Do it, and you’ll feel happy. Rat happy, as an inner rat-like calm spreads over you. NYT’s Health section explains: (more…)
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 8:52 am Comments (1)
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
Never Mind The Sexism
(IMPORTANT UPDATE: Andrew Sullivan and his entire staff are gobsmacked. He reports he has some delusional fantasies he needs to sort out. I’ll say. He could start with who is the unhinged party and lacks a grasp on reality in his running Palin obsessathon. Also, what constitutes craziness on his part.)
How about the ripoff? Runner’s World said that shot was under a one year embargo. Newsweek used it without permission: (more…)
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 2:01 pm Comments (1)
Harvard Law Hero
They keep coming out of the woodwork. Harvard war heroes. This one, when all the other Harvard Law graduates headed off to the white-shoe law firms, the non-profits, community organizing, that kind of thing, he headed off to the United States Marine Corps. Three combat tours later, it was the DEA because, his dad said, unlike CIA and other agencies, he could be assured of frontline action there. He found it in Afghanistan. Boston Herald: (more…)
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 1:36 pm Comments (2)
Politically Blonde
Lefties whack Newsweek for sexism. MediaMatters. Hullabaloo. It’s feminist bites lefty rag, a pretty rare and newsworthy occurrence for a crowd that usually slams as they do, not as they say. Palin didn’t like it, either, went after it on Facebook. Good. Point out their raging hypocrisy.
But as a professional tabloid newspaperman, I’m not going to squawk. (more…)
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 10:10 am Comments (4)
Know Your Limitations
It’s the fitness tip for the day. Seattle Police, wannabe ninja whose skills were not sufficient to the task found impaled on the metal fence he attempted to leap: (more…)
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 9:44 am Comments (0)
Notorious KGB
Vlad chills with Russky rappers, needs an alias. via Boston Herald:
“I have to say that young people involved in these arts in our country give them their own Russian charm,” Putin said in televised remarks Friday night. “Because rap … is being filled with social content, discusses problems of the youth.”
Word. Old gangsta dude’s old school, lays down lines like Poindexter with no rhyme. Nichevo. 50 Kopeck’s already taken by some hard-rapping Ivans, but there’s still …Poot Dogg … Vladye East … P Vladdy … Vodka Ice. Nyet, scratch that last one. Anyway, Vludacris can rap this. Da Boyz N Ivan’s Hood: (more…)
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 8:49 am Comments (2)
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Fit Fight
I may not be up for his full iron-pumping, cooler-carrying regime, but J.D. Johannes is getting under my skin. (more…)
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 11:57 am Comments (3)
Acting Stupidly
Somebody was. Maybe a lot of people. Boston Herald: CPD, “By The Way, We Gave The Solon A Ride.” (more…)
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 11:22 am Comments (0)
Maybe, But Why’s Everyone Talking About Her?
Media can’t get enough of how unpopular Sarah Palin is, with her runaway bestseller. CBS, less than 1-in-4 have a favorable opinion: (more…)
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 9:09 am Comments (5)
Belichick’s KSM Moment
How bad was it? So bad that Ed Morrissey at Hot Air ventured out of war and politics to bash Bill Belichick over the last-minute bollixing of the Pats-Colts game. (more…)
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 8:46 am Comments (1)
That Rattling Noise You Hear
Is the sound of this news knocking around inside Obama’s tin ear. Two-thirds of Americans want KSM tried in military court. CNN: (more…)
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 6:50 am Comments (1)
Monday, November 16, 2009
Fit For Combat?
Hardly, by J.D. Johannes’ standard. Got my copy the other day, read Part I and skimmed Part II. Six months since re-engaging my body, down 25 pounds, wind up, I might qualify for what he’d call “Fit (Enough) for Combat.” (more…)
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 10:34 am Comments (0)
Rules Force Disengagement
Herschel Smith at Captain’s Journal mulls some of the challenges posed by the one-arm-tied-behind-the-back tactics now in effect in Afghanistan.
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 8:32 am Comments (1)
L’Etat C’est O
Have your fun with O’s full-body kowtow to the delightful Mr. Akihito, who really does look like a pleasant old gent. When it comes to the important things, his Omperial Majesty won’t bow to pressure. He’s maintained a spine of steel in his refusal to decide what the heck he’s going to do in Afghanistan, and Politico notes the irritation His Oness exhibited when the first question from the White House Press Corps was about the dithering on Afghanistan, from the AP’s Jennifer Loven of all people. Odd, I don’t remember a tone of irked sputtering coming across in the resulting article: (more…)
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 7:56 am Comments (1)
NixOnian!
Ha! ABC’s Jack Tapper says that while Obama was laying it on a little thick, Nixon did it first. Only he did it right. Nixon gave Hirohito a polite nod, not the human origami act “in the form of a first year English teacher trying to impress with Karate Kid-level knowledge of Japanese customs” that the current president executed. Tapper adds that Kyodo News … you remember that outfit, they broke the big Godzilla scoop a few years back … has been showing O’s less-embarrassing nod to Mrs. Akihito rather than the full dork-drop to Mr. Akihito. (more…)
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 7:12 am Comments (2)
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Courtroom Jihad!
This KSM trial thing looks to be endlessly fascinating. Everyone has questions about it. Maguire noted the difficulty of seating an impartial jury. How about seating a jury of their peers? My 13-year-old came up with that one. How are you going to find 12 cave-dwelling Islamic extremists good and true in New York? No cab driver jokes please. Those guys work hard for a living. They don’t have time to sit around in caves plotting mass murder. OK, most of them don’t. (more…)
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 6:51 pm Comments (7)
The Importance Of Being Difficult
Jennifer Rubin at Commentary, channeling Bill Kristol, on the efficacy of “No.” If conservatives were at sea a few months back in the wake of defeat, trying to figure out who they were and what their agenda was supposed to be, that may be in part because the importance of saying “No” and what should be said “No” to were not yet fully manifest: (more…)
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 2:34 pm Comments (2)
Thank You!
Still waiting on a final breakdown from Soldiers Angels on the Valour IT push, what it will buy, how it compares to years past, etc. But thanks to many of you who gave as you could, Team Marines under the leadership of the indomitable (and hot) Marine wife Villainous Company absolutely, positively blew it away, hitting 113 percent of its goal, for more than $39,000 toward the $103,246 pledged for laptops and specialized electronic for war-wounded veterans. Final totals expected next week. Soldiers Angels, where they put together gift packages for soldiers in the field and other support projects, has a long list of things you can do for the troops this holiday season.
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 1:53 pm Comments (0)
Losing Kilcullen
The Australian counterinsurgency whizkid, via DoDbuzz, advises the O admin to conduct its Afghan business or get off the pot: (more…)
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 10:48 am Comments (2)
Top Reads
Your picks via the site’s Amazon links this month continue to delight and inform:
Death in the Silent Places Peter Hathaway Capstick. A look at some of history’s Great White Hunters, including the audacious Bwana who took on WWI Krauts in East Africa. Warning, not PC! Gets good reviews. Here’s one from a reader at Amazon: (more…)
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 10:26 am Comments (1)
Who’s Hot, Who’s Not
via Boston Sunday Herald: (more…)
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 9:25 am Comments (0)
