Good News Bad News
Thing about news, there’s never any shortage. Good, bad, that’s another issue:Â Â
There’s no avoiding the bad news. Al-Qaeda wants war and will have it. Al-Qaeda, taking it from three sides with pressure from the Sunni tribes, pressure from the hated Crusaders and Shiites standing down, pushes back against the surge.
Good news, bad news: Blair won’t negotiate with the mullahs. The mullahs and their paramilitary Revolutionary Guard thugs are still screwing around. It’s good news disguised as bad news. They are overplaying their hand. Was a time, as my good friend Dan Riehl notes, when messing with the Royal Navy and humiliating a Jack or Jill Tar in this way would be a non-starter. Hopefully that time has not passed. England expects that every man will do his duty.  The United States has been quiet, but a fleet is at sea, and we can expect that the United States does not forget its friends.
As we know, it isn’t only about 15 sailors and marines.  There is a lot more at play here. And there is a very bad history.Â
Here’s some news on how the latest Iranian trick played out.
Blair has gone to the United Nations Security Council, a necessary nicety. We already know how Iran feels about the Security Council.
Tigerhawk gives the Guardian a little help understanding the news.
If all of that news is getting to you, try some great news: Mohammed and Omar go mainstream with their good news message. And they get a nod from the Oval office. They are “quoted and proud,” no matter how snarky it gets out there among the chicken doves.
Good News: a Sagacious Blonde has been named a “Thinking Blogger.” Bad News. She’s tagged me, and now I’ll have to start thinking.Â
More good news: McCain stands in the breach. You’ll find a petition you can sign if you agree with him on the single most important issue facing us today. As Powerline notes, whatever else you think about him, he has been there on that one. Paul notes that the detainee rights fixation makes him less than Lincolnesque. I’m willing to give McCain a pass on that, given the hung-by-his-arms thing.
It’s good news when Barry McCaffery, no friend of the admin on Iraq, tears Iraq a new one after a recent tour, then goes on to explain why we must make one big last push, and give our ground commanders all the resources and political support they need. I’d dispute the “last” part. Nothing’s final in war and foreign policy. Ask Plato. Hell, McCaffery should know.Â
Pause in the news: Sean pens a letter to Bush re America’s “rich history of greatness.” Includes important update on his daughter’s school work.
Great news! Nothing government can do about Sean Penn in this historically richly great America. But other nuisances are another matter, and even the Democratic Congress thinks private citizens should be shielded from lawsuits when they try to defend themselves on airplanes. A moderate Muslim comes out against the Flying Imams.
An Islamic Reformation? That would be news.
Likewise, if Iran had sleeper cells inside the United States.
No news is bad news as the US continues to stumble with the once highly successful embed program.
Speaking of embeds, four years ago today, the news that we would be attacking at dawn.
89 years ago today, a Victoria Cross and a victory for Canada’s Strathcona Regiment. And a lot of young men who would not be coming home.
Good news from Stratfor: “Suspected jihadists in Pakistan’s northwestern tribal belt on Tuesday attacked a vehicle belonging to the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), the country’s premier intelligence agency … At least four ISI officials, including a deputy director who is also a major in the Pakistani military, were killed.” ISI has been playing both sides for a long time, and as Stratfor notes, this may well be an inside job, with pro-Jihad ISI elements assisting. You make your bed, you lie in it. Maybe this will be a wakeup call.
Good News: Bush mocks Dems on “pork” and warns “Americans will know who’s responsible.” Dems have failed to gain anything but the barest majority on surrender initiatives. Maybe that’s because its all kabuki.
Fascinating News: Feinstein shovels pork to her hubby.
Bad News: Iraqi cops and Shiite death squads are blamed in murderous rampage in Tal Afar. Al-Qaeda got what they wanted. The AP and others enjoy rubbing Bush’s remarks of a year ago in this incident.
The good news is, despite murderous outbursts and terrorism in Iraq, we can and are winning in Iraq. And unless you like murder and terrorism in Iraq, that is the side you need to be on.
Distorted news: Gallup finds most Americans aren’t buying it. Of course, that depends not only on what questions you ask but how you present your results. “Poll finds nearly two in three Americans believing the recent surge in U.S. troops in Baghdad has not made much difference or has actually made the situation there worse.” But it looks more like it should accurately say ”nearly three in four Americans believe the recent surge in U.S. troops in Baghdad has not made much difference or has actually made the situation there better.” Because 29 percent is a bigger number than 22 percent, Gallup.
Arbeit Macht News! Germans think the US poses a greater threat to world peace than Iran. Thinking like this is why we generally turn to the Heinrichs for help on the details … like engineering automobiles … rather than the big picture. Pound for pound, averaged over, say, the past 100 years, I’d say Germans pose a greater threat … and their current preference for murderous Jew-hating regimes shows they haven’t learned much!Â
News Akhbar! Saudi king wants an end to “illegal” occupation of Iraq. How about an end to financing terrorism!
Back home, different news: Rove and Bush, still driving them crazy after all these years.
Off topic, bad news: US slips behind Denmark, Sweden, Singapore, Finland, Switzerland and the Netherlands as world’s engine in technological innovation, graded on “integration of technology in business, the infrastructure available, government policy favourable for fostering a culture of innovation and progress and leadership in promoting the usage of the latest information technology tools.” I’d like to know what kind of curve that’s being graded on.Â
Bad News Trumped: You have to hand it to the Dutch in the world-changing technological innovation export department: Legos promote a “capitalist-type Donald Trump-style entrepreneurial attitude.” Legos to Iraq! Legos to the hood! Legos to Capital Hill! Legos all around, I say.Â
Way off topic, unsurprising news to anyone whose been married to one. Women are angrier than men. They’re just more passive-agro about it.Â
Topics: Good News Bad News
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 2:07 am Comments (7) on Friday, March 30, 2007
7 Responses to “Good News Bad News”
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March 30th, 2007 at 11:02 am
Web Reconnaissance for 03/30/2007
A short recon of what’s out there that might draw your attention.
March 30th, 2007 at 11:43 am
Well, just a few idiocies from moi.
Feinstein shovels pork to her hubby.
I didn’t think Rosie did men.
Germans think the US poses a greater threat to world peace than Iran. Still pissed about that Normandy thingy, huh?
Women are angrier than men.
No, no, no, Crittenden. Not getting me on that one. I’ve stepped in enough shit, throughout my life, that my feet are permanently brown.
March 30th, 2007 at 11:47 am
Legos are Danish, not Dutch. Nice try though…
March 30th, 2007 at 12:05 pm
That must be what that Danish techno-innovation engine is driven on, then
March 30th, 2007 at 1:08 pm
2007.03.30 Iraq/Surrendercrat Roundup
Which Is ‘The Real War’? By Charles Krauthammer [H/T: Jules C.] Our bill calls for the redeployment of U.S. troops out of Iraq so that we can focus more fully on the real war on terror, which is in Afghanistan.
March 30th, 2007 at 1:23 pm
Bill’s Nibbles // Open Post — 2007.03.30
Please feel free to use this post for comments and trackbacks not related to other posts on the site. If you leave a trackback your post must include a link to this one and, as always, comments claiming the sun
March 30th, 2007 at 4:15 pm
[...] The economy rose again, but that’s like a state secret, or something. For more good news (and bad) check out Jules Crittenden’s latest round up of good news you don’t read about and “bad” news you do. [...]