Archives for September 2007
Moving On
Published on 21 Sep 2007 at 12:15 am.
10 Comments.
Filed under Iraq, pols.
… in the Senate. But don’t take my word for it. We’ll start with NYT:
WASHINGTON, Sept. 20 — A proposal to cut off money for military operations in Iraq fell far short in the Senate this afternoon, a day after Democrats lost their best chance of changing the course of the war.
Monkey on a Leash
Published on 20 Sep 2007 at 8:35 am.
24 Comments.
Filed under Holodenial, Iran, media.
NYT: “Mr. Ahmadinejad”* invited to speak at Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs. President Lee C. Bollinger univited him before, but says the monkey will be on a leash this time:
Worm Bites Apple
Published on 20 Sep 2007 at 12:44 am.
12 Comments.
Filed under GWOT, Iran.
Apple spits out worm. No Ahmadinejad circus at Ground Zero:
Lurxst
Published on 20 Sep 2007 at 12:33 am.
15 Comments.
Filed under other.
Too bad there aren’t more like ”lurxst,” not afraid to tell everyone how he, she, it, whatever “lurxst” is, feels. Daily Kos:
I Don’t Support the Troops..oops, there, I said it
The Gallic War
Published on 19 Sep 2007 at 9:30 pm.
15 Comments.
Filed under France.
Mon ami le Frogman has done me the tremendous honor of refering to me as Gaius Julius Crittenden … apparently a mocking reference to my efforts to document the Gallic War … this most recent lasted about five minutes, so documenting it really wasn’t hard work. Also I wrote it in English and used Babelfish for the Frog [...]
Kuni Back
Published on 19 Sep 2007 at 11:22 am.
2 Comments.
Filed under Iraq.
… from following a platoon through the surge. I just got this, haven’t had time to go through it, but Kuni, formerly of the Boston Herald, is a superb photographer, insanely, thoughtlessly brave in combat, and a friend, so I am posting immediately. Let me know how he did. I have nothing but respect for [...]
Claim/Fact
Published on 19 Sep 2007 at 9:48 am.
31 Comments.
Filed under America, history.
The Washington Post crunches numbers, quibbles, misses the broad side of history’s barn in its the claim/the facts examination of this remark by Fred Thompson:
“You know, you look back over our history, and it doesn’t take you long to realize that our people have shed more blood for other people’s liberty than any other combination of nations [...]
Good News Bad News
Published on 19 Sep 2007 at 1:44 am.
4 Comments.
Filed under Good News Bad News.
It’s been a while since I did a good news/bad news round up. But sometimes, the very goodness and badness of news is news:
GI Jane
Published on 18 Sep 2007 at 10:56 am.
4 Comments.
Filed under Israel, military, sex.
IDF committee recommends allowing women into all branches of combat arms: infantry, armor, special forces:
Vast Left-Wing Conspiracy
Published on 18 Sep 2007 at 10:42 am.
37 Comments.
Filed under Iraq, pols, shameless opportunism.
… engages in politics of personal destruction, and not a peep from Hill, notes Richard Cohen at WaPo:
Read ‘Vast Left-Wing Conspiracy’
He Writes the Songs the Deranged People Sing
Published on 18 Sep 2007 at 8:58 am.
16 Comments.
Filed under moronocy.
Barry Manilow refuses to share stage with View’s Elisabeth Hasselbeck because of her “dangerous” views.
Read ‘He Writes the Songs the Deranged People Sing’
New Americans
Published on 18 Sep 2007 at 8:36 am.
7 Comments.
Filed under America.
Surber salutes some who serve first, swear later.
Kerry Supporter Tasered
Published on 18 Sep 2007 at 8:27 am.
7 Comments.
Filed under pols.
… at Kerry event. Witness account suggests there was nothing unusual about Andrew Meyer as Kerry supporters go — foulmouthed, paranoid, and subject to the delusion that the simple rules of civil society don’t apply to him.
Read ‘Kerry Supporter Tasered’
Murdered, Defiled
Published on 18 Sep 2007 at 8:19 am.
4 Comments.
Filed under Europe, GWOT.
Someone vandalized a memorial to Theo van Gogh. Michael van der Galien doesn’t know who, though he has some ideas.
Sorry, My Mistake
Published on 17 Sep 2007 at 11:21 pm.
5 Comments.
Filed under Iraq.
Badger Six stayed on. Capt. Eric Coulson completed his year as company commander of a National Guard combat engineering company in Iraq, clearing IEDs off roads in Anbar, and volunteered for another 10 months, a new assignment with the 82nd Airborne.
Duststorms in the Rearview
Published on 17 Sep 2007 at 10:19 am.
2 Comments.
Filed under Iraq, blogs, military.
Teflon Don, Badger Six made it out. On their way home after a long drive to Kuwait:
Read ‘Duststorms in the Rearview’
No Comment
Published on 17 Sep 2007 at 9:52 am.
4 Comments.
Filed under Iraq.
Ardolino has a chat with a Fallujan mukhtar. Here’s there good news:
Little Tet
Published on 17 Sep 2007 at 7:32 am.
13 Comments.
Filed under Iraq, military.
Al-Qaeda announces its Ramadan offensive. No indication as yet al-Qaeda is capable of a Tet, but an indication they may be trying.
What Is Important to Know about Mesopotamia
Published on 17 Sep 2007 at 12:02 am.
1 Comment.
Filed under mesopotamia.
You do the Google search, as some visitor here did, and you learn, Mesopotamia Rules. I like that one.
Here’s another important thing to know about Mesopotamia. Sort of. You could dicker about the geography. And they do.
But we’re a long way from Mesopotamia. Want to know how far? This far.*
* Text notwithstanding, that looks like a military [...]
Read ‘What Is Important to Know about Mesopotamia’
Accordion Brigade Advance!
Published on 16 Sep 2007 at 11:15 pm.
No Comments.
Filed under France, Iran.
French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner re Iran, nukes:
Read ‘Accordion Brigade Advance!’
Good Thing We Haven’t Abandoned Them Yet
Published on 16 Sep 2007 at 10:42 pm.
17 Comments.
Filed under Iraq.
Shiites Interested in Alliance with American Troops.
Read ‘Good Thing We Haven’t Abandoned Them Yet’
Hurtful Meanspiritedness
Published on 16 Sep 2007 at 10:32 am.
13 Comments.
Filed under pols.
Howie Carr cruelly mocks John Kerry, who shows the same kind of loyalty to his boat’s name that he did to his boat’s crew:
Read ‘Hurtful Meanspiritedness’
Carnival of the Insanities
Published on 16 Sep 2007 at 10:20 am.
1 Comment.
Filed under blogs, pols.
Crazy is as crazy does. Speaking of which, you’d have to be crazy to run for president. Surber rounds up the week’s lunacy on that front.
Read ‘Carnival of the Insanities’
The Last Taboo
Published on 16 Sep 2007 at 9:56 am.
7 Comments.
Filed under Iraq, oil, pols.
Greenspan shocker, Iraq war all about oil. Times of London:
Gene Conspiracy Victim?
Published on 16 Sep 2007 at 8:43 am.
2 Comments.
Filed under crime, pols, punishment.
Sounds like Hsu was just lonely. He wanted to be part of things, be admired. They may want to include Hsu in that loneliness gene conspiracy immune disorder study. Because … I don’t mean to be cruel … but that guy doesn’t look good. Got a kind of lonely, immune-disordered look. But let’s consider the evidence.
NYT: Troubled Fundraiser’s [...]
Read ‘Gene Conspiracy Victim?’
Saturday Night Laugh
Published on 15 Sep 2007 at 7:42 pm.
14 Comments.
Filed under blogs, pols.
They’re turning on each other. Jane Hamsher at Firedoglake (can someone please tell what the heck a firedoglake is, anyway? Some kind of warmed-over eastern mysticism? Secret wimmin’s business? It’s got to be something important.) wants Elizabeth Edwards to lay off MoveOn.
Lonely? Gene Conspiracy.
Published on 15 Sep 2007 at 11:25 am.
1 Comment.
Filed under science.
A study of 22,000 genes has singled out 209 of the loneliest genes in the world. So to speak. Suspiciously, genes seem to have conspired against the lonely.
Read ‘Lonely? Gene Conspiracy.’
How Come?
Published on 15 Sep 2007 at 10:32 am.
11 Comments.
Filed under al qaeda, saudi arabia.
Saudis scratch their heads, try to figure out why just about everywhere you find Islamo-terror, you find Saudis. Are Saudis not blessed with wealth that bubbles out of the ground?
Bush League
Published on 15 Sep 2007 at 8:03 am.
2 Comments.
Filed under Iraq, blogs.
League of Extraordinary Bloggers meet with Chimpy.
Why They Hate Us Again
Published on 14 Sep 2007 at 1:55 pm.
12 Comments.
Filed under al qaeda.
I thought I was already pretty clear on the subject, but apparently AQ feels the need to belabor the point. New vid from Blackbeard to ”present reasons, motives for attacks on New York, Washington.”
Impeach Him Now!
Published on 14 Sep 2007 at 10:49 am.
14 Comments.
Filed under moronocy.
This lefty Bush reax deserves special mention. “Scarecrow” at “Firedoglake.” What the heck is a Firedoglake, anyway? Sounds very empowered. Anyway:
Bush Talk
Published on 14 Sep 2007 at 9:46 am.
3 Comments.
Filed under Bush, Iraq.
Bush speech here. Blah blah blah here:
9/11 Revenge Fantasies
Published on 14 Sep 2007 at 8:23 am.
16 Comments.
Filed under Europe, GWOT.
No, not the kind that 9/11 survivors, their families and fellow citizens might have. The kind some Euros and other ostensibly civilized people had when we were attacked.
Jens Blauenfeldt of Danmarks Radio, remembering his 9/11 reaction:
“Hey, it’s the Americans; now they are getting spanked. That serves them right … finally someone is striking back.”
Talk about something [...]
NYT Lies, People Will Die
Published on 13 Sep 2007 at 10:48 am.
32 Comments.
Filed under Iraq, media, military.
… If they have their way, that is.
UPDATE: James Hanson, aka Jimbo at Blackfive, former newspaper ad salesman, is of the opinion that cutting rates on political ads could be an issue deserving of FEC attention. That’s what they always told him: Don’t do it. Hence his grievance re NYT/MoveOn.*
UPDATE: Spectator, NYT rejected ads from Swift Boat Vets and National [...]
Read ‘NYT Lies, People Will Die’
Squeeze Play
Published on 13 Sep 2007 at 9:42 am.
3 Comments.
Filed under Iran, Syria.
My latest at Pajamas re Iran, Syria, Israel and the United States. There was the U.S. flanking of Iran in Iraq and Afghanistan. Then you had the Iranian/Syrian flanking of U.S. in Iraq. Are we now seeing the Israeli/U.S. flanking of Iran and Syria? Hope so. Related links:
Women Drivers
Published on 13 Sep 2007 at 8:10 am.
10 Comments.
Filed under saudi arabia.
Saudi women demand the right to drive.
Because I’m a forward-thinking progressive who supports women’s rights and anything that inches the Muslim world closer to the 21st century, I totally support this. Saudi women should be allowed to drive. Just one problem.
Wish We Were There
Published on 12 Sep 2007 at 9:31 am.
2 Comments.
Filed under Iraq, pols.
Bill Ardolino’s postcards from Fallujah. Looks like a nice place. I like the Fallujah City Council meeting shot. That’s a regular Norman Rockwell hardscrabble New England small-town democracy shot.
Put a Lid On It
Published on 12 Sep 2007 at 1:42 am.
13 Comments.
Filed under GWOT, pols.
Another great 9/11 speech, this one from Deval Patrick, governor of our own great Commonwealth of Massachusetts:
“Among many other things, 9/11 was a failure of human understanding,” Patrick said. “It was a mean and nasty and bitter attack on the United States. But it was also a failure of human beings to understand each other, [...]
Why They Hate Us
Published on 12 Sep 2007 at 12:57 am.
29 Comments.
Filed under Canada, GWOT.
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, addressing the Australian parliament yesterday, explains:
Hail to the Chimp
Published on 11 Sep 2007 at 11:49 pm.
7 Comments.
Filed under Bush, Iraq, pols.
Thursday night, our president will address the nation, and show us the way forward.
Sept. 11
Published on 11 Sep 2007 at 8:55 am.
22 Comments.
Filed under GWOT.
My wife and I have been married for 14 years today. On Sept. 10, 2001, because back then I had Sundays and Mondays off, we went out to dinner on the deck at Siro’s at Marina Bay, and watched a beautiful sunset over Dorchester. That was the last night things were normal. In the morning before [...]
Paul Sullivan, 1957-2007
Published on 10 Sep 2007 at 10:27 pm.
2 Comments.
Filed under obit.
He was a good guy. Smart. Cutting wit. Laughed a lot. Fun to hang around with. Taught me a few things. Died yesterday after a long, hard bout with cancer, and left a wife and five kids. Some of them he lived to see grown. Like the son he describes becoming a man, below.
Boston Herald [...]
Read ‘Paul Sullivan, 1957-2007’
Ugh Say Brain Different
Published on 10 Sep 2007 at 10:15 am.
17 Comments.
Filed under other.
This UCLA/NYU study says lefties and righties think differently. Open-minded lefties, rigid righties use different parts of their brains. Righties, has it happens, get it wrong more. Lefties enlightened, righties … troglodytes.
Read ‘Ugh Say Brain Different’
Dumpster Diving For Hidden Treasures
Published on 10 Sep 2007 at 12:01 am.
13 Comments.
Filed under Iraq, media, military.
Fascinating new NYT/CBS pile finds Americans trust the military more than Bush or Congress to bring the war to a successful end.
There are a lot of jokes in there. Readers are encouraged to poke around, find their own, post them in comments. But here’s one that isn’t a joke at all. NYT/CBS sanitation engineers apparently [...]
Read ‘Dumpster Diving For Hidden Treasures’
Carnival of the Insanities
Published on 9 Sep 2007 at 10:18 am.
No Comments.
Filed under blogs.
Just when you thought it was safe to be sane.
If that’s too crazy for you, you may want to check Newsbusters weekend captionfest, and Surber’s Week That Was.
Unless you prefer your social and political commentary with a little Sunday morning totty.
Read ‘Carnival of the Insanities’
NYT Surges
Published on 9 Sep 2007 at 9:51 am.
13 Comments.
Filed under Iraq, media, military.
NYT finally attempts some serious war reporting, surging into Baghdad.
NYT’s conclusion: “Modest security gains,” ”progress has been made,” “tenuous.” But that is not what this article is about, so that is dispensed quickly with a couple of statements and statistics as correspondents swandive into the anecdotal evidence.
Enviro-Math with Don
Published on 9 Sep 2007 at 8:27 am.
3 Comments.
Filed under impending doom!, warmalism.
5000 polar bears + 17,000 polar bears = 22,000 polar bears - 15,000 polar bears = impending doom, I tell you! Or, historically, whatever.
The seals will be happy to hear that. Earth gets warm, earth gets cold. It happens. Sometimes the sky falls, too. I suspect a study of frozen polar bear poop cores in the pack ice would show [...]
Vote MVDG
Published on 8 Sep 2007 at 10:31 pm.
1 Comment.
Filed under blogs.
Michael van der Galien, everyone’s favorite moderately hawkish Dutchman, is aiming for best political blog in Blogger’s Choice, and he wants your vote. Go here to vote for him, or whoever else you like on that list. Iraq the Model’s in there, too. And a bunch of others. Not me though. What’s the matter with you slugs? Sheesh.
Good Riddance
Published on 8 Sep 2007 at 12:53 pm.
4 Comments.
Filed under pols.
GOP Surrender-enthusiast Chuck Hagel packing in it. What would you expect from a quitter?
Rock Garden Press Conference
Published on 8 Sep 2007 at 9:52 am.
7 Comments.
Filed under Al Stooges of Three, al qaeda.
Following his 9/11 anniversary speech mocking the Crusader dogs, the Emir of the Unresurrected Caliphate and Sheikh in Chief of Umma Shahid Forces faces an adversarial Islamic Press Corps in the Rock Garden.
Sheikh in Chief:
OK, I’ll take some questions now. Hey there, Farouk, I see you have a rocking new keffiyeh … where may I find myself one like that? Heh heh.
Farouk, cave affairs [...]
