Come for the politics, stay for the snark.
by John Cole| 2 Comments
This post is in: General Stupidity
Apparently, someone is using my email address to spam viruses to people. I have received 40 notices since last night that my hotmail account has been behind emails containing viruses. I have alerted the appropriate Abuse departments after running the IP addresses through Sam Spade.
This post is in: Domestic Politics
Apparently the authorities are making progress in the sniper case. At the very least, there have been no new shootings, which is reason enough to be thankful.
The Hillbilly Sophisticate has been doing a great job with the sniper links. Just start at the top and scroll down.
*** UPDATE ***
I heard the Chief of Police on talk radio on my way to work, and he confirmed they are pursuing the drug angle and he claimed that there was a list of suspects, but he would not elaborate on who or how many.
by John Cole| 9 Comments
This post is in: War on Terror aka GSAVE®
If you have not seen the film from the cameraman who was inside the UN compound yesterday taping as the explosion went off, you should definitely go take a look, if for no other reason than to see what terror looks and feels like. In a word, it is awful. Kevin Drum provided the link, so I will use his instructions, as well:
CBS News has some video from a cameraman who was inside the UN building in Baghdad when the bomb went off. It’s about five minutes long and not for the squeamish, but if you want to know what it’s like being in the middle of a suicide bombing, this is (hopefully) as close as you’ll ever get.
To view it, go to the CBS News site and then click on “CBS News camera captures explosion, aftermath” at the top left of the page. If it’s gone, cut and paste this URL into your browser once you’re at the CBS site:
javascript:vlaunch(‘clip=/media/2003/08/19/video569057.rm’)
You’ll need the RealMedia player to watch the video.
I watched it, and I have several comments.
1.) I am even more convinced that people who think anything of this nature is a cause for celebration need to think about their remarks. Misha at the AI Rottweiler has been widely assailed for his flip and inappropriate remarks, yet sees the UN as a target of terror as poetic justice. There is simply no reason for celebration, and I gain little satisfaction in any ‘irony’ that may have been created by the attack. This was simply devestating and awful- those are real people bleeding and traumatized for life in that video- not just UN employees.
2.) Why, in events like this, when there is a cameraman filming, do you always hear people yelling for them to turn the camera off? It needs to keep rolling- people need to see this sort of thing.
3.) The guy at the beginning of the video yelling to keep everyone calm deserves a medal. Human responses to events like this are utterly unpredictable, but thank goodness there is always one person around who manages to keep his/her head. The benefits of training and instinct, perhaps.
4.) I am shaking with anger.
*** Update ***
Here is a direct link to the video.
This post is in: Domestic Politics
Here are hte plans for another big money, big industry bailout in Congress:
Joined by senators from Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia, Mr. McConnell and his fellow Kentuckian Jim Bunning in late July introduced a $13 billion proposal to retire the vestiges of the program created seven decades ago to fix the tobacco supply and guarantee a minimum price. The buyout money, to be paid over six years, would be tied to the prices paid for tobacco last year and come from an assessment on importers and domestic manufacturers of tobacco products.
An industry bailout of this magnitude is certain to be greeted skeptically by lawmakers from outside the tobacco belt, some of whom will view it as a reward to longtime producers of a product with substantial health consequences.
Its sponsors acknowledge that the only way the plan can pass is if it is tied to F.D.A. authority over the manufacture and distribution of tobacco, a longtime goal of public health advocates. Mr. McConnell, who describes the F.D.A. prospect as a “bitter pill” he is willing to swallow, said Senators Edward M. Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts, and Mike DeWine, Republican of Ohio, plan to advance a companion F.D.A. measure early in September.
Growers hope that the marriage of the buyout and F.D.A. regulation can attract enough votes in Congress to cause a breakthrough, since they say many are tottering financially. In Kentucky alone, more than 4,000 tobacco farmers have given up since 1998. Farmers have watched the amount of tobacco they are allowed to grow under the system decline steeply as the tobacco companies have begun buying more overseas
by John Cole| 14 Comments
This post is in: Democratic Stupidity
It’s 12 AM, do you know where your teenagers are? Chances are they may be at a Democrat strategy meeting, as that seems to be the level of maturity from the blogosphere left. Via Matt Yglesias, we see this ‘rather clever scheme’ from Ezra Klein to attack the Bush campaign website. Twelve year old Ezra wants to “show Rove who owns the ‘net.”
Meanwhile, the other high schoolers at the Daily Kos are responding to paid Dean operative Kos’s innocent query:
I’m having a bit of trouble with this … perhaps you guys can do better.
Name three good things for which Bush can take credit.
I’m having a hard time coming up with one.
In case you were wondering, that is Democrat humor. Apparently, so is this, from liberal ‘funny man’ Al Franken:
Comedian and liberal activist Al Franken (search) has written an apology letter to Attorney General John Ashcroft after asking him for his personal story about remaining abstinent before marriage.
Franken, a satirist and former writer for “Saturday Night Live,” admitted in a letter last month that he deliberately tried to mislead Ashcroft when he sought personal information from him.
“In the letter, I indicated that I wanted your story for a book about abstinence-only sex education entitled ‘Savin’ It!’ I claimed that I had already received testimonies from several conservative leaders, which I had not,” he wrote…
Franken wrote his request to Ashcroft on letterhead from Harvard University’s Shorenstein Center for Press and Politics (search) at the Kennedy School of Government, where he was a fellow during the spring term.
But the school never gave permission for the use of their letterhead, and apparently wasn’t pleased with Franken’s prank, which he acknowledged in the apology.
I am searching for a word. Oh- it’s ASSHOLE. I don’t kow why people keep insisting Franken is funny. Chris Rock is funny. Bill Cosby is funny. Bob Newhart is funny. Dennis Leary is funny. Robert Schimmel is funny. Larry David is funny. Al Franken is an asshole.
by John Cole| 22 Comments
This post is in: Republican Stupidity
As much as I like Misha (he is much tamer in person), I simply can’t share these sentiments and find them distasteful:
I heard this on the news this morning and had almost popped the cork off of a bottle of sparkly when I heard that it was the U.N. HQ in Baghdad.
Oh well, it’s a start, I suppose.
I dislike the incompetence and the disgusting nonsense that goes on in the UN, but I simply don’t find anything worth celebrating in this case. Innocent people were killed by assholes- no matter what the UN has or has not done, these people did not deserve this. Their deaths are every bit as tragic as the lives lost on 9/11, and there is nothing positive that comes from the actions of murderous Islamo-fascists.
I also think it is important to note that while a lot of bile comes out of the UN, I don’t think anyone doubts that the goals of the organization, in most cases, are rather admirable. My main opposition is that the organization has showed itself incapable and unwilling to make the necessary decisions and engage in the necessary actions to reach those goals.
by John Cole| 17 Comments
This post is in: Democratic Stupidity
Along with the absurd ‘Mission Accomplished’ nonsense that is recirculating through the left flank of the blogosphere, the newest in meme idiocy from our hyper partisan Bush haters is culled from this WaPo article (by Dana Milbank):
Asked about U.S. force presence in Afghanistan, Bush said the U.S. presence is being “gradually replaced” by other troops.
“We’ve got about 10,000 troops there, which is down from, obviously, major combat operations,” he said. “And they’re there to provide security and they’re there to provide reconstruction help. But both those functions are being gradually replaced by other troops. Germany, for example, is now providing the troops for ISAF [International Security Assistance Force], which is the security force for Afghanistan, under NATO control. In other words, more and more coalition forces and friends are beginning to carry a lot of the burden in Afghanistan.”
In fact, the 10,000 troops in Afghanistan represent the highest number of U.S. soldiers in the country since the war there began. By the time the Taliban government had been vanquished in December 2001, U.S. troops numbered fewer than 3,000 in Afghanistan. And three months later, in March 2002, when the last major battle against remnants of the Taliban and al Qaeda took place in eastern Afghanistan, about 5,000 U.S. troops were in the country.
CalPundit summarizes the left wing response (which varied from ‘see- Bush is a moron’ to ‘why did Dean get mistreated’):
As I recall, Howard Dean got pilloried for being about 10% off in his estimate of U.S. troop strength in Iraq. Do you think we’ll see the same reaction to the guy who actually is president for not even knowing if U.S. troop strength in Afghanistan is up or down compared to a year ago?
Here are the trackbacks to the Calpundit’s post. Go read them. Extra credit to Matt Yglesias for managing to get both of today’s memes in to one post- although he is just following the lead of his bosses (the anonymous hacks at the American Prospect’s TAPPED weblog.
So let’s review the charge- Bush said we had more than the current group involved in major combat operations. So let’s check who all was in theatre for the major military operations that Bush was referring to- all courtesy of Global Security:
Prior to the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks, US Central Command had an operating strength in the region that varried between 20,000 to 25,000 troops on any given day. As of late February 2002 CENTCOM had about 60,000 troops, with about 5,000 actually in Afghanistan.
As of 08 November 2001 it was reported that more than 50,000 American soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines were deployed across an area stretching from the Red Sea to the Indian Ocean. About half the total American force were aboard naval ships operating in the northern Arabian Sea. Approximately 3,000 American personnel were said to be in Oman, including soldiers from the 3rd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment. Another 1,500 to 2,000 Americans, including soldiers from the Army’s 10th Mountain Division, as well as special operations forces, were reportedly based at a former Soviet air base in Uzbekistan.
By early January 2002 it was reported that the total number of US ground forces deployed in Afghanistan had grown to nearly 4,000 troops. By late January 2002 the total number of US troops in Afghanistan was reportedly over 4,000, including conventional forces to protect bases, along with engineers, forensic experts and interrogators. By August 2002 there were about 8,000 US troops in Afghanistan.
By the end of September 2001, almost the entire active duty C-5 and C-17 fleet — a total of about 140 aircraft — was dedicated to supporting the war effort. As of 08 November 2001 it was reported that a total of 400 American aircraft were deployed, including reconnaissance, transport and tanker aircraft. However, this number also included the aircraft patrolling the southern and northern “no fly” zones over Iraq. The total number of aircraft involved in the war by early November 2001 was nearly 500, including reconnaissance and other support aircraft from Britain, Canada, Australia and France. KC-10 and KC-135 tankers were primarily concentrated in several orbits over south-western Pakistan, flying from bases in Diego Garcia, Oman, Bahrain, and elsewhere in Southwest Asia. Approximately 14,000 Air Force personnel were committed to the war in Afghanistan.
France had 2,000 military personnel in the region as of early November 2001. Japan, Germany, Italy and New Zealand have pledged to deploy ships and troops if needed. Turkey and Australia have announced that special operations forces would be deployed. Italy announced in early November that ships and aircraft, and up to 3,000 military personnel, would be deployed. The 3,900 Germans planned on deployement would include some 100 special operations troops. Turkey has committed 90 special forces troops and is prepared to send a peacekeeping force numbering about 3,000 if needed. By January 2002 special operations forces from Australia, Britain, France, Denmark, Germany and Turkey were on the ground in Afghanistan.
As of early March 2002 more than 17,000 coalition military personnel from 17 countries have deployed in the region since October 2001. A smaller number of these are actually operating in Afghanistan.
The Indian Ocean area between Pakistan and Kenya is patrolled by about 100 ships