It’s possible that the rollout of Medicare Part D is one of the worst policy initiatives in American history. When Hilzoy at Obsidian Wings, who’s been on this story like suck on Cleveland, is eating, spleeping sleeping or at work you can get your dose of outrage at TPM Cafe’s new Medicare blog. Read, weep, adjust your voting habits accordingly.
Archives for January 2006
The Thin Green Line
Donald Rumsfeld commissioned a study.
WASHINGTON — Stretched by frequent troop rotations to Iraq and Afghanistan, the Army has become a “thin green line” that could snap unless relief comes soon, according to a study for the Pentagon.
Andrew Krepinevich, a retired Army officer who wrote the report under a Pentagon contract, concluded the Army cannot sustain the pace of deployments to Iraq long enough to break the back of the insurgency. He also suggested that the Pentagon’s decision to begin reducing the force in Iraq this year was driven in part by a realization that the Army was overextended.
Faced with unfriendly conclusions Rumsfeld did what any self-respecting beaurocrat would do. He rejected it.
WASHINGTON – Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on Wednesday rejected two new reports – including one ordered by his own office – warning that the Iraq war has strained the Army to the breaking point.
In an “interim assessment” of the Iraq war commissioned by the Office of the Secretary Defense, former Army officer Andrew Krepinevich said the strain of keeping large numbers of troops in Iraq and Afghanistan has reduced the Army to a “thin green line.”
Honest question. Donald Rumsfeld presumably doesn’t have the spare time in his schedule to tour every American military installation and evaluate the status of our armed forces in person. If the Secretary of Defense wants to understand the general state of folks under his command, how can he do it? When the offices that he personally trusts to carry out studies don’t bring back results that he considers acceptable you have to wonder what’s left. Policy without any grounding in reality seems doomed to fail. Perhaps the Office of Special Plans is free.
More Iranian Rumbling
This will go over well in Jerusalem:
Were Israel to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities, Iran would respond so strongly that it would put the Jewish state into “an eternal coma” like Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s, the Iranian defense minister said Wednesday.
Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz has said his country would not accept Iran’s acquiring nuclear weapons under any circumstances. He stopped short of threatening a military strike against Iran – as Israel destroyed an unfinished Iraqi nuclear reactor in 1981 – but he said Israel was preparing for the possible failure of diplomatic negotiations with Iran.
A newscaster on Iranian state television read out a response from Iran’s minister of defense, Gen. Mostafa Mohammad Najjar, on Wednesday.
“Zionists should know that if they do anything evil against Iran, the response of Iran’s armed forces will be so firm that it will send them into eternal coma, like Sharon,” Najjar said.
I loathe the Middle East. Well, I loathe the political climate.
Support The Troops
Michelle Malkin has compiled a list of 25 ways you personally can help support the troops. Go check them out, and if you can, do something nice for our men and women overseas.
Congrats Are in Order
Ezra Klein, paid hack. Good luck, Ezra.
Quick Links
* I forgot to mention this earlier, but I watched Ong-Bak, the Thai Warrior last night. Get used to the name Tony Jaa- he will be up there with Jackie Chan and Jet Li and others. And the Muay Thai moves are just cool.
* What if Ted Kennedy wrote children’s books? Fark gives us a sample.
* Cathy Young discusses Haleigh Poutre/Terri Schiavo and why they are different.
* A Denver Bronco’s fan claims he was humiliated in the classroom by his teacher and classmates, who are Steelers fans. BEFORE the game.
* George Galloway, human scum, shaking hands with Uday Hussein and taunting America. Cathy Young comments.
* Harold Meyerson echoes my sentiments:
Incompetence is not one of the seven deadly sins, and it’s hardly the worst attribute that can be ascribed to George W. Bush. But it is this president’s defining attribute. Historians, looking back at the hash that his administration has made of his war in Iraq, his response to Hurricane Katrina and his Medicare drug plan, will have to grapple with how one president could so cosmically botch so many big things — particularly when most of them were the president’s own initiatives.
Even in the few cases I support Bush still, he seems to work overtime to make me wish I weren’t.
* Glenn Greenwald has a long post up that claims that Sen. Mike DeWine (R-OH) introduced legislation that would make legal that which the administration is now accused of doing illegally. And the administration opposed it. Cue Harold Meyerson. Or maybe they didn’t.
I am on a diet starting today, not drinking any wine for a few months, and trying to shed some unhealthy weight I have put on. Expect me to be an XL-sized jar of attitude for a few days until I adjust. You have been warned. Speaking of fat, this is interesting:
West Virginia, which has one of the nation’s worst obesity problems, is expanding a project that uses a video game to boost students’ physical activity.
All of the state’s 157 middle schools are expecting to get the video game “Dance Dance Revolution,” and officials hope to put it in all 753 public schools within three years. A pilot project began in 20 schools last spring.
Students 10 to 14 years old are being targeted first because it is a key point in children’s development, said Linda Carson, a professor at West Virginia University’s School of Physical Education in Morgantown.
Interesting.
Shadegg Gains More Endorsements
Rep. John Shadegg picked up two more key endorsements:
Two House Republicans who pushed to keep Representative Tom DeLay from regaining his post as majority leader threw their support for the job behind Representative John Shadegg of Arizona on Tuesday, portraying him as the candidate who represents a true change in party direction.
“If you care about reform and you want a fresh face, this is the man to support,” said Representative Charles Bass, who was joined by Representative Jeff Flake in endorsing Mr. Shadegg over the two other candidates: Roy Blunt of Missouri, the acting majority leader, and John A. Boehner of Ohio.
There was no surprise in the pledge by Mr. Flake, like Mr. Shadegg an Arizona conservative. But Mr. Bass, of New Hampshire, is a moderate leader in the House, and he acknowledged that it would be hard for some to accept his support of Mr. Shadegg, arguably the most conservative of the contenders.
Mr. Bass said that he did not see significant ideological differences among the three and that Mr. Shadegg had made a stronger commitment to “bring transparency, accountability and necessary disclosure back to the legislative scene here in Washington.”
Good.