Good luck with that.
Governator to President Bush- Stop Stealing Our Shit!Post + Comments (19)
by John Cole| 19 Comments
Good luck with that.
Governator to President Bush- Stop Stealing Our Shit!Post + Comments (19)
by John Cole| 33 Comments
This post is in: Election 2008, Military, Republican Stupidity, Assholes
Silent wingnuts the world over just “missed” this testimony:
Army chief of staff Gen. George Casey, testifying on troop strain before the Senate Armed Forces Committee Tuesday, said there is “no reason to doubt” Sen. Barack Obama’s military shortage story during CNN’s debate in Austin, Texas, last week.
***War supporters have challenged the story, but Casey said he had “no reason to doubt what it is the captain says.”
“We acknowledged and we all worked together to correct the deficiencies with equipment that we saw during that period, not only Afghanistan but in Iraq,” he said in response to the question posed by Republican Sen. Lindsay Graham, a longtime supporter of GOP presidential candidate Sen. John McCain.
Both Sen. Graham and Sen. Warner tried to play politics with this, and the Army Chief of Staff backed Obama. That has to smart.
So, to recap, Obama didn’t make the Captain up, he most likely was telling the entire truth, and Iraq did distract us from Afghanistan. In other news, water is wet. But hey, nutters- someone just emailed me something claiming Obama was a stealth muslim!
Strangely Enough, The Weekly Standard Had No CommentPost + Comments (33)
by John Cole| 18 Comments
This post is in: Sports
This is really sad:
Myron Cope, the screechy-voiced announcer whose colorful catch phrases and twirling Terrible Towel became symbols of the Pittsburgh Steelers during an unrivaled 35 seasons in the broadcast booth, has died. He was 79.
Cope died Wednesday morning at a nursing home in Mount Lebanon, a Pittsburgh suburb, Joe Gordon, a former Steelers executive and a longtime friend of Cope’s, told The Associated Press.
Cope had been treated for respiratory problems and heart failure in recent months, Gordon said.
Cope’s tenure from 1970 to 2004 as the color analyst on the Steelers’ radio network is the longest in NFL history for a broadcaster with a single team. Cope was inducted into the National Radio Hall of Fame in 2005.
To outsiders, Cope had one of the most grating and annoying voices ever. To Steelers fans, it was like a mother’s lullaby.
Yoy, and double yoy. Thanks for the memories, Myron.
Some Myron audio.
by Tim F| 23 Comments
This post is in: War
I’m feeling unusually generous today, so for the sake of argument let’s deny reality and say that the “surge” has settled the bitter civil war between Iraq’s Shiite and Sunni community. We’re on the glide path to success, right? Well, no. The powder keg that we lit by freeing Iraqi Kurdistan is still burning on a slow match. Sooner or later Kirkuk residents will choose whether or not to join semi-autonomous Kurdistan; in a sense the outcome doesn’t matter since both sides have basically promised a bloody fight if they lose.
Then you have Turkey. As helpful as it might seem to free Iraq’s Kurds to pester Iran*, it really doesn’t help our case to have the same Kurdish groups stirring violent insurgency in Turkey. It has been clear for a while that the Turks would eventually run out of patience and deal with Kurdish insurgent bases just over the Iraq border if we failed to deal with the problem ourselves.
Long story short, we failed and the Turks ran out of patience.
[T]he current incursion is both a warning and a preamble. Turkey is sending a very unsubtle message. “Get off the fence and reign in these Kurdish groups before the Spring thaw in late-March or April or we’ll be over the border in real force and you can kiss goodbye to peace in Northern Iraq. We’ve proven we can and we’ve proven you can’t do anything about it short of breaking up NATO and starting up an actual war with the most moderate Islamic-majority nation in the region.” The unrest which will come from the US and Iraq cracking down on the PKK and PJK will be nothing compared to what would hit the fan then.
Cernig also notes that the Turks have claimed the Bush Doctrine privilege to chase terrorists into countries where they find safe harbor. Even better, a full-scale Turkish invasion would no doubt drive the Kurdish region into bloody chaos, an idea which ought to make neoconservatives like Michael “creative destruction is our middle name” Ledeen clap their infant hands together with glee.
Fans of bloody intractable war will no doubt be thrilled to know that the Kurds have decided not to roll over for Turkey.
The United States is being skillfully handled by the Turks, who are dragging the U.S. into a policy disaster in Kurdistan. The Kurds have moved a lot of fighters and equipment quietly into the area, and are prepared to strike the Turks. Massoud [Barzani, the Iraqi Kurdish leader] has issued all the press comments he can to publicly warn that Kurdish patience is gone. The United States is either ignoring the signals or missing them…The Kurds can and will bloody the Turks badly in a fight.
Ugh. At least the Sunnis and Shiites have finally settled their differences.
***
(*) Maybe not so helpful when you think about the incentive that it gives for Iran to encourage insurgents to cross the border and pester us.
This post is in: Previous Site Maintenance
I honestly don’t think I can take anymore.
Make the pain stop.
by Tim F| 33 Comments
This post is in: Open Threads
Some people claim that there’s a woman to blame, but I know.
It’s The Other Steve‘s Fault.
by John Cole| 25 Comments
This post is in: General Stupidity
Gavin says dance, we say “How High, Sir?”
This is all Tim’s fault.