Archive for July, 2007

Jul 21 2007

John Cole answers the mail…….

Published by under Blogging,Iraq

And in the process points out why Hugh Hewitt is a poor writer.

One has to push back when these guys-regardless of which side of the aisle they are on-distort the facts.

Like when William “The Bloody” Kristol tries to just make them up out of thin air.

The surge-monger wrote:

What about terrorism? Apart from Iraq, there has been less of it, here and abroad, than many experts predicted on Sept. 12, 2001. So Bush and Vice President Cheney probably are doing some important things right.

Uh, sorry Bill. That’s not exactly true-even with your caveat about Iraq:

Somebody is doing proper analysis:

The implication that there has been less terrorism abroad is simply not true.In fact, since 9/11, terror attacks and fatalities have been on the rise around the world—not just in the Middle East, but nearly everywhere. Just look at the graphic to the right, which is adapted from FP’s 9/11+5, a look at the state of terror around the world five years after 9/11 by two terrorism experts at RAND. Even without counting the Middle East, the number of attacks elsewhere
in the world has soared for the years 2002-2005 over the period 1998-2001.

FP’s summary is what the rest of us wishes Kristol’s commentary was, fair and balanced:

It’s fine and fair to debate Bush’s legacy, and he’s surely done a few good things over the past six years. And Bill Kristol is certainly entitled to his own opinion; if he think Bush has been boffo, then more power to him. But Kristol is certainly not entitled to his own facts.

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Jul 20 2007

Meanwhile, back in the present…….

We are starting to get ready to go back to Korea…. :-(

Here is the USFK inbriefing:


Work harder! Not smarter!

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Jul 20 2007

A Will Smith moment……

About a year and a half ago I wrote this post. I wrote that post out of frustration, after having tried, in vain, to convince my boss not to make a not so good choice. My boss-despite warnings from several sources- made the decision to go with a certain choice.

Two weeks ago-it all blew up. No suprise on my end-just sadness at having tried hard to keep it from happening. Sorrow too-after hearing the grim details of what my co-workers had to put up with as a result of that one decision.

In the words of Detective Spooner: “You know, somehow, ‘I told you so’ just doesn’t quite cut it. “

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Jul 19 2007

Thomas Freidman gets it.

He really does-Iraq is about the Iraqis, and their failure to do anything for themselves. In the end it’s not the Democrats who are failing Iraq-it is the Iraqis not even living up to the incredibly low standards Arabs set for themselves.

Help Wanted: Peacemaker

By Thomas L. Friedman

I can’t imagine how I’d feel if I were the parent of a soldier in Iraq and I had just read that the Iraqi Parliament had decided to go on vacation for August, because, as the White House spokesman, Tony Snow, explained, it’s really hot in Baghdad then — “130 degrees.”
I’ve been in Baghdad in the summer and it is really hot. But you know what? It is a lot hotter when you’re in a U.S. military uniform, carrying a rifle and a backpack, sweltering under a steel helmet and worrying that a bomb can be thrown at you from any direction. One soldier told me he lost six pounds in one day. I’m sure the Iraqi Parliament is air-conditioned.

So let’s get this straight: Iraqi parliamentarians, at least those not already boycotting the Parliament, will be on vacation in August so they can be cool, while young American men and women, and Iraqi Army soldiers, will be fighting in the heat in order to create a proper security environment in which Iraqi politicians can come back in September and continue squabbling while their country burns.

Here is what I think of that: I think it’s a travesty — and for the Bush White House to excuse it with a Baghdad weather report shows just how much it has become a hostage to Iraq.
The administration constantly says the surge is necessary, but not sufficient. That’s right. There has to be a political deal. And the latest report card on Iraq showed that a deal is nowhere near completion. So where is the diplomatic surge? What are we waiting for? A cool day in December?

When you read stories in the newspapers every day about Americans who are going to Iraq for their third or even fourth tours and you think that this administration has never sent its best diplomats for even one tour yet — never made one, not one, single serious, big-time, big-tent diplomatic push to resolve this conflict, but instead has put everything on the military, it makes you sick.

Yes, yes, I know, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is going to make one of her quick-in-and-out trips to the Middle East next month to try to enlist support for an Israeli-Palestinian peace conference in the fall. I’m all for Arab-Israeli negotiations, but the place that really needs a peace conference right now is Iraq, and it won’t happen with drive-by diplomacy.
President Bush baffles me. If your whole legacy was riding on Iraq, what would you do? I’d draft the country’s best negotiators — Henry Kissinger, Jim Baker, George Shultz, George Mitchell, Dennis Ross or Richard Holbrooke — and ask one or all of them to go to Baghdad, under a U.N. mandate, with the following orders:
“I want you to move to the Green Zone, meet with the Iraqi factions and do not come home until you’ve reached one of three conclusions: 1) You have resolved the power- and oil-sharing issues holding up political reconciliation; 2) you have concluded that those obstacles are insurmountable and have sold the Iraqis on a partition plan that could be presented to the U.N. and supervised by an international force; 3) you have concluded that Iraqis are incapable of agreeing on either political reconciliation or a partition plan and told them that, as a result, the U.S. has no choice but to re-deploy its troops to the border and let Iraqis sort this out on their own.”

The last point is crucial. Any lawyer will tell you, if you’re negotiating a contract and the other side thinks you’ll never walk away, you’ve got no leverage. And in Iraq, we’ve never had any leverage. The Iraqis believe that Mr. Bush will never walk away, so they have no incentive to make painful compromises.

That’s why the Iraqi Parliament is on vacation in August and our soldiers are fighting in the heat. Something is wrong with this picture. First, Mr. Bush spends three years denying the reality that we need a surge of more troops to establish security and then, with Iraq spinning totally out of control and militias taking root everywhere, he announces a surge and criticizes others for being impatient.

At the same time, Mr. Bush announces a peace conference for Israelis and Palestinians — but not for Iraqis. He’s like a man trapped in a burning house who calls 911 to put out the brush fire down the street. Hello?

Quitting Iraq would be morally and strategically devastating. But to just drag out the surge, with no road map for a political endgame, with Iraqi lawmakers going on vacation, with no consequences for dithering, would be just as morally and strategically irresponsible.

We owe Iraqis our best military — and diplomatic effort — to avoid the disaster of walking away. But if they won’t take advantage of that, we owe our soldiers a ticket home.

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Jul 18 2007

Odds and ends……….

I went into Tokyo yesterday. To Ebisu to be specific-but I took a little different way to get there than I normally do. Which gave a me a lot of time to observe and read the latest and greatest news from Nihon.

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To the very cute girl in the designer jeans that was in front of me, in the middle of the herd, going up the steps at Keikyu Shinagawa:

Next time please wear a belt with those jeans. Watching them ride up and down your incredibly attractive derriere and small of your back-exposing what appeared to be the top of a black, very lacy, pair of panties (with the laundry tag pointed up, whether by accident or design)- was very distracting and unsettling to say the least. Stuck in the crowd as I was, it was fortunate I did not have to fall forward and use my hands on your jeans to break my fall. For the both of us. There are probably some very good belts you could buy to prevent that.

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Speaking of shapely female forms, Japan Probe has published a survey of the 10 most desirable Japanese women to go to the beach with. Assuming it ever stops raining:


She’s number 1!
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And speaking of riding the train-this weird video wraps up several years of riding Tokyo trains in less than 2 minutes! Wasuremono nai yo ni, go chui kudasai!


I’ve been to just about every one of these stations!
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As for the ongoing scandal about Senator Vitter and the recent public apology he and his wife made, I think it’s up to the voters of Louisiana to decide through either a recall or at the next election. Since he has had to admit his infidelity to his wife-he has ceded ownership of the marriage (and his genitals) to her anyway-can’t he be left alone to suffer that incredibly uncomfortable existence? And that’s all I have to say about that. He who is without sin and all that……………
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Meanwhile, the Apple I phone has a challenger. ( H/T to Fucked Gaijin):

It’s hard to look at a multimedia phone like the upcoming nani from Japan’s Sophia without making comparisons with Apple’s just-launched attention seeking iPhone. Due to be unveiled at the Wireless Japan 2007 exhibition tomorrow, the nani’s most prominent feature is a large touch-sensitive screen that – at 4.3 inches – beats the iPhone by almost an inch. The resolution is also more impressive, at 800 x 400 pixels, compared to 480 x 320 on the Apple device. The rest of the package, however, seems unlikely
to pass muster, although it may have sounded cutting edge a year ago. The processor runs at 600MHz and there’s Wi-Fi, dual cameras and a digital terrestrial tuner. Memory comes in the form of a microSD card with no internal user storage at all…
more…

I probably cannot afford one.
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Not a good day to be a policeman in Hiroshima:


I’m blaming it on the dog!

Click on the image to see it better.
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If you have ever tried to meet a date at Shibuya station, you know what this is about:

Click on the image!

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The yen is weaker than ever, but that is not stopping Iran from demanding more satsu and less greenbacks.

No wonder they are standing in line for gas in Tehran!
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Finally, I stumbled across this the other day. The Drinking Man’s guide to Star Trek:

Vulcans are the designated drivers of the Universe .

Top Ten Signs Your Starship Captain is a Drunkard.

10.) When Spock mind probes him, Spock gets hammered.

9.) Wakes up next to a Klingon chick at least once a week.

8.) Starts the ship’s self-destruct sequence just to fuck with the yeoman who blew him off in the officer’s lounge.

7.) Each time you discover a new planet he tells Spock to scan the surface for cheap scotch and loose females.

6.) The first thing he says when negotiating with Romulans is, “So, what’s the ale situation?”

5.) McCoy tells him, “I’m a doctor, Jim, not a bartender!”

4.) He keeps slipping down to the engineering room to “discuss ancient Scottish traditions” with Scotty.

3.) Giggles every time Spock says they should launch a “deep space probe.”

2.) Whenever a female yeoman brings him a clipboard he tries to open a tab.

1.) Is willing to make beer runs into the neutral zone.

Ja ne!

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Jul 17 2007

An oldie

But still a goodie. Though probably not as funny after the 7/7 bombings. However I thought about this song on the Subway today. (Reason 345 to be glad I’m in Japan).

Mili can you verify?

London Underground Song

See more like this on kontraband.com

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Jul 16 2007

Bad day in Nigata…….

Published by under Japan Living

This has been a weird summer. Rain, cool temps and typhoons and now earthquakes!

7 dead, over 700 wounded in a strong earth quake in Niigata prefecture near Kashiwazaki city:


This video is from Niigata City.

Prime Minister Abe was in Nagasaki and was rushed back to Tokyo by JASDF aircraft. The following video explains that while showing pictures from Nagaoka city and other places of what is being called the Nigata Chuetsu Oki Jishin (Niigata central big earthquake). See for your self:

All over the news here as one might expect. 68 aftershocks so far, but none felt down here in the Kanto plain. The Nagano mountains tend to shield us from those things.

However, if that news were not enough, this also has raised concerns about nuclear power (Genhatsu) again in Japan:

The 10:13 a.m. quake also caused a blaze at a nuclear plant, the first fire at a nuclear plant to be caused by a quake, according to officials of the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.
The quake caused minor tsunamis, disrupted public transportation and destroyed about 515 houses. It also resulted in widespread power failures and cuts in water supplies, as strong aftershocks continued in the area. The four women and three men who died all lived in Niigata Prefecture and were in their 70s and 80s.
Four of the seven nuclear reactors at Tokyo Electric Power Co.’s Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear plant in Niigata Prefecture which were operating at the time of the earthquake and automatically shut down following the quake.
But an electric transformer outside one of the reactors caught fire at around 10:30 a.m. The fire was extinguished about one and a half hours later. No radioactive leakage has been detected.

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Jul 15 2007

I knew it!

Thomas Barnett points out in his blog, what many of us knew deep down. Midlife crisis is caused by women and women really do marry for money.

They also prove that Muslim suicide bombers are sexually repressed…..but I think most of us knew that already.

The other key ingredient is the promise of 72 virgins waiting in heaven for any martyr in Islam. The prospect of exclusive access to virgins may not be so appealing to anyone who has even one mate on earth, which strict monogamy virtually guarantees. However, the prospect is quite appealing to anyone who faces the bleak reality on earth of being a complete reproductive loser.

Barnett sums it up well: “So it all comes down to a sense of progress and potential, and that’s why I argue most for individual-level connectivity.”

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Jul 15 2007

Confusion….

The S.O. and I went to a dinner party last night. With the Typhoon bearing down on Tokyo, sticking close to home was the right thing to do. It was interesting in many ways-I could not drink, so all I could really do was watch and listen. And realize how much I have really changed in my viewpoints. Some were Navy some were civilians, almost all were, politically, well to the right of me.

Most of these folks have kids and are dealing with trials and travails that come with raising teen-agers. So that discussion tended to predominate the conversation. What their kids were doing, what they were not doing, how they were set to succeed or not. The same worry that parents have across the globe. To my credit, I generally stayed silent. Since I “opted out” when my daughter was 16 and my son 18, I really was not in a position to comment. Plus if they knew my real thoughts on the subject-I would probably not be invited back for another meal. Which would really disappoint the S.O. (Her continuing mental “contamination” by American women is the subject of a whole another post….).

One subject came up from one of the military folks. Speaking of history he had recently finished reading a book about the great Kanto Plain earthquake and the subsequent fire demolished a lot of Tokyo and Yokohama. He was bemoaning the fact that so many of the Americans knew so little of the history of the host country-and when he had tried to teach them some in “officer training” they seemed positively disinterested. While, in his view, so many Japanese knew their history “chapter and verse”. As only a black shoe would-he bragged about how he was going to “smack some sense into them”.

I had to force myself to keep my mouth shut. First of all, my observations of the average Japanese prove quite the opposite-many of them are quite lacking in any fundamental knowledge of the history beyond the immediate past 20 years. They know that Japan lost World War II-however few that I have come across have an in depth understanding of why-or what could have happened differently if things had taken a different path. I think if I were to compare my observations with those who actually have to live in Japanese society-not just those who live within a protected enclave that is an American military base, I think you would find more than a few people who would agree with me.

As for his anger with his own subordinates for resenting his attempts to “enlighten them” I had to keep myself from laughing out loud and calling him a fool. Can’t he see? First-this “Officer training” is just another meeting that keeps them from doing any number of the pointless tasks they are required to perform. Second, and the Navy has only itself to blame for this, its not exactly accessing people with a burning desire to know its history. From the top down it has pooh pooh’ed a knowledge of history and tradition-so why be surprised when the folks who make up your ranks aren’t interested in these things? They can tell you down to the penny how much is in their 401K though.

As for the perils of parenthood-I just could not work up an interest. Believe me I tried-but I kept finding my mind wandering to other things. And other places.
No body’s fault per se-but just a stark fact. I marveled at how I have changed-not necessarily for the better. However my beliefs just aren’t in sync with so many of theirs anymore. Maybe they know something I do not. Or maybe I have learned something they have not. Or maybe its a little bit of both. Who can really say? So long as everyone is happy I guess that is the main thing-but does anyone really know when they are happy? I wondered this the whole time-while resisting the urge to reach across the table and smack on particular smug son of a bitch who was spouting platitudes about “controlling the American Sailor”. He would not need to be controlled you pig headed idiot-if maybe you guys would treat him like an adult and stop trying to control every aspect of his private life.

Out of respect and I hate to admit it, love for the S.O., I kept quiet. Nonetheless as I drifted off to sleep, I was troubled about how much my mind has shifted. There is a lot still to be sorted out me thinks.

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Jul 14 2007

Another rat leaves the ship………

Published by under Bush Buffoonery,Politics

The ship that is George Bush’s presidency that is………..

Imagine if you will, if this were a parliamentary style of government-would George Bush survive a no confidence vote?

Probably not-especially when Bush supporters like this one start questioning his sincerity.


I’m not referring to what used to be called Bush Derangement Syndrome. That phrase suggested that to passionately dislike the president was to be somewhat unhinged. No one thinks that anymore. I received an email before the news conference from as rock-ribbed a Republican as you can find, a Georgia woman (middle-aged, entrepreneurial) who’d previously supported him. She said she’d had it. “I don’t believe a word that comes out of his mouth.” I was startled by her vehemence only because she is, as I said, rock-ribbed. Her email reminded me of another, one a friend received some months ago: “I took the W off my car today,” it said on the subject line. It sounded like a country western song, like a great lament.As I watched the news conference, it occurred to me that one of the things that might leave people feeling somewhat disoriented is the president’s seemingly effortless high spirits. He’s in a good mood. There was the usual teasing, the partly aggressive, partly joshing humor, the certitude. He doesn’t seem to be
suffering, which is jarring. Presidents in great enterprises that are going badly suffer: Lincoln, LBJ with his head in his hands. Why doesn’t Mr. Bush? Every major domestic initiative of his second term has been ill thought through and ended in failure. His Iraq leadership has failed. His standing is lower than any previous president’s since polling began. He’s in a good mood. Discuss.

Of course he is in a good mood. The people he really cares about-his inner elite circle of rich cronies is being taken care of. The nearest threat to that circle breaking has been eliminated with reprieve of Scooter Libby-thus protecting the Sith Lord Cheney from further scrutiny. Ms Noonan comes out and finally realizes what us Bush bashers have known all along-he says one thing, but means quite another. ” With Mr. Bush it is the people who are forced to be cool-eyed and realistic. He’s the one who goes off on the toots. This is extremely irritating, and also unnatural. Actually it’s weird.

It could be that maybe, just maybe, George Bush believes the lies that have been told to him by any number of sycophants. That he believed we would be welcomed as liberators, that he believed that Iraq was fertile ground to plant democracy and that somehow it would outgrow the inadequacy of its people to understand what that involves-much less execute. He may have actually believed the lies of Donald Rumsfeld that the military was too large and too well paid-that it actually could take on a major ground war while foolishly shrinking it’s numbers.

Which no one wants to believe because if its true-it makes him out to be a bigger poltroon than any of his opposition ever thought. And leaves the people stuck:


You work, pay your taxes, which are your financial contribution to making it all work, you become involved in local things–the boy’s ball team, the library, the homeless shelter. You handle what you can handle within your ken, and give the big things to the president.And if he can’t do it, or if he can’t do it as well as you pay the mortgage and help the kid next door, you get mad. And you fire him.

Americans can’t fire the president right now, so they’re waiting it out. They can tell a pollster how they feel, and they do, and they can tell friends, and they do that too. They also watch the news conference, and grit their teeth a bit.

More than just a bit-so much so I may need to see a dentist. Thank God I out grew hitting things…………..

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Jul 13 2007

After you read this……….

Published by under Politics

You are never going to look at Katie Couric the same way again.

Like I need this s**t!The other Skippy, the Canadian one-who writes better and is funnier than me-lets you know exactly what is wrong with CBS news these days:

Les Moonves made a fundamental mistake and it has blown up in his face to the tune of about $75 million over five years. He bet that he could do in news what he did in entertainment, get a perky piece of ass to drive up ratings.That didn’t work, and it didn’t for one fundamental reason: women prefer getting their news from someone they either see as a potential father or sex partner. But may Jesus save anyone who tries to let boys have a little fun, too, because your wife sure as shit won’t. Women will rip that Teleprompter-reading tart to fucking pieces. You should note that something like 90% of the hit articles on Katie have been written by women.

Or maybe I’m the only one who really needs to be devoured by a cougar. Who can say?

Not that it really matters. Les Moonves still gets to go home every night and fuck Julie Chen from the CBS Early Show and lavish her with gifts paid for with all of that groovy CSI: Miami and Everybody Loves Raymond money. What the fuck does he care what happens to the network’s loss-leader?

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Jul 12 2007

Why not now?

Published by under Iraq,Politics

‘The time has come,’ the Walrus said,
‘To talk of many things:
Of shoes — and ships — and sealing wax –
Of cabbages — and kings –
And why the sea is boiling hot –
And whether pigs have wings.’

“Withdraw, why withdraw? We are killing lots of them!” -Quote from a Turkish commander during the Korean war when he was directed to pull back before his position was overrun by Chinese forces in November of 1950.

I’ve put it off long enough-making a post about the ongoing mess that is Iraq. I have watched the news with great interest-particularly the two big issues that have come to light lately, namely that true to form: the Iraqis have failed again to do anything useful with their government and the repeated pleas that the “surge” has only just started and it needs more time. If one listens carefully and between the lines, you can almost hear a small voice (that sounds a lot like GWB’s) saying, “Stay the course!”

Its hard for me to approach Iraq objectively because when it comes to Arabs, I have a huge bias against them. I never liked dealing with them during my trips to Bahrain and always felt dirty and cheated after talking to them. Its irrational I know, but unfortunately there is a certain amount of history to back it up-they have messed up every good opportunity given to them in the 20th century and beyond.

Yet, that’s hardly fair at all. Most Iraqis just want the same things any other person wants-to have a decent place to live, make some money, and to live and raise their families. I know that deep down inside-but I still have to make a conscious effort to overcome my own deeply held prejudices. At this point left to sheer emotionalism-I hate the Iraqis-sight unseen. I know that’s wrong. Plus there is evidence that Islam is not the real problem-Asian Muslims don’t have the problems that Arabs seem to thrive on.

Here is what I do know:

1) After 4+ years of violence, Iraq is still a basket case as a nation. Whatever progress has been made as a nation following the fall of Saddam’s government is completely offset by the fact that on average somewhere between 100 to 200 Iraqis a week are dying via violent means. Despite all efforts to spin that brutal fact into some sort of “progress”, the absolute numbers still hold at about that number.

2) This fiscal year, the war will cost about $135 billion. This, while pressing needs at home and in the world are ignored. Imagine what 135 billion would accomplish to bring cures to the disease that are killing millions world wide. Think what that level of resources could accomplish if it were available to put to good use.

3) It’s nice that Mr. Bush is still confident about Iraq, telling us on Tuesday: “I strongly believe that we will prevail.” We’re doing almost as well today as we were in October 2003 when “We’re making really good progress.” Then in September 2004, Mr. Bush assured us that Iraq was “making steady progress.” In April 2005: “We’re making good progress in Iraq.” In October 2005: “Iraq has made incredible political progress.” In November 2005: “Iraqis are making inspiring progress.”

4) This “progress” we are told helps keep America safe. The old canard that if we fight them there, we don’t have to fight them at home. If so, then why are we being told this?

5) Its also “clear” that if we leave, Iraq will fall apart and there will be genocide. Of course if we stay there are increased risks for the average Iraqi too. They don’t win either way. What that does not say is that, if we leave, it will give one side or the other a carte blanche to wipe out the opposition. A lot of that speculation is unproven however and there are those who think that things might actually get better since the main “target” would be gone. Its not a popular viewpoint to be sure but it is there.

6) In terms of the concept of the war on terror-Iraq is a side show. It is not the “Central Front” as we are repeatedly told. Most war supporters vehemently disagree with that premise. The causes of terrorism do not change, fundamentally. Its about economics and the disparities of economics within the Arab world that give the current brand of wackos room to operate. I strongly agree with Thomas Barnett when says that we would be better off, “eschewing the war of ideas and focusing more on creating economic facts on the ground–slow and steady–while al Qaeda gets all caught up in illusory “victories.” I don’t want America or the Core on a war footing for the Long War, so de-escalating its crisis profile is a good thing “. It always been the economy stupid! Give people things to have, sex to have , and things to lose and they tend to lose interest in ethereal concepts of religious war. However in the current construct we are actually manufacturing more terrorists than we are killing-because of the increasing fundamental structural inequalities of the world economy. Don’t believe me? Go look again at Asia and where they do have problems-Philippines and Indonesia-both poor nations.

7) People are tired of this war. They are tired of seeing the people they care about get killed and maimed for folks they don’t necessarily feel are really appreciative of the sacrifices that are being made.

So what is to be done? We cannot leave because we will lose and winning seems father away than ever. We are in a problem that defies solution as James Fallows points out:


This of course is entirely contrary to the Bush Administration’s position, which as of the president’s latest statement still asserted that American troops must stay until “the job is done.” It’s at odds with many liberal hawks, and conservative hawks too, who say that the U.S. “can’t afford to lose” so must stay until we “win,” whatever that means. In fact “winning” now seems to mean some combination of: (a) leaving without appearing to be chased out; (b) leaving without an immediate upsurge in violence; and (c) leaving without al Qaeda-etc trainers quickly filling the vacuum, especially in the Sunni regions. Yes, we can’t afford any of those consequences of losing. But — because of misjudgment, mismanagement, and failures we will be ruing for years — they appear to be what’s in store.

If it is not in our power to prevent these disasters, then it is better to do as little extra damage to ourselves as possible before they occur. Sure, it is theoretically in our power to do more in Iraq. It’s just not possible in the real world. To start with: we’re not going to double the size of our military to sustain an open-ended presence in Iraq.

So the choice is between a terrible decision and one that is even worse. The terrible decision is just to begin leaving, knowing that even more innocent civilians will be killed and that we’ll be dealing with agitation out of Iraq for years to come. The worse decision would be to wait another year, or two, or three and then take that terrible course. If we thought a longer commitment and presence would lead to a better outcome, then the extra commitment might be sensible. But nothing occurring in Iraq in the last year has given rise to any hope that things are getting better rather than worse.

So in the end it comes down to narrow self interest-the only real factor that can or should matter in decisions affecting the national interest. To date George Bush seems unable to divine the national interest-only sticking to the course his advisers set him upon with no thought or plan. All of those same advisers are gone-back to the Starship Project for the New American Century-warping out of his orbit.

He-and we-are left holding their bag. So I’ll come to the question I asked at the start. Why not now? What will be different in September? NOTHING. Except Gen Petraeus will be able to give the report that will be written for him 6000 miles away in Washington DC.

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Jul 12 2007

In memoriam…….

Published by under Memorials


Of Lady Bird Johnson who passed away yesterday at the age of 94.

They don’t make women like her any more. In fact, today’s supposedly “liberated” women would look down on a woman who stood by her husband during a long career and pursued interests that complimented his. In the process she served her country quite well. As first lady she stood by her husband during a very difficult time when he was literally among the most despised men on earth.

I can remember her focus on keeping America beautiful. “Her beautification programs benefited the entire nation. She translated her love for the land and the environment into a lifetime of achievement,” Betty Ford once said.

She also represents, in my minds eye, the strong “Southern Woman” which is also a dying breed. My father’s mother though, who was of the same mold, would have understood Lady Bird very well. She would never have voted for her husband though, but I could picture the two of them having a civilized conversation.

May God grant her rest and peace. America is a better nation for her presence.

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Jul 11 2007

On this we agree……


At least Mark and I do. Actually we agree on several things-in particular the level of buffoonery that goes on in Yongsan Barracks. (Are you listening BB Bell?).

He’s also right about this father doing serious psychological damage to his daughter.

When she pulls the Uzi out and guns down the gallery-we can say, “I told you so!”

Besides-and I know I’ll catch hell for this-women should not play in men’s golf events anyway.

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Jul 11 2007

Just say no…..

Published by under Feminist Buffoonery

To sexual harassment.


( The poster says No! Sekushuaru harasemento).

Or you could end up like this guy.

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