De Army, he no like us...

CJR Daily

t looks like it's official: the United States Army thinks that American reporters are a threat to national security. Thanks to some great sleuthing by Wired's "Danger Room" blogger Noah Shachtman, the Army's new operational security guidelines (OPSEC) hit the Web in a big way yesterday, and the implications they have for reporters -- who are grouped in with drug cartels and Al Qaeda as security threats to be beaten back -- are staggering.

Shachtman reproduces a slide from the new "OPSEC in the Blogosphere," document, which lists and ranks "Categories of Threat." Under "traditional domestic threats" we find hackers and militia groups, while "non-traditional" threats include drug cartels, and -- yes -- the media. Just to put that into some perspective, the foreign "non-traditional threats" are listed as warlords, and Al Qaeda. In other words, the Army has figuratively and literally put the media in the same box as Al Qaeda, warlords, and drug cartels.

While snake oil salesmen like Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh would surely rank the American press up there with Bin Laden and his homicidal ilk, for the Army to do so is shocking, displaying a deep ignorance on the part of at least some segments of the uniformed military over just what the media's role in a democracy is, while sending the unambiguous message to soldiers and DoD employees that reporters are to be treated as enemies.

Oh boy! Since we're almost kinda sorta like 'media', we're up with the Big Boys! Excuse me while I take off this heavy vest. All Iwant to blow is what's left of my nose...

The Army's fuckin' losin' it.

Fright Night

There's so much crap flyin' around about the crap that flew at the Repuglicant "debate" that I'm simply giddy with delight! Here's some quotes about last night's aviating pachydermal excreta:

Marc Cooper

The first Republican presidential debate of the season has now sputtered to an end at the Reagan Library here on the outskirts of L.A. and the scorecard is in.

The undisputed loser: George W. Bush.

The winner: All of the eight rival Democratic candidates.

In Spanish, it's called "continuismo." In English we just call it the same-old-same-old.

One final note: The format tonight played out even worse than it did in last week's Democratic debate. The barrage of disjointed questions and the 30 and 60 second limit on the answers erased all hint of narrative and comparative debate and sent the discourse into a kaleidoscopic, scattershot jumble. In the end, not a word was said about health care, education, access to college, social security or what to do about rising economic insecurity. But then again – it was probably better for these guys that this topics were left untouched.

No shit!

The Carpetbagger Report

Look, I know Reagan is the only president of the 20th century that Republicans really like. And I know that the debate was being held at the Reagan Library in California. But over the course of 90 minutes, the candidates specifically referenced the 40th president 20 times. If you count more oblique references (Gilmore thanked "the president in whose name this library is named"), the number climbs to 25. If you include references to Reagan by debate moderator Chris Matthews, well, we get pretty close to triple digits.

This just isn't healthy. If this was a drinking game, players would have been three sheets to the wind within the first half hour. Even Peggy Noonan, who is second to no one among Reagan worshipers, explained in her column today that enough is enough.

[T]he media's fixation with which Republican is the most like Reagan, and who is the next Reagan, and who parts his hair like Reagan, is absurd, and subtly undermining of Republicans, which is why they do it. Reagan was Reagan, a particular man at a particular point in history. What is to be desired now is a new greatness. Another way of saying this is that in 1960, John F. Kennedy wasn't trying to be the next FDR, and didn't feel forced to be. FDR was the great, looming president of Democratic Party history, and there hadn't been anyone as big or successful since 1945, but JFK thought it was good enough to be the best JFK. And the press wasn't always sitting around saying he was no FDR. Oddly enough, they didn't consider that an interesting theme.

They should stop it already, and Republicans should stop playing along.

They should stop, but it's not the media that's fixated on Reagan; it's the party. No one forced the candidates last night to repeat his name two dozen times.

Reagan wasn't much of a governor, and he wasn't much of a president. That the Soviet Union collapsed of its own weight on his watch is what makes him look good. He doesn't deserve the credit for it, but he gets it anyway.

I think the big reason for Reagan's popularity is that he was optimistic and smiled a lot. You'll never convince me it wasn't due to his Alzheimer's showing up just before his second term.

It doesn't hurt a B movie actor playing president to survive a gunshot wound either. It would be a different world today if Hinckley had used a .45 instead of a .22.

Criminal that Reagan was, however, he pales in comparison to Bush, which may be why he is invoked like a saint by the Repugs. It helps that he's dead.

These guys were so well behaved, Chris Matthews eventually had to put a piñata in front of them and hand them each a club: "Would it be good for America to have Bill Clinton back living in the White House?" It was easily the most moronic question of the night - what, exactly, was the point of this inquiry other than to get some Democrat-bashing into the debate? - and it finally garnered some of the responses the base craves about those evil Dems.

Also from Noonan re Reagan:

They should stop it already, and Republicans should stop playing along. They should try instead a pleasant, "You know I don't think I'm Reagan, but I do think John Edwards may be Jimmy Carter, and I'm fairly certain Hillary is Walter Mondale."

Odd, no reference to Dan Quayle...

More later, maybe. It's quit snowing enough to take my dogs for a walk.

Personalities

Did you see that Rethug debate lineup? It thought it was a 'Tight Asses of America' convention. I wonder if any of them have ever danced at least once in their lives; buncha pasty white mofos. And I don't know about you, but a dial tone has a better personality than any of them.

"Who doesn't believe in evolution?" What the fuck; is this 2007 or 1607? That the question was even asked of Presidential candidates in this day shows you the state of the union in the early 21st Century. The fact 3 of them raised their hands is even more unsettling. After the idiot we've had for the last 6 years, and the mess the rest of the Rethugs made of this country, 2008 can't come too soon.


Sorry I was scarce yesterday (though Gord was prolific), put in a 20 hour day, all told. Hopefully, today won't be as nuts and I'll be back in form this afternoon.

Update:

Digby quotes Olbermann and Fineman and, though Fineman's whole quote is just stupid (I think many Americans came away with the same opinion of the candidates as I did), he does make my point:

... Keith, if you look at that picture and took away all of the writing and all of the words, and just had the image, could the American people tell that those were Republicans? I think the answer is yes ...

Off to work ...

Her Britannic Majesty

Queen Elizabeth II is visiting the U.S. in celebration of England dumping its religious whackjobs in Jamestown in 1607. Maybe she's checkin' to see if they're still here. They are.

I wonder if she's gonna come back in 2019 for the 400th anniversary of the first slaves imported there?

One thing I did notice is that she doesn't appear to have her own plane and flew in on British Airways. When I mentioned to Mrs. G that our pols should follow her example and fly commercial like the peasants, she said they should fly Jet Blue, that the world would be a lot better off if they were stuck in limbo forever on some runway in the Twilight Zone.

Blood Stripes

"Blood Stripes" are the red stripes on the trouser legs of Marine officer and NCO dress blues, commemorating the assault on Chapultepec ("The Halls of Montezuma") during the Mexican-American War.

I've just finished reading Blood Stripes: The Grunt's View of the War in Iraq by David J. Danelo. Excellent book. You can get 18 reviews at the link if you're interested, but I just thought I'd share a coupla passages I especially liked.

With the political currents of the Battle of Fallujah swirling, approving an air strike on a mosque was a challenging task. Still, a pair of AV-8B Harriers flew into the town to acquire the target. Their passes roared less than 100 feet from the ground, and the reverberations were so strong they detonated several IEDs that had not been discovered. After that, Soudan and other sergeants wryly requested Harrier fly-bys before they went into town on patrol.

Heh. Sort of the combat version of setting off car alarms with your motorcycle's straight pipes, but with a life-or-death payoff.

Upon their return to The World:

"What are you gonna do now, Dirty?" Perkins asked, expecting the clichéd banter about Disney World.

Dirty Steve wanted to take a trip to a different fantasyland. "I'm buying beer and getting strippers!"

That's my Marine Corps! Some things never change.

This book has several chapters about the Marines returning to bases in California, and their relationship problems (or not) and their sense of alienation from society (or not), and is well worth the read for this alone. Not too many books go into much detail about what happens when the shooting and tension are over, and this one does a good job of it.

JFK still matters

This may appeal only to those of us of an age to remember all the brouhaha and bullshit in the wake of the assassination of President Kennedy, but I still think, and will until the day I die and probably beyond, that it's important. 22 November 1963 marks the day we all started to find out just how much our government lied to us and still does.

An article in Salon about a new book, "Brothers", which of course you can buy whilst reading:

The exclusive story of Robert F. Kennedy's secret search for the truth about John F. Kennedy's assassination. From the new book by Salon's founder and former editor in chief.

As family members and close friends gathered in the White House on the weekend after the assassination for the president's funeral, a raucous mood of Irish mourning gripped the executive mansion. But Bobby didn't participate in the family's doleful antics. Coiled and sleepless throughout the weekend, he brooded alone about his brother's murder. According to an account by Peter Lawford, the actor and Kennedy in-law who was there that weekend, Bobby told family members that JFK had been killed by a powerful plot that grew out of one of the government's secret anti-Castro operations. There was nothing they could do at that point, Bobby added, since they were facing a formidable enemy and they no longer controlled the government. Justice would have to wait until the Kennedys could regain the White House -- this would become RFK's mantra in the years after Dallas, whenever associates urged him to speak out about the mysterious crime.

(Mankiewicz later told Bobby that his research led him to conclude it was probably a plot involving the Mafia, Cuban exiles and rogue CIA agents.)

Robert Kennedy did not live long enough to solve his brother's assassination. But nearly 40 years after his own murder, a growing body of evidence suggests that Kennedy was on the right trail before he too was cut down. Despite his verbal contortions in public, Bobby Kennedy always knew that the truth about Dallas mattered. It still does.

I have vowed to live long enough to find out what really happened. The sealed archives will be opened when I'm 93, if anyone remembers to do it, so by the time I'm 120 or so...

Update:

Mrs. G has an interest in this subject that makes my obsession with it look like a case of mild curiosity, so I ordered the book for her upcoming birthday. Saved ten bucks over retail. I love these internets!

Update II:

Mrs. G told me that she had read the article at Salon and was going to get the book. I hung my head and told her not to. Try and surprise her, will I?

Bush's farewell tantrum

Rocky Mountain News

In the end, President Bush's failure to heed the will of the people isn't so much an act of principle, but rather an outburst of sheer peevishness. With Democrats in control of Congress, he's no longer getting a blank check to fund his military adventures. He finds this frustrating, so he's stamping his foot, covering his ears, and taking his party down with him.

All this is exactly what one would expect in the way of a political farewell gesture from a spoiled rich kid who never grew up. Future generations of historians will note George W. Bush made a mess of every real job he ever had - and, unfortunately for America, the presidency of the United States proved to be no exception.

He's just gonna take his football and go home and cry, and leave the rest of us to clean up after the mess he's made. His whole life has prepared him for failure, and he's succeeded at it as bigtime as he ever could have. The biggest failure in American history will definitely get him in the record book. Not the way he wants, but the way he deserves.

Veto haiku

In 'comments':

his gasket blew a long time ago

pissed off patricia

That inspired this ol' wrench to compose a first-cup-of-coffee haiku:

His head gasket blown
Bush's headspace fills up with
War lust and ego

And on my second cup:

His head-piston fouled
With ignorance and ego
Time for a decoke

Blame the Sumatran French Roast.

Just a simple question . . .

From President Haven't-Got-A-Clue:

"Without a war funding bill, the military has to take money from some other account or training program so the troops in combat have what they need. Without a war funding bill, the Armed Forces will have to consider cutting back on buying new equipment or repairing existing equipment. Without a war funding bill, we add to the uncertainty felt by our military families. Our troops and their families deserve better -- and their elected leaders can do better."

Why, then, did you, in a fit of pique, veto it and delay things?

R.

It always amazes me ...

... how people arrive at the Brain. And it amazes me that I actually did have a post entitled "Mule Fucking".

Fuck him

Suck ass, Veto-boy:

...

Roughly six-in-ten people in the Pew sample (59 percent) said they want their member of Congress to back an Iraq funding bill that includes a timeline for American troops to begin withdrawing. Of that 59 percent, more than half (54 percent) said Democrats should "insist" on a timeline's inclusion in the legislation while 42 percent backed the party working with Republicans and the Bush Administration on a solution.

...

LEAVE. THE. TIMELINES. IN. AND. SEND. THE. FUCKING. THING. BACK. TO. HIM.

Thanks to Atrios for the link.

Runoff!

Over at The Practical Press, the votes have been tallied for The Practical Press Awards 2006 and there have been a few ties in some categories. Kenneth is holding a runoff and voting will be over on Sunday night.

The Mrs is in Chicago (why I was scarce this morning, had to kick her out at 30 mph drop her at the airport) so I'll be around later.

Joan Baez Unwelcome At Concert For Troops

I put this in because I've been a fan of Ms. Baez since the late '50s. She's been very consistent in her anti-war views.

WaPo

When rocker John Mellencamp performed for the recovering soldiers at Walter Reed Army Medical Center on Friday night, a couple of things were missing. He squelched his typically blistering rhetoric against the war in Iraq. Also MIA, as it turned out, was folkie and antiwar activist Joan Baez, who says she was disinvited from the event by Army officials.

"One of my more cynical friends said, 'They let the rats in, why not you?' " Baez said, laughing, referring to a recent exposé of living conditions at Walter Reed.

After the concert, Baez said, Mellencamp left her a message to say, "I hope you're not mad at me." Her response: " 'Of course not. It's an honor to be turned down by the Army.' . . . But I would have been happier getting in . . . I thought times had changed enough."

So what exactly happened?

The answer -- since Walter Reed's officials aren't talking -- is blowin' in the wind. (Sorry, we couldn't resist.)

Sorry, I couldn't resist...

And now, for some good news...

BradBlog

Recent Coulter no-shows at high-profile events and the scrubbing of several of her recent appearances from the video collections of conservative events seems to suggest the Republican superstar could finally be in her "last throes."

So has Ann Coulter reached her tipping point? Will she become a pariah as did David Duke? Or will conservatives pretend to have principles while continuing to promote Coulter as their conservative icon?

She's just one more wingnut loudmouth, but it's a big mouth. Go read. It'll warm the cockles of your heart.

Better Never Than Late

My favorite Irish redhead on 'Slam Dunk':

There should be a course on government called "The Ultimate Staff Guy." A morality saga about how much harm you can do as a go-along, get-along guy, spending so much time trying not to alienate the big cheese so he doesn't can you that you miss the moment where you have to can him or lose your soul.

If Colin Powell and George Tenet had walked out of the administration in February 2003 instead of working together on that tainted U.N. speech making the bogus case for war, they might have turned everything around. They might have saved the lives and limbs of all those brave U.S. kids and innocent Iraqis, not to mention our world standing and national security.

"The irony of the whole situation is, is he was bluffing," Slam said of Saddam on "Larry King Live" on Monday night, adding, "And he didn't know we weren't." Mr. He-Man Tenet didn't understand the basics of poker, much less Arab culture. It never occurred to him that Saddam might feign strength to flex muscles at his foes in the Middle East? Slam couldn't take some of that $40 billion we spend on intelligence annually and get a cultural profile of the dictator before we invaded?

Thus endeth the lesson in our class on "The Ultimate Staff Guy." If you have something deadly important to say, say it when it matters, or just shut up and slink off.

The gist of this is being said in pretty much the same way by a plethora of political commentators. This is good, but it's too late for 3400 US servicemen and hundreds of thousands of others. Maybe next time.

Red Zone

Go read an unembedded, un-Kevlar-protected, bodyguardless report from Baghdad:

The air is heavy, dusty and the sun usually does not shine through the thick haze - a Hollywood-like special effect. The Baghdad gulag has the feel of an eerie version of post-apocalyptic Los Angeles - dusty and dead instead of glitzy palm trees, living-dead characters covered by a thick layer of sand and soot. The urban tissue is of a dissected cadaver - filthy, exposed parts separated from one another, fear and loathing impressed on blood, sweat, tears and viscera.

This is the real face of Bush's surgeland.

The UN has done next to nothing to help these millions of exiled Iraqis - not to mention the wealthy Arab emirates, or the Wahhabi millionaires in Saudi Arabia. After the total implosion of social life, Iraq has reverted to pre-modernity. Baghdad, once the pride of Islam, has reverted to the status of the saddest, most desperate of global capitals. No wonder the motto - even from secular, well-educated Shi'ites - is ubiquitous: "Iraq is finished."

So no one can say that half a trillion dollars - so far - courtesy of US taxpayers, has not served a clear "creative destruction" purpose. And this is only the hors d'oeuvres. The Baghdad gulag is yet to reach full fruition. Iraq will be finished one mini-Green Zone at a time.

Progress, indeed.

Kinda takes the fun outta Halloween, don't it?

Reminds me of a story: during WWII, there was a shortage of toilet paper in England (damn those U-boats!) and it got so bad at one point that a directive was issued to USAAF pilots that they were to limit their tissue usage to three sheets per man per 'occurence'. This prompted one officer to inquire of the enlisted English orderly who had the onerous duty of issuing the TP ration, "How in hell am I supposed to wipe with only three sheets?"

To which the orderly replied, "One up, one down, one polish, sir."

By the way, there is a way to only use one sheet. If anybody doesn't know it I will gladly describe it upon request. Warning: not for the faint of heart or overly fastidious.

Banana Republicanism

I won't link to the wingnut blathering that prompted this, but if you really want to see it you can find it at Kevin Drum's piece:

Quote of the day, from Thomas Sowell:

When I see the worsening degeneracy in our politicians, our media, our educators, and our intelligentsia, I can't help wondering if the day may yet come when the only thing that can save this country is a military coup.

Now that's a comforting, conservative thought, isn't it? I wonder what Buckley thinks of NRO publishing stuff like this?

(And in case you're wondering, there's no further context. That's the whole quote. It's one bullet point in a long series of dyspeptic observations about how liberals have ruined the country.)

I guess it's all in how you look at it: I think a military coup would be a last resort to save the country from them. They think it would be a last resort to save it from us. We're right and they're wrong, of course.

Here's a few 'comments':

Scratch a conservative, wound a fascist.
...
2 important points:

1) Hitler did not burn the Reichstag but used it as an excuse for reactionary overreach. Bush did not bomb on 9/11, but used it as an excuse for reactionary and fascist overreach. 9/11 WAS Bush's Reichstag fire.

2) Hitler obtained power by the most desperately small margin. Soon thereafter, he had outlawed all other parties, and was on his way to dictatorship. Bush obtained power by the most desperately small margin in the 20th century. Soon thereafter, he and Rove TRIED to set up a permanent Repukeliscum majority, but have been foiled I think.

The Bush-Hitler analogies are much closer than I had remembered.

"I'm tired off those comparisons between Hitler and George W. Bush! Hitler was a highly decorated combat veteran who won office by majority vote!" - Jon Stewart

Haven't conservatives always hated democracy?

People sometimes vote to change things in a democracy.

Should I stock up on candy and flowers to greet my liberators with?

Shorter Thomas Sowell: "Kids these days, with their crazy clothes and loud music! And get off my lawn!"

As George Carlin said: "they identify with your anger then tell you who to blame for it".

Actually, I didn't even know the author of the remark was black until you told me. Batshit is colorblind, pal, and Sowell is batshit.

Ever so many more! Go see.

Signs of the Times

Shout it from the highest overpass! Freewayblogger.

A Veto Inked In Blood

William Rivers Pitt

The now-vetoed, multi-billion-dollar Iraq spending bill, which contained withdrawal timelines demanded by Congressional Democrats, "substitutes the opinions of politicians for the judgments of our military commanders," according to Bush. Many of us must have missed the memo explaining how Bush, Cheney, and the rest of this administration aren't politicians anymore. We also missed the memo explaining how it was the "judgments of our military commanders" that sunk us into this mess to begin with.

Speaking of military judgments, here are two worth considering; both came after Bush deployed the veto pen on Tuesday.

Major General John Batiste, USA, Ret.: "The President vetoed our troops and the American people. His stubborn commitment to a failed strategy in Iraq is incomprehensible. He committed our great military to a failed strategy in violation of basic principles of war. His failure to mobilize the nation to defeat worldwide Islamic extremism is tragic. We deserve more from our commander-in-chief and his administration."

Major General Paul Eaton, USA, Ret: "This administration and the previously Republican-controlled legislature have been the most caustic agents against America's Armed Forces in memory. Less than a year ago, the Republicans imposed great hardship on the Army and Marine Corps by their failure to pass a necessary funding language. This time, the president of the United States is holding our soldiers hostage to his ego (my em). More than ever apparent, only the Army and the Marine Corps are at war - alone, without their president's support."

When a Major General of the United States Army publicly declares that "the president of the United States is holding our soldiers hostage to his ego," matters have gone badly awry.

I think 'badly awry' is a masterpiece of understatement.