If God is in the details, then Wizarding World is the holiest place on Earth.
Better there than the Vatican or Mecca or Jerusalem.
Friday, June 25, 2010
Quote of the Day
Better there than the Vatican or Mecca or Jerusalem.
Vicious Circles
MoDo on McChrystal and Chaos-istan:
Third time's the charm. Same applies to movie references (see next two posts). There's a Star Wars one in the column as well. What's next, Mad Max? "Kundalini wants his arm back..."
Afghanistan is more than the “graveyard of empires.” It’s the mother of vicious circles.
So the commander in chief can be bad-mouthed as weak by the military but then he can’t punish the military because that would make him weak? It’s the same sort of pass-the-Advil vicious circle reasoning the military always uses.
McChrystal painted a vicious circle around his commander in chief. As Stars and Stripes summed it up: “Fire Gen. Stanley McChrystal and risk looking like he’s lost control of the war in Afghanistan. Or keep him and risk looking like he’s lost control of his generals.”
But he has met his match in Afghan warriors, who have clobbered every foreign invader since Alexander the Great. The average Afghan fighter lives on grain, a bowl of rice, a bottle of water. How much does it cost by comparison to have a foreign soldier in Afghanistan?
McChrystal never should have been hired for this job given the outrageous cover-up he participated in after the friendly fire death of Pat Tillman. He was lucky to keep the job after his “Seven Days in May” stunt in London last year when he openly lobbied and undercut the president on the surge.
Third time's the charm. Same applies to movie references (see next two posts). There's a Star Wars one in the column as well. What's next, Mad Max? "Kundalini wants his arm back..."
BP welcomes you to the apocalypse
Friday Morford with worst-case scenarios about BP's runaway gusher.
Seems the Dr. Strangelove references are comin' outta the woodwork today. I think the first paragraph of the post below is entirely appropriate for this one too.
So there you have it. Toxic rain and supersonic tsunamis, the end of North America as we know it. Done. Finished. Certainly, one of those two scenarios is guaranteed to come to pass, right? Maybe, if we're really lucky, even both?
All right, fine. In the off-off chance that invisible Russian scientists and nutball doomsayers are wrong (impossible!), well, there is one more glorious mega scenario to consider. There is a backup to the backup to the backup. Hey, we're Americans. When it comes to dorky apocalyptic visions, we got you covered.
Here is your grand finale: A new survey says that a disturbingly large percentage of Americans -- 40 percent, to be exact -- actually believe Jesus will return by 2050, likely riding on the back of a flaming asteroid (30 percent think one will hit us by then), waving a cowboy hat and yodeling as he careens toward our hapless blue dot of inequity, pain and lousy AT&T reception.
Jesus will then crash land in Texas, wink at Dubya and Sarah Palin, and then sweep up all the True Believers in their beige Dodge minivans just as the earth shudders and implodes, just like one of those swirling black holes in "Star Trek."
How cool will that be? Answer: It will be very cool indeed. It is so cool, in fact, it totally wipes out the need to care much about anything at all. See how easy? Now, who wants pie?
Seems the Dr. Strangelove references are comin' outta the woodwork today. I think the first paragraph of the post below is entirely appropriate for this one too.
Crazillium in Afghanistan
The HORN
That's about it. We never learn.
“Mr. President, I, uh, don’t think it’s quite fair to condemn a whole program because of a single slip-up, sir.” These famous words of support were, of course, offered by Gen. Buck Turgidson, played by George C. Scott, in the classic black comedy, Dr. Strangelove, after a rogue U.S. Air Force general subverted America’s “fail-safe” system and sent a wing of nuclear-armed bombers to annihilate the Russians.
This seemed an appropriate intro to General McChrystal’s meeting today with President Obama, where the general’s attempt to explain numerous slip-ups to his Commander-In-Chief predictably resulted in dismissal. Scott’s line is also the lead-in to my reaction to a piece sent to me by Bob Kincaid, host of our favorite nightly progressive radio show on the HORN, describing our pay-offs to Afghan travel agents–otherwise known as insurgents and warlords–to safeguard passage for our military convoys. In a campaign fraught with mistakes and distorted vision, buying into protection rackets which invariably end up funding our enemy seems like another in a series of tragic slip-ups.
We might as well be fighting space aliens on one of the moons of Saturn. Imagine the weekly briefing sometime in 2410: “Well General, how’s the mission on Titan coming along? What’s your assessment after 14 years of bloody warfare?”
“Well, we’re still taking it to them, although it would be easier if there was anything like a legitimate government or legal system up here. But we’re pressing on, and securing as much crazillium-7 as we can.”
“Sir, we understand United Crazillium is poised to make a fortune with the exclusive rights to sell this amusing and revolutionary energy source. Is that still our goal?”
“God willing. Their contractors have been working with us from the outset. Lord knows, they’ve written enough checks to right people.”
Four hundred years from now, those choosing to review the failed campaign on Titan will no doubt reflect on the history we ignored centuries before–and were thus doomed to repeat – of the conflict on a similarly hostile and formidable world known as Afghanistan.
That's about it. We never learn.
Gulf Coast Attorneys File RICO Class Action Lawsuits Against BP
HuffPo, links at site.
This is the first time I can remember a 'civil RICO lawsuit'. This is a good thing. Maybe it'll work, although BuzzFlash commenters bring up some cons:
Good point. America is a company-owned town, after all. We will see.
Gulf Coast law firms Levin Papantonio, Eastland Law and others have begun filing a series of civil RICO actions in Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana and Alabama to hold BP accountable for the false assurances it gave the American people that it could handle a worst-case scenario deepwater oil spill. The suits allege that BP committed mail fraud, wire fraud and potentially other RICO predicate act violations when the company sought permits from the federal government for deepwater offshore drilling, knowing that it did not possess the technical expertise or equipment necessary to respond to an emergency such as the ongoing Deepwater disaster.
This is the first time I can remember a 'civil RICO lawsuit'. This is a good thing. Maybe it'll work, although BuzzFlash commenters bring up some cons:
Do corporations actually get taken to court these days or can BP just ask to have it kicked upstairs to Attorney Generals and higher courts that they've paid off?
Whatever happens in lower courts the Supreme Court can be counted on to "fix" everything, cf: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/25/business/25norris.html?hp
Good point. America is a company-owned town, after all. We will see.
For political gain ...
Unfortunately, the average American doesn't pay enough attention to how their country is being run to understand this. Either that or they think it's a game and it doesn't really matter which side is in charge.
Republican policies are not about the welfare of their constituents but about setting the table for the November elections. It's about being in power in order to protect their 'patrons' from their constituents.
You have the Republican Party standing up for BP (many saying we should pick up the bill for the clean up), Bobby Jindal and Hayley Barbour some of the loudest, under the auspices of "saving jobs", and this is taken as sane behavior in this country. Their states' economies have been ruined, hundreds of thousands of peoples' lives ruined, and hundreds of miles of delicate ecosystem destroyed, and they're 'worried' about the handful of jobs lost if a small percentage of deep water rigs are shut down? People have been institutionalized for saying shit like that in the past but today it's considered intelligent discourse.
And people will go out and vote for these idiots.
In my day, "USA" meant "can do". Now, it's just an acronym for "fail" and we have ourselves to blame. Collectively, we put them in office and now it's next to impossible to get them out. Who else you gonna blame?
Happy Friday!
Everybody's talking about Senator Debbie Stabenow's aggressive words today accusing the Republicans of tanking the economy and throwing millions out of work for political gain. I don't see why this is even slightly controversial. The GOP is a party whose mouthpieces said from the very beginning that they wanted the president to fail and that they were planning his "Waterloo." And anyone who understood how our government works (or even understands simple logic) knew that saying that in the midst of an economic crisis translates to making people suffer. There was no other way to interpret that so it makes sense.
...
Republican policies are not about the welfare of their constituents but about setting the table for the November elections. It's about being in power in order to protect their 'patrons' from their constituents.
You have the Republican Party standing up for BP (many saying we should pick up the bill for the clean up), Bobby Jindal and Hayley Barbour some of the loudest, under the auspices of "saving jobs", and this is taken as sane behavior in this country. Their states' economies have been ruined, hundreds of thousands of peoples' lives ruined, and hundreds of miles of delicate ecosystem destroyed, and they're 'worried' about the handful of jobs lost if a small percentage of deep water rigs are shut down? People have been institutionalized for saying shit like that in the past but today it's considered intelligent discourse.
And people will go out and vote for these idiots.
In my day, "USA" meant "can do". Now, it's just an acronym for "fail" and we have ourselves to blame. Collectively, we put them in office and now it's next to impossible to get them out. Who else you gonna blame?
Happy Friday!
Thursday, June 24, 2010
If not the Marines, then who?
Every time there's a military money problem, the Big 3 question the need for a Marine Corps. Since they've basically been used lately as conventional infantry who talk funny, it's no wonder.
Roger S. Galbraith* in the Blowback section of the LATimes
*director of public affairs for the U.S. Marine Corps Combat Development Command. The fix is in. Heh.
Humanitarian assistance is worthy, but sometimes the door to providing it needs to be kicked in.
For over sixty years that I know of, there have been reinforced Marine infantry battalions on ships at various places in the world, which come and go and change locations with need. I went on two of those 'floats' or 'cruises', called 'deployments' now lest folks think there are buffets and waterslides and lounging in deck chairs in tropical breezes. The only 'tropical breezes' I remember were below deck and you could light them.
Don't worry too much about the Marine Corps. They went through a huge battle for their existence in 1947 and won Congressional legislation as a mandate for them to be. Their mission changes from time to time, but basically they come from the sea and fuck evildoers up.
Roger S. Galbraith* in the Blowback section of the LATimes
*director of public affairs for the U.S. Marine Corps Combat Development Command. The fix is in. Heh.
In this age of sophisticated, cheap anti-ship missiles, I understand why one might question the need to assemble hundreds of ships for an Inchon-style beach assault or thousands of ships for another D-Day. As The Times reported in its June 21 article, "U.S. rethinks a Marine Corps specialty: storming beaches," assaulting a defended beach is seen as a thing of the past. If that is the only perceived mission for the Marine Corps, then why do we even need a Corps?
Our nation — a maritime nation — will always need to be involved with populations and crises across seas. What kind of crises and what kind of crisis response force (CRF, for the purposes of this article) will be required to carry out our nation's interests?
So we have done it. We have created a new crisis response force that economically transports itself over the sea, can provide humanitarian assistance and security, can provide for its own transportation and resupply until more help arrives, and can connect the lowest levels of command in the field with national goals and objectives.
Humanitarian assistance is worthy, but sometimes the door to providing it needs to be kicked in.
For over sixty years that I know of, there have been reinforced Marine infantry battalions on ships at various places in the world, which come and go and change locations with need. I went on two of those 'floats' or 'cruises', called 'deployments' now lest folks think there are buffets and waterslides and lounging in deck chairs in tropical breezes. The only 'tropical breezes' I remember were below deck and you could light them.
Don't worry too much about the Marine Corps. They went through a huge battle for their existence in 1947 and won Congressional legislation as a mandate for them to be. Their mission changes from time to time, but basically they come from the sea and fuck evildoers up.
Headline of the Day
Posted by Rack Jite in Dumbutt, Texas
Because they wanted to give Masters Degrees in Creation "Science". I think the "B.S." is automatic.
In Texas?! Imagine that...
Institute for Creation Research laughed out of court in Texas
Because they wanted to give Masters Degrees in Creation "Science". I think the "B.S." is automatic.
In Texas?! Imagine that...
Journalism Too
If you follow the last link in Digby's post referred to by Fixer just below, you come to Glenn Greenwald.
The toons are good and the headline is:
Then there are journalists who will never get a Beltway Cocktail Party invite. Not many and not enough, but they're still out there.
BuzzFlash Wings of Justice
Just as an aside, I bought a subscription to the dead tree Rolling Stone because it was dirt cheap, and there is a lotta hippie shit to wade through to get to the good stuff. Naturally, as a subscriber I'll be the last one to see the McChrystal piece. Figures.
More examples and then the last ¶:
There are still journalists who understand their craft and its purpose, which is to afflict the comfortable. They're a little hard to find sometimes, but once in a while their work leaps into public view.
Leave us hope that some amongst the oh-so-comfortable talking hatracks and Beltway Villagers of the mainstream Corporate & Cocktail Chattering Class still have enough of a conscience to realize that they long ago sacrificed principle and gave up real journalism to be insider nattering gasbags. Perhaps when they see an example of what they once were or aspired to be, they get a little twinge of regret in between the shrimp and appletinis for leaving those of us with The Need To Know in the lurch. Fat chance.
Note to real journalists who are out there dodging bullets and the slings and arrows of corporate and political criminals and regressives: We need you. Good on yas and continue the march.
See The Washington Post's Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Ann Telnaes' two cartoons this week (one a republished classic from 2003) for her view about all of this.
The toons are good and the headline is:
The White House press corps, ready for the next party invitation
Then there are journalists who will never get a Beltway Cocktail Party invite. Not many and not enough, but they're still out there.
BuzzFlash Wings of Justice
Many of those in the mainstream media were appalled this week when Rolling Stone magazine published a story entitled "The Runaway General" that ultimately dethroned Gen. Stanley McChrystal from his position as commander of American and NATO forces in Afghanistan. The typical mainstream media reaction included snide references to the publication, saying that it appeared "in Rolling Stone, of all places." John Amato on the Crooks and Liars blog chuckled about Fox News contributor Brit Hume's reaction, saying in jest, "How dare (McChrystal) use a hippie rag instead of coming to a Villager?"
Just as an aside, I bought a subscription to the dead tree Rolling Stone because it was dirt cheap, and there is a lotta hippie shit to wade through to get to the good stuff. Naturally, as a subscriber I'll be the last one to see the McChrystal piece. Figures.
More examples and then the last ¶:
Go after the truth, wherever it may lie and regardless of whom it will taint. When comedians and high school students and a hippie magazine outperform you, then the journalists should take a long hard look at their profession.
There are still journalists who understand their craft and its purpose, which is to afflict the comfortable. They're a little hard to find sometimes, but once in a while their work leaps into public view.
Leave us hope that some amongst the oh-so-comfortable talking hatracks and Beltway Villagers of the mainstream Corporate & Cocktail Chattering Class still have enough of a conscience to realize that they long ago sacrificed principle and gave up real journalism to be insider nattering gasbags. Perhaps when they see an example of what they once were or aspired to be, they get a little twinge of regret in between the shrimp and appletinis for leaving those of us with The Need To Know in the lurch. Fat chance.
Note to real journalists who are out there dodging bullets and the slings and arrows of corporate and political criminals and regressives: We need you. Good on yas and continue the march.
Journalism ...
Digby sez it well:
That's it. Gotta protect their place on the Georgetown Cocktail Party Circuit.
...
As we've already explored in great depth over the years, the purpose of journalism is not to tell the truth or even straightforwardly give people the information they need to reach their own conclusions. It's to maintain the established order and obscure rather than reveal what's really going on ...
That's it. Gotta protect their place on the Georgetown Cocktail Party Circuit.
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
We ain't the only ones ...
With dumbass politicians:
I'll let you know when the Serie A season starts.
ROME -- Italian politician Umberto Bossi apologized Wednesday for his much-criticized remarks that Italy would "buy" a victory in a crucial World Cup group match against Slovakia.
...
Bossi reportedly said "they [Italy] will buy it," responding to a question about which team would win. He said he expected two to three Slovak players to surface in the Italian league next season -- apparently as compensation to the Slovakian team.
The Italian federation immediately described Bossi's remarks as "disconcerting and offensive." It said that Bossi, a maverick politician known for his anti-establishment rhetoric, had gone "overboard."
I'll let you know when the Serie A season starts.
Quote of the Day
Adrastos:
... Not only does he deserve to be shitcanned for mouthing off but his favorite beer is Bud Lite Lime. Holy girl drink, Batman ...
Shopping Day
Since Mrs. G re-retired, we've gone to Plan B about shopping days. Today is the 4th Wednesday of the month, or "payday" for us direct-deposit SocSec recipients, so we're off to The Big City with a fresh charge of jing in the ol' bank account. The dogs get a spa day, we get breakfast at Q's, a little Costco, a few other stops.
See yas later.
See yas later.
I can feel it slippin' away...*
*Apologies to Jean Shepard.
Bob Herbert on the United States goin' down the shitter:
On the bright side, a little humility might do us some good.
Bob Herbert on the United States goin' down the shitter:
As a nation, we are becoming more and more accustomed to a sense of helplessness. We no longer rise to the great challenges before us. It’s not just that we can’t plug the oil leak, which is the perfect metaphor for what we’ve become. We can’t seem to do much of anything.
We are submitting to this debacle with the same pathetic lack of creativity and helpless mind-set that now seems to be the default position of Americans in the 21st century. We have become a nation that is good at destroying things — with wars overseas and mind-bogglingly self-destructive policies here at home — but that has lost sight of how to build and maintain a flourishing society. We’re dismantling our public school system and, incredibly, attacking our spectacularly successful system of higher education, which is the finest in the world.
How is it possible that we would let this happen?
We’ve got all kinds of sorry explanations for why we can’t do any of the things we need to do. The Democrats can’t get 60 votes in the Senate. Our budget deficits are too high. Rush Limbaugh or Glenn Beck might object.
Meanwhile, the greatness of the United States, which so many have taken for granted for so long, is steadily slipping away.
On the bright side, a little humility might do us some good.
Same old song and dance ...
It's what got us into this financial mess and will also prevent us from moving away from fossil fuels. For 30 years, we've been convinced we can have what we want and never have to pay for it. It's why everybody mortgaged their homes to the hilt to buy cars and second homes, pools, and take vacations when money was free and you had 30 years to pay it back (provided you'd survive the interest rate adjustment 3 years in). It's why it took $4.00/gal gas for people to finally stop buying Hummers.
Now, I understand a lot is on the shoulders of the "small people" already. We pay more than our fair share of taxes and higher gas prices will effect regular folks long before the rich, but this isn't something we can wait for until the rich finally pay their fare share. It's on us and unless we get it done, we'll continue to have messes like we do in the Gulf and Alaska, and the effects of burning fossil fuels on the atmosphere.
These are the same folks who rail against "Big Government" yet now bitch the regulatory system is inadequate and corrupt, and resources are slow in coming. Same folks who don't want to pay taxes, yet bitch about the roads falling apart and trains not running on time.
There is a price for everything and if our elected representatives refuse to make the rich and corporations pay their share, then it's on us. The free ride is over and I suggest you all get that straight when you go to the voting booths this November.
Overwhelmingly, Americans think the nation needs a fundamental overhaul of its energy policies, and most expect alternative forms to replace oil as a major source within 25 years. Yet a majority are unwilling to pay higher gasoline prices to help develop new fuel sources.
...
Now, I understand a lot is on the shoulders of the "small people" already. We pay more than our fair share of taxes and higher gas prices will effect regular folks long before the rich, but this isn't something we can wait for until the rich finally pay their fare share. It's on us and unless we get it done, we'll continue to have messes like we do in the Gulf and Alaska, and the effects of burning fossil fuels on the atmosphere.
...
Large majorities disapprove of the way BP is handling the spill and have little faith in the oil industry generally to act in the public interest. By a 2-to-1 margin, they trust the federal government more than BP to handle the cleanup efforts in the gulf.
Yet they also think the Obama administration could be doing more to fix the damage from the leak. Fifty-nine percent said Mr. Obama did not have a clear plan for dealing with the spill.
...
These are the same folks who rail against "Big Government" yet now bitch the regulatory system is inadequate and corrupt, and resources are slow in coming. Same folks who don't want to pay taxes, yet bitch about the roads falling apart and trains not running on time.
There is a price for everything and if our elected representatives refuse to make the rich and corporations pay their share, then it's on us. The free ride is over and I suggest you all get that straight when you go to the voting booths this November.
Thanks to Mr. Aravosis for the link.
The Devil you know ...
John McCain may return to the Senate after all (I don't expect a Dem to win in Berlin Arizona), thanks to the goober who's running against him:
I mean, aren't "government handouts" socialist? Aren't they "entitlements", something most Republicans are against?
I'd say McCain could make some hay over both points but then hypocrisy is perfectly acceptable in conservative circles.
Oh, what a gift to John McCain. We've all seen commercials/infomercials like this before. If you just fork up $1,000, you can learn how to realize all of your dreams by learning how to get rich by applying for government grants. The hawkers claim you can send your kids to the best schools, live in that big house you always wanted, and live your dreams for the low, low price of $1,000 to attend the only conference on the planet designed for YOU.
...
I mean, aren't "government handouts" socialist? Aren't they "entitlements", something most Republicans are against?
I'd say McCain could make some hay over both points but then hypocrisy is perfectly acceptable in conservative circles.
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
The Russians Are Coming Here!
EssEffChron, photo gallery and videos.
Thanks for comin' back an' checkin' up on us, Ivan!
'Varyag' is a traditional name in the history of the Russian and Soviet navies, including an aircraft carrier they sold to China.
Since the Varyag currently in SF is known as an 'aircraft carrier killer', I bet the Chinese 'repair' consists of trying to find homing devices in her hull. Heh.
Very interesting article. Enjoy.
Note to U.S. flattop sailors: Be glad this thing never had to come after you.
Finally:
Note to Bunker Hill sailors: If you hear the Russian squids say 'Na zdrovyeh', stand by for a ram. Heh.
The first Russian surface warship to visit San Francisco in 147 years is docked on the Embarcadero this week on a visit that combines friendship, history and a display of military power.
The ship is the cruiser Varyag, a sleek gray vessel that is the flagship of Russia's Pacific fleet. It made the two-week voyage from Vladivostok in the spirit of friendship, as Russian Rear Adm. Vladimir Kastonov said more than once during a news conference aboard the ship at Pier 30-32 on Monday.
The ship's visit also commemorates a nearly forgotten bit of Russian-American history. Czar Alexander II sent a fleet to San Francisco and New York in 1863 during the American Civil War to show support for the union.
Thanks for comin' back an' checkin' up on us, Ivan!
'Varyag' is a traditional name in the history of the Russian and Soviet navies, including an aircraft carrier they sold to China.
Currently the ship is being examined and repaired by China's People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) after purchasing it at auction[5]. It was widely reported that the ship would become a casino in the Chinese SAR of Macau. [...]
Since the Varyag currently in SF is known as an 'aircraft carrier killer', I bet the Chinese 'repair' consists of trying to find homing devices in her hull. Heh.
Two cruisers in the Russian Navy and one in the Soviet Navy have been named Varyag after the Varangian people, the Viking ancestors of the Rus.
Very interesting article. Enjoy.
Note to U.S. flattop sailors: Be glad this thing never had to come after you.
Finally:
On Wednesday, the Varyag's crew will participate in a cookout and sports competition with sailors from the U.S. Navy cruiser Bunker Hill, which is also in port.
Note to Bunker Hill sailors: If you hear the Russian squids say 'Na zdrovyeh', stand by for a ram. Heh.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)