Looks like at least one NIH official is about to find a new line of work.
Archives for January 2007
Annals Of Short-Lived Airline Policies
John Aravosis makes the catch:
They didn’t just ban t-shirts, they banned all speech, verbal as well. So if I as a customer find Qantas’ policy offensive does that mean we can throw them off their airlines? How about a religious extremist customer who is offended when I tell him I’m gay?
People who can’t control their screaming kids definitely offend me. Yep, from now on I’m flying Qantas.
Good Thing We Fired The Gay Arabic Specialists
Those insidious lavender linguists might have provided useful intelligence in Iraq, which is painfully short right now.
Multiple CIA sources, who spoke freely only in exchange for anonymity, said the agency’s mission of recruiting and managing human spies in Baghdad was stillborn in the weeks following the 2003 invasion and has never recovered, despite adding hundreds of personnel in the past few years. That failure has virtually crippled U.S. strategic intelligence — inside information on the personalities and plans of the often hostile U.S.-backed government, not just the multiplying insurgent groups and armed militias — in Iraq. […]
Tactical intelligence — the locations and types of enemy troops and weapons — is also suffering from a lack of access to the population and almost nonexistent language skills on the part of both CIA and military intelligence personnel, say these same sources, all of whom have decades of experience in clandestine operations.
It might seem counterintuitive that knowledge is a bad thing for America, but that is just pre-9/11 thinking. You see, for Republican administrations accurate intelligence causes more problems than it solves. Without knowledge a leader can’t discover that his addle brained theories are wrong. For example if nobody translates al Qaeda intercepts then nobody can conclude that the terrorists badly wanted Bush to win re-election (surprised? just ask Dinesh). So no more complaining about inteligence gaps crippling our operations in Iraq. An intel vacuum is good for the Party and, as long as you define America and the Party as one and the same, good for America.
Good Thing We Fired The Gay Arabic SpecialistsPost + Comments (292)
Open Thread
Grats to the Bears and the Colts.
As forme, I will be MIA today. I felt fine all day yesterday, but sometime around 11pm last night, I got sick to my stomache and now have some sort of flu. I am kinda pissed, as it has only been about 6 weeks since I last had the flu.
And no, it wasn’t Bill Belichik’s whiny, nauseating, childish post-game interview that made me wsick. That made me feel good, and confirmed what an asshole he is.
And my AOL IM still is not working. Dunno why.
Hillary is in! And She is in it to WIN!
Apparently it is big news that Hillary Clinton has announced she is running. I was uner the impression she announced she was running in 2000.
Hillary is in! And She is in it to WIN!Post + Comments (264)
Iraq Escalation Amazingly Unpopular With America
An simple explanation for John’s post below: most Americans don’t want to see Bush escalate the Iraq war.
When President George W. Bush declared earlier this month that the only way to quell sectarian violence in Iraq was to send more than 20,000 additional American troops, he probably knew the move would be unpopular. Indeed, the latest NEWSWEEK poll finds that Bush’s call for a “surge” in troops is opposed by two-thirds (68 percent) of Americans and supported by only a quarter (26 percent). Almost half of all respondents (46 percent) want to see American troops pulled out “as soon as possible.”
Like me and most people I know Americans are clearly sick of the dissembling nonsense, they understand that the president couldn’t lead his way out of a paper bag and they’re tired of hearing him try to cover up his failures with half-assed excuses and blameshifting. The administration doesn’t have any credibility left.
Even so, 68% seems like an amazingly high number to me. Do that many Americans oppose the general idea of putting more boots in Iraq? I doubt it. The right sales pitch might even convince a loony leftist like me, if for example we need to temporarily up troop levels to make sure that a withdrawal happens safely. In the vast space between me and Hugh Hewitt there are undoubtedly many Americans who think that a decent leader could pull off a win and who wish sadly that we had one. Maybe I’m wrong about this, but I suspect that a decent fraction of that 68% comes from people who might have warmed to the idea if it didn’t have to be implemented by our discredited pinhead-in-chief.
Iraq Escalation Amazingly Unpopular With AmericaPost + Comments (160)
Random Friday Thoughts
Just a couple quick thoughts:
1.) I can not find my cellphone, my aol IM is on the fritz, and my email is sketchy. And for some reason, I am ok with that.
2.) I was in the grocery store in between doctor’s visits (eye doctor in a little bit), when I tried to purchase a bottle of win with my groceries. The lady asked me how oldI was, and I blanked. I had no idea. After a second, I did the math and told her “36.” At any rate, at what point did the rest of you realize you could no longer remember your age?
3.) Why do we have fingernails? What is the history, and was their really a purpose?
4.) Picked up some wild-caught scrod and don;t know whether I should use some creole seasoning and make black beans and rice or red beans and rice with it. Your call?
5.) Debate topic: “9/11 changed everything is the most tedious phrase ever.” 9/11 may have changed everything, but for me, Bush changed everything. The incompetence, the deceit, the disdain for the law, the pandering to the religious nuts, and the fact that Bush diehards continue to swallow everything these losers throw at them has had a far greater impact on my life and my politics than 9/11. Guess that makes me shrill. Or an America hater. Or both.
6.) Have a good weekend.