Politics As Usual

[Not Me]

• Spy code secrets betrayed
  
  NEW YORK - Former United States ally Ahmed Chalabi told Iran the United States had broken secret communication codes used by Teheran's spy service, the New York Times reported.
  
  The paper quoted unnamed US intelligence officials as saying Chalabi, an anti-Saddam Hussein Iraqi exile who has now fallen out with Washington, had betrayed "one of Washington's most valuable sources of information about Iran".
  
  It was widely reported last month, after the Bush Administration cut off funding for Chalabi's Iraqi National Congress, that he had given American secrets to Iran.
  
  On its website the New York Times gave new details. The paper said the Bush Administration had asked news organisations to delay publishing specifics, citing national security concerns. It withdrew the request yesterday.
  
  "American officials said that about six weeks ago, Chalabi told the Baghdad station chief of Iran's ministry of intelligence and security that the US was reading the communications traffic of the Iranian spy service," the Times said.
  
  It said the Iranian official in Baghdad sent a cable to Teheran, using the broken code and describing his conversation with Chalabi.
  
  "That encrypted cable, intercepted and read by the US, tipped off American officials to the fact that Chalabi had betrayed the code-breaking operation," the paper said.
  
  The cable said Chalabi had received the code information from a "drunk" American. The FBI was trying to establish what information Chalabi had given to Iran and who told him the code had been broken.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/storydispl...bsection=world

[Atticus Grinch]

Crude oil might not be a finite organic resource after all.

• An intriguing theory now permeating oil company research staffs suggests that crude oil may actually be a natural inorganic product, not a stepchild of unfathomable time and organic degradation. The theory suggests there may be huge, yet-to-be-discovered reserves of oil at depths that dwarf current world estimates.
  
  The theory is simple: Crude oil forms as a natural inorganic process which occurs between the mantle and the crust, somewhere between 5 and 20 miles deep.

Note: I do not vouch for the source. I also have no intention of acting in reliance upon the merit of this theory.

[Not Me]

Originally posted by Atticus Grinch
Crude oil might not be a finite organic resource after all.

Kind of on the same topic, what happens to the stability of the land on top when you pump out all the oil from a reserve? I know that sink holes are often formed when underground reservoirs of water are pumped out. The land on top of the reservoir is not as stable with air underneath it as it was with water underneath it.

I could google it, but just wondering if anyone knew if there are any theories on this.

If it makes the land on top unstable eventually, it could reallly help our war on terrorism if you KWIM.

[Mmmm, Burger (C.J.)]

Originally posted by Atticus Grinch


Note: I do not vouch for the source. I also have no intention of acting in reliance upon the merit of this theory.

The mind boggles as much as it does at the revelation in 2061 that the core of Jupiter was a giant diamond. Bling indeed.

[sgtclub]

http://www.weeklystandard.com/Conten...4/152lndzv.asp

[between Iraq and AQ]

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally posted by sgtclub
http://www.weeklystandard.com/Conten...4/152lndzv.asp

[between Iraq and AQ]

More evidence of a link is that both "Iraqi" and "Al Qaeda" have a "q" not followed by a "u," which is manifestly terroristic.

eta: The note at the bottom about the author says: "Stephen F. Hayes is a staff writer at The Weekly Standard. Parts of this article are drawn from his new book, The Connection: How al Qaeda's Collaboration with Saddam Hussein has Endangered America (HarperCollins)."

I'll just sit here and wait for the conservatives to impugn this story on the grounds that the author is out to sell his book.

[SlaveNoMore]

Tyrone Slothrop
I'll just sit here and wait for the conservatives to impugn this story on the grounds that the author is out to sell his book.

Sure thing. This guy is just trying to make a buck. Like this guy

[Sexual Harassment Panda]

Originally posted by Tyrone Slothrop
I'll just sit here and wait for the conservatives to impugn this story on the grounds that the author is out to sell his book.

Originally posted by SlaveNoMore
Sure thing. This guy is just trying to make a buck. Like this guy

Wow, dude, did you ever get smacked. Slave was all over you.
___________________________________________________
"With all due respect, Mr. President, I think you've had enough. You've got a speech to give, sir!"

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally posted by Sexual Harassment Panda
Wow, dude, did you ever get smacked. Slave was all over you.

Don't I know it. Ouch. The old "Clinton did it too" rejoinder.

[Atticus Grinch]

Originally posted by Tyrone Slothrop
eta: The note at the bottom about the author says: "Stephen F. Hayes is a staff writer at The Weekly Standard. Parts of this article are drawn from his new book, The Connection: How al Qaeda's Collaboration with Saddam Hussein has Endangered America (HarperCollins)."

What a stupid business decision by HarperCollins. The only people who would have shelled out $22.95 to read a book about how the Administration was right are (1) people who were already given advance MSS to verify their (anonymous) quotes; and (2) people who we can euphemistically say are not real big readers to begin with.

Why pay for the book when you know McClellan will read to you from it for free?

[Atticus Grinch]

Originally posted by Sexual Harassment Panda

What was GWB doing at a convention for Adam Ant impersonators?

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally posted by Atticus Grinch
What a stupid business decision by HarperCollins. The only people who would have shelled out $22.95 to read a book about how the Administration was right are (1) people who were already given advance MSS to verify their (anonymous) quotes; and (2) people who we can euphemistically say are not real big readers to begin with.

Thanks for coming to us for guidance on this whole market thing. HarperCollins is clearly betting that there are a lot of people who will shell out $22.95 (less at Amazon or Costco!) to own a book that -- like the collected works of Stephen Hawking -- they will not read, e.g. because (1) they want to support the good works of Mr. Hayes et al., (2) owning such a book will impress visitors and passers-by, if prominently displayed, etc.

[The Larry Davis Experience]

Originally posted by Tyrone Slothrop
(2) owning such a book will impress visitors and passers-by, if prominently displayed, etc.

I can just see Hayes on Regis and Kelly now. "Well yes it's a coffee table book...and if you hold it by the front and back cover this way, they look like wings, so you can imagine that it is an unmanned Iraqi airplane capable of delivering a chemical weapons payload to any city in the continental United States..."

This is much funnier if the part of Hayes is being played by Michael Richards.

[Not Me]

Click here if you want to read an article on GWB's speech at the AF academy graduation.

[SlaveNoMore]

Tyrone Slothrop
Don't I know it. Ouch. The old "Clinton did it too" rejoinder.

Not did. "IS DOING"

Nice of Dan Rather to give the old chap such a prominent, prime-time commericial, no?