Meet your new thread, same as the old thread.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally posted by Spanky
This guying is sitting in the Midwest ten thousand miles from Iraq yet he knows exactly what is going on and what to do about it.

How could he be so oblivious? Meanwhile:

• The former U.S. commander in Iraq, retired Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, has delivered a withering indictment of the the White House's handling of the war, telling a gathering of military journalists that "America is living a nightmare with no end in sight.”
  
  “There was been a glaring and unfortunate display of incompetent strategic leadership within our national leaders,” said Sanchez, who commanded U.S. forces from June 2003 to July 2004.
  
  "After more than fours years of fighting, America continues its desperate struggle in Iraq without any concerted effort to devise a strategy that will achieve victory in that war-torn country or in the greater conflict against extremism," Sanchez said, adding that a military-only strategy will simply "stave off defeat," not achieve victory. “From a catastrophically flawed, unrealistically optimistic war plan, to the administration’s latest surge strategy, this administration has failed to employ and synchronize the political, economic and military power.”
  
  He also also assailed government officials of being “derelict in their duties” and guilty of a “lust for power."
  
  "The administration, Congress and the entire inter-agency, especially the State Department, must shoulder the responsibility for this catastrophic failure and the American people must hold them accountable."
  
  Sanchez is the most senior military officer to criticize the administration's prosecution of the war. He said he did not he speak out sooner because officers take an oath to carry out the orders of the president while in uniform.
  
  “The last thing that America wants, the last thing that you want, is for currently serving general officers to stand up against our political leadership,” he said.
  
  No immediate comment from the White House.

USA Today

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally posted by Tyrone Slothrop
I think Not Bob was observing that the administration cares more about free trade as a political weapon than out of principle, and that's what I was saying too.

on another note, the talk radio station that i would listen to on my drive to/from work changed to sports.

i'm listening to chubby guys who never played sports second guessing professional football coaches. i just keep thinking "who the fuck are you to have such strong opinions when you ain't got clue 1." sorry to break the convo away from your very insightful comments.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally posted by Hank Chinaski
on another note, the talk radio station that i would listen to on my drive to/from work changed to sports.

i'm listening to chubby guys who never played sports second guessing professional football coaches. i just keep thinking "who the fuck are you to have such strong opinions when you ain't got clue 1." sorry to break the convo away from your very insightful comments.

Listen carefully to some of President Bush's speeches and you may start to grasp this whole democracy business.

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally posted by Tyrone Slothrop
Listen carefully to some of President Bush's speeches and you may start to grasp this whole democracy business.

translation: i watch david letterman when he mocks some stump speech by comparing it to "ask not what your can do for your country", of course i've blocked out from my mind the w speeches after 9/11.

[Atticus Grinch]

Originally posted by Tyrone Slothrop
It's a little odd to see an advocate of free trade insist that so many people are irrational.

If we shut up and stopped confusing them as to their best interests, they would doubtless become more rational.

[Atticus Grinch]

Originally posted by Spanky
That is like saying Stalin is better than Hitler.

Is this the PB's first double-Godwin? That's gotta be like winning an Oscar and a Nobel.

[Atticus Grinch]

Originally posted by Spanky
The biggest factor in whether a factory opens or clkoses in a certain area is how the local government treats them.

The existence of Silicon Valley, as well as the persistent economic success of California generally, would tend to disprove your point.

[Atticus Grinch]

Originally posted by Hank Chinaski
i'm listening to chubby guys who never played sports second guessing professional football coaches.

If it's radio, how do you know the callers are chubby, or do you just sorta figure because it's Michigan?

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally posted by Atticus Grinch
If it's radio, how do you know the callers are chubby, or do you just sorta figure because it's Michigan?

i mean the other meaning of "chubby" and i guess i just assumed.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

It's hard to understand how Blackwater could have been allowed -- paid, actually -- to do what it's been doing for so long.

• Blackwater and me: A love story it ain't
  
  By Robert Bateman
  October 12, 2007
  
  I know something about Blackwater USA. This opinion is both intellectually driven as well as moderately emotional. You see, during my own yearlong tour in Iraq, the bad boys of Blackwater twice came closer to killing me than did any of the insurgents or Al Qaeda types. That sort of thing sticks with you. One story will suffice to make my point.
  
  The first time it happened was in the spring of 2005. For various reasons, none of which bear repeating, I was moving through downtown Baghdad in an unmarked civilian sedan. I was with two other men, but they had the native look, while I was in my uniform, hunched in the back seat and partially covered by a blanket, hoping that the curtains on the window were enough to conceal my incongruous presence, not to mention my weapons. It was not the normal manner in which an Army infantry major moved around the city, but it was what the situation called for, so there I was. We were in normal Baghdad traffic, with the flow such as it was, in the hubbub of confusion that is generated when you suddenly introduce more than 1 million extra vehicles in the course of two years into a city that previously had only a few hundred thousand vehicles, and no real licensing authority.
  
  As we approached one semi-infamous intersection along the main route used by Blackwater between the International Zone (a.k.a. the Green Zone) and the Ministry of Interior, one of Blackwater's convoys roared through. Apparently, Blackwater's agents did not like the look of us, the main body of cars in front of them. Their response was, to say the least, contrary to the best interests of the United States effort in Iraq. Barreling through in their huge, black armored Suburbans and Expeditions, they drove other cars onto the sidewalk even as they popped off rounds from at least one weapon, though I cannot say if the shots were aimed at us or fired into the sky as a warning. I do know one thing: It enraged me ... and Blackwater is, at least nominally, on our side.
  
  But imagining that incident from an Iraqi perspective made it clear to me that though Blackwater USA draws its paycheck from Uncle Sam, it's not working in Uncle Sam's best interests. If I was this angry, I can only imagine the reactions of the tens of thousands of Iraqis who encounter Blackwater personnel on a regular basis.
  
  Iraq operates on the basis of an honor culture. Honor is, arguably, more important than Islam. Being dishonored, in word or deed, or even by implication, is enough to set the average Iraqi man to plotting his revenge. This is a culture in which political assassinations (usually based on honor issues) are not an abstraction but an everyday occurrence. Every time one of those Blackwater convoys drives an Iraqi civilian off the road because the most important thing in the world is the protection of their "principal," they make a new enemy for the United States. Every time they ram another car to clear the way (and, yes, I've seen them do that), so that they could maintain their own speed and thereby minimize their exposure to "improvised explosive devices," they make another enemy. Every time they kill innocent civilians, or wound them, they make whole families of new enemies.
  
  This understanding of the backlash effect from dishonoring an Iraqi is included in a past military counterinsurgency manual, "Instructions for American Servicemen in Iraq during World War II," recently re-published by the University of Chicago Press. But the reality is that Blackwater USA, from top to bottom, just does not care.
  
  What employees of the private security firm care about, and I have heard this from the Blackwaters with whom I interacted in Iraq, is their paycheck. They care about their huge compensation packages, and about getting home alive to spend them. Blackwater USA has already taken in more than $1 billion from the public coffers.
  
  All in all, that's not a bad take for Erik Prince, the founder of Blackwater and a Naval Academy dropout who served less time under the colors of the nation, in uniform, than my most recent pair of boots.
  
  ----------
  
  Robert Bateman is a historian and U.S. Army infantry officer. He served in Iraq in 2005 and 2006. His most recent book is "No Gun Ri: A Military History of the Korean War Incident."

Chicago Tribune

[Cletus Miller]

Originally posted by SlaveNoMore
While Cramer blows up - in several ways - all over the media. Kudlow keeps reminding us of sobering stats.

Today, from the Corner

[Kudlow on Taxes]

Now Uncle Charlie wants to tip the scales even more. Sheesh.

If it's so obvious, then why the need to say "taxes" when the statistics he cites to are for "personal income taxes"?

[Hank Chinaski]

Originally posted by Tyrone Slothrop

Iraq operates on the basis of an honor culture. Honor is, arguably, more important than Islam. Being dishonored, in word or deed, or even by implication, is enough to set the average Iraqi man to plotting his revenge. This is a culture in which political assassinations (usually based on honor issues) are not an abstraction but an everyday occurrence. Every time one of those Blackwater convoys drives an Iraqi civilian off the road because the most important thing in the world is the protection of their "principal," they make a new enemy for the United States. Every time they ram another car to clear the way (and, yes, I've seen them do that), so that they could maintain their own speed and thereby minimize their exposure to "improvised explosive devices," they make another enemy.

I would think, if I were a Iraqi citizen, that I would want a Blackwater convoy to push past me rather than sit behind me in traffic for any length of time. IEDs are not smart bombs.

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally posted by Hank Chinaski
I would think, if I were a Iraqi citizen, that I would want a Blackwater convoy to push past me rather than sit behind me in traffic for any length of time. IEDs are not smart bombs.

Much as Poles doubtless were happier with the Blitzkrieg, as it meant that the Wehrmacht kept right on truckin' instead of reaching town and hanging around.

[andViolins]

Originally posted by Tyrone Slothrop
Much as Poles doubtless were happier with the Blitzkrieg, as it meant that the Wehrmacht kept right on truckin' instead of reaching town and hanging around.

Blackwater wasn't hired to win the hearts and minds. Blackwater was hired to protect the principal. Sounds to me like they do a hell of a job. So who's at fault?

aV

[Tyrone Slothrop]

Originally posted by andViolins
Blackwater wasn't hired to win the hearts and minds. Blackwater was hired to protect the principal. Sounds to me like they do a hell of a job. So who's at fault?

Whoever hired them, mostly, although I'm also inclined to fault Blackwater for indiscriminately shooting at Iraqis. YMMV.