COUNTERCOLUMN: All Your Bias Are Belong to Us

Great Moments in Journalism History...

2012-01-04T01:32:00.000-05:00

From CNN:

According to the Pentagon, Atwater carries the rank of specialist first class and is based at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. His service awards include the Bronze Star and the Army Commendation Medal.

Specialist first class???

Pepsi to Change Can Design

2011-12-19T16:07:00.000-05:00

A Florida Guard colleague and terrific soldier, SSG Rolando Martinez, made the media big leagues when he noticed something interesting about the Diet Pepsi can design in Iraq.

The backstory is this: There is a whole subversive element in Middle Eastern marketing and branding, where product designers will take very subtle digs at the West. Call them Muslim "dog whistles" if you will.

I've seen Iraqis openly selling gifts in their markets commemorating the 9/11 attacks. One example I saw was a cigarette lighter that contained a depiction of a jet flying into two office towers, and a red LED that lit up at the point of impact when you used the lighter. It was in cast metal. So somewhere someone had set up a small factory making these things.

I think there's room for plausible denial on this specific can. It's certainly not the only modernist depiction of a skyline. All that's missing is the "Atomic" symbol!

Now, here's my question for Pepsi: What? American design firms can't design your can? You went cheap and went for the foreign outsourcing.

But even assuming the best of the South African design firm, an American marketing agency likely would not have made a design so evocative of 9/11.

Hope you enjoyed the little bit of money you saved by sending the American job overseas.

Splash, out

Jason

Great Moments in CNN History

2011-10-21T11:33:00.000-04:00

All those layers of fact-checkers at work again!

Occupy Portland Protesters Deface War Memorial

2011-10-13T15:10:00.001-04:00

This memorial is in or adjacent to Occupy Portland camp site. The names are those of Oregon soldiers who were killed in the service of their country in the First World War. Here is what the protesters of Occupy Portland did.

The photo was taken on the morning of the 13th of October.

Don't you dare question their patriotism!

Splash, out

Jason

Countercolumn News Ticker

2011-09-29T17:10:00.000-04:00

Bullied Cult Members Commit Mass Suicide ...

Area Fire Department Chief Ordered To Lay Off 20 Percent of His Cousins ...

"Jews Should Be Sterilized," Says Sarah Grunfeld

2011-09-14T19:06:00.000-04:00

A direct quote.

The name's Bond.

2011-08-07T20:01:00.000-04:00

Where's Pelosi Galore?

Countercolumn News Ticker

2011-08-02T00:22:00.002-04:00

Chaos on House Floor as Progressives Attempt to Euthanize Rep. Giffords ...

Breaking ...

Countercolumn News Ticker

2011-07-23T14:01:00.000-04:00

Brooklyn Man Charged With 8 Year Old Hassidic Boy's Abduction, Murder, Yada Yada Yada ...

Architect of 900 Billion Stimulus, Universal Health Care and Chrystler Bailout Calls for Fiscal Responsibility ...

Amy Winehouse Passes Away Behind Schedule ...
Flowers From Society of Actuaries Arrived 2 Weeks Early ...

Oslo Killings Bring Merciful Early Relief From Norwegian Cuisine For 94 People ...

Hollywood Expresses Interest in Oslo Gunman ...

Rutger Hauer Sues Shooter For Trademark Infringement ...

ELCA, Missouri Synod Lutherans Blame Each Other For Deaths ...

NYT Editorial: Bachman Refuses To Denounce Lutheran Ties

Swedish Chef Breaks Silence: "Fyordni Hordni Hollni Fordni Bork BANG! BANG! BANG! ..."

World Sends Condolences, Giant Casserole ...

Despite All-Gay Softball League, GLBT Vows Not To Shut The Fuck Up About the Boy Scouts ...

Sexual Assaults Plummet As NFL Players Head Back To Work ...

Developing ...

Remembering...

2011-06-06T00:38:00.000-04:00

""This is D-day", came the announcement over the British radio. The invasion has begun! According to the German news, British parachute troops have landed on the French coast. British landing craft are in battle with the German Navy, says the BBC.

Great commotion in the 'Secret Annexe'! Would the long-awaited liberation that has been talked of so much but which still seems too wonderful, too much like a fairy-tale, ever come true? Could we be granted victory this year, 1944? We don't know yet, but hope is revived within us; it gives us fresh courage, and makes us strong again."

Anne Frank, diary entry, June 6, 1944.

Oiche Nollaig. Christmas Eve.

2010-12-24T19:47:00.001-05:00

By Maire Mhac an tSaoi.

Peace on earth, goodwill toward men.

Much love to all.

Splash, out

Jason

Liveblogging the SOTU

2010-01-27T21:10:00.019-05:00

9:18 Two minutes in and Biden has managed to shut up so far.

9:21 You cut taxes? No. You FAILED to raise the health care tax, thanks to the Republicans.

9:23 Biden's pretty distracting. He should have been coached to sit still.

9:23 He's doubling down on the Crapulus Bill?

9:24 Apparently he's still under the impression that government creates jobs rather than moves them around.

9:30 The business tax credit is a good idea. Where was this idea a year ago? Oh, that's right. No bandwidth for it. The Administration had to focus on a massive socialist takeover of the health care bill.

9:30 Calling for a focus on jobs in 2010? That should have been the focus since day one!!!!

9:30 "I do not accept second place for the United States of America." So why all the damn apologizing, Mr. "No Nation Can Or Should Dominate Another."

9:33 "I'm not interested in punishing banks." (cough) BULLSHIT (cough).

9:33 Now he's pitted his Administration against the lobbyists. Code word for banks. TOLD you it was bullshit!!!!!

9:36 New nuclear plants and offshore driling. Is it just me or is Nancy Pelosi visibly pained at those words.

9:36 PELOSI CLAPS LIKE A SEAL!!!!!! (DRINK)

9:38 The more exports we sell, the more jobs we will support at home. That's why I want to double our exports!!!!!
How? By spending so damn much the dollar will become worthless!!! Neat trick, huh? Who could compete with us?

9:41 "A high school diploma no longer guarantees a good job." Who was under the illusion that it ever did.

9:42 Let's give families 10,000 in tax credits for college, and increased pell grants. I see tuitions rising 10,000 very quickly.

9:42 Wow. Let's help students pay off student loans if they go into government service. That way,

9:43 I am not a homeowner. If Obama is deliberately working to raise home prices, he is going directly to work against me.

9:44" We still need health insurance reform." Slow learner, huh!

9:47 "I take my share of the blame for not explaining (health reform) to the American people." Christ, this guy's delusional. The more he explained it, and the more Americans understood it, the more we didn't want that shit.

9:48 "As temperatures cool, I want everyone to take a second look." HELL NO!!!!

9:49 He's throwing out the "bring down the deficit" strawman. There is no way that reform nightmare would have brought down the deficit long term. Only a pathological liar could possibly argue otherwise. This should be obvious to anyone with half a brain.

9:51 Blaming the prior administration. DRINK.

9:52 Obama criticized McCain for proposing a freeze. Said McCain wanted to use a hatchet, but he wanted to use a scalpel. Then he spent like a drunken sailor. Now he's pulling out the hatchet.

9:55 "That's how budgeting works." ROFL!!!!!!!! "Let me show you how it's done, son!!" FAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAART!!!!!!

9:56 "That's what we did for eight years." Blaming the previous administration. DRINK.

9:57 "To do our work openly." Like put the health care negotiations on C-SPAN?

9:58 "We've excluded lobbyists from policy-making jobs." HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!!

9:58 What part of "Congress shall make no law" don't you understand Mr. President?

9:59 Obama just challenged Congress to put earmark requests on line prior to votes. Nancy Pelosi stood up and clapped like a seal again. (DRINK). She's got a huge majority. Think it'll happen? No. What a lying hypocrite she is. Hold her feet to the fire.

10:03 I love it when the Republican minority says "no" to Pelosi and Reid's policy initiatives. THAT'S leadership!!!

10:05 Will he mention victory?

10:06 We're plugging gaps discovered by the Christmas attack. But we still have the same incompetent Director of Homeland Security.

10:07 "We will have all our combat troops out of Iraq by the end of this August." Betcha we won't.

10:08 The new Montgomery GI bill is a lot better. I'll give them that. The VA has a long way to go.

10:09 Oooh. Good luck getting the Norks and Iranians to play along with the promised nuclear anti-proliferation protocols.

10:11. Good job. Stick to your guns on the Iranians. I hope it means something. The problem is, I don't think this president has much credibility in the Iranian halls of power. Bowing to Arabs doesn't help his stature among Persians.

10:12 "That's why we stand with the girl who yearns to go to school in Haiti." Heh. I thought he was going to say "the girl who urinates."

10:14 Taking aim at the prohibition on gays in the military. That's a 2nd term project, though. Not a first-term.

10:15 "Immigrants from every corner of the globe. Like me for instance. MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAA!

10:21 That was it? That's the SOTU? Double exports and freeze spending? This is OBAMA???????? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

10:22 Is it just me? or did nearly every SOTU I've ever seen get more applause than this one? This seems anti-climatic. Like the home team lost the game and everyone's looking to leave the parking lot before the rush.

Arizona Mayo Clinic Dropping Medicare Patients

2010-01-02T10:26:00.003-05:00

Not surprising, but here it is:

The Mayo Clinic, praised by President Barack Obama as a national model for efficient health care, will stop accepting Medicare patients as of tomorrow at one of its primary-care clinics in Arizona, saying the U.S. government pays too little.

Health care providers have been squawking about low medicare reimbursement rates for years, and it's getting harder and harder for medicare patients to find providers. What was fascinating to me, though, is the sheer arrogance and denial coming from the White House and from their fellow leftist morons, the Urban Institute:

Reid Cherlin, a White House spokesman for health care, declined comment on Mayo’s decision to drop Medicare primary care patients at its Glendale clinic.

Funny, the White House was full of praise for their low-cost, high-quality, highly-efficient health care before. Cat got your tongue? Can't figure out why this might be happening?

Robert Berenson, a fellow at the Urban Institute’s Health Policy Center in Washington, D.C., said physicians’ claims of inadequate reimbursement are overstated.

No, libtard. They're not. If they were overstated, doctors would still be seeing these patients. It is patently obvious for anyone who's not dribble-down-his-chin, charter-member-of-the-smaller-bus-club stupid that reimbursement rates do not reflect what the market will bear.

Rather, the program faces a lack of medical providers because not enough new doctors are becoming family doctors, internists and pediatricians who oversee patients’ primary care.

And why might that be, genius? Could the fact that medicare and medicaid underpay our family care doctors, internists and pediatricians so that the fields are no longer attractive to our medical school students?

“Some primary care doctors don’t have to see Medicare patients because there is an unlimited demand for their services,” Berenson said. When patients with private insurance can be treated at 50 percent to 100 percent higher fees, “then Medicare does indeed look like a poor payer,” he said

.

Holy crap. The free market slaps this leftist twit right across the face to get his attention, and he still can't figure it out. He just said that Medicare underpayment was overstated - and then in the same article concedes that medicare pays only half the going rate.

This is the kind of USDA Prime-quality stupid we're up against, here. It's the think tankers at the Urban League who are coming up with these ideas and advising our dumbest members of Congress - liberals to a man - about how to structure health care reform.

It's already a disaster and they haven't even started yet.

Splash, out

Jason

So the White House Christmas Tree features ...

2009-12-23T10:31:00.002-05:00

Mao?!?!?!

Strange fruit, indeed.

Who in God's name are these people staffing the White House?

Splash, out

Jason

Let's see if we can write a story on Senator Nelson and his decisive health care vote ...

2009-12-23T10:22:00.003-05:00

...and not ONCE mention abortion!!!

Reports of my death ...

2009-12-23T10:21:00.000-05:00

... have been somewhat exaggerated.

;-)

Ha ha ha ha ha ha! "Grim milestone!"

2009-10-11T20:12:00.002-04:00

A year after Washington rescued the banks considered too big to fail, the ones deemed too small to save are approaching a grim milestone: the 100th bank failure of 2009.

There are now a number of companies... private insurers... who have more in cash reserves backing their own promises than the FDIC has available to back the banking system...

While the parade of failures still represents a mere fraction of America’s small banks, it underscores a growing divide between them and large institutions like Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan Chase and U.S. Bancorp, which are slowly growing stronger as the economy improves.

Leave it to the New York Times to fall for the 'rich get richer' divide. I mean, they already went for "grim milestone." Why not go whole hog for the stupidity? News flash for the Times: It's called "consolidation." Solid banks get a chance to purchase distressed assets of failing banks at a discount and thank God they do! It's good for everyone, and is saving the system from collapse right now.

Burdened by worsening commercial real estate loans, many small banks’ troubles are just beginning. Many analysts say that the now-toxic loans could sink hundreds of small lenders over the next few years and place a significant drag on the economy.

Already, the bank failures are placing enormous strain on the F.D.I.C. and its fund, which keeps depositors whole. Flush with more than $50 billion only two years ago, the fund recently fell into the red.

The prospect of more failures has led the F.D.I.C. to seek new ways to replenish the fund with higher and earlier payments by healthy banks, even after setting aside reserves for future losses.

Those commercial loans aren't turning around yet, either. And there's a new wave of ARMs due to reset soon, which should trigger a new round of foreclosures.

Yippee.

The initial wave of failures has also unsettled some communities, even though most of the troubled institutions have been bought by other banks rather than shuttered. While deposits are safe thanks to federal insurance, the new buyers often do not have the same ties to local businesses as the former owners.

More stupidity. Deposits are safe? Only deposits up to $250,000. And that's not really sustainable, because we upped the limit from 100k to 250k without a supporting increase in premiums. Oh, and what's this "federal insurance?" Kemosabe?

In some cases, they tighten lending and make it harder for longtime customers to obtain loans or favorable terms. In other cases, managers of the new bank make other changes, like ending offers for high-interest certificates of deposit and calling in certain lines of credit. In the longer term, some new owners are likely to close branches of the bank they have acquired in order to cut costs.

Ok, time to hit the Times reporter over the head with a clue-bat: Larger banks don't pull back on CD rates because they're out of touch with local businesses, moron. They do it because they aren't desperate and stupid. There's a reason banks offer above-market CD rates. Think about it: They are trying to raise cash in a hurry, to stave off a short-term crisis. Often it doesn't work, and the bank fails. Sometimes, the smart money sees their bank offer a significantly above-market CD rate, and they yank their money, and the bank fails as a result of what amounts to a large-depositor run on the bank. (Small depositors tend to be lazier.)

Once the bank is acquired by a healthier bank, the crisis is past, and banks no longer have a reason to offer CD rates significantly above market.

(Here's another clue: If you are looking for a good deal on a loan, don't go to the bank offering crazy-good CD rates! They're not looking to lend, and will be very picky and jack up rates to exceed their new higher cost of capital.

This calls for a song!

An Inconvenient Question

2009-10-11T10:03:00.002-04:00

When Al Gore is pressed on a point, he has his henchmen cut off the microphone.

And the rest of the press corps does nothing.

I would not have been so polite with the organizer in the hall. Scratch a liberal, you'll find a fascist.

The fact is that the British court ruled that it would be illegal to show the film in schools in the UK without additional guidance for students correcting the nine listed errors in the film. I would have to imagine that's unprecedented, and hardly "in favor" of the film's producers. Even if they agree with the overall thesis, you cannot pull out nine egregious factual errors from any documentary, call the presentation "one-sided," issue a ruling that it would be illegal to show the film without correcting these errors, and call that a 'ruling "in favor of" the movie.

Splash, out

Jason

Hey, Jay Rosen... I got your 'rollback' strategy right here!

State Alcohol Agents Seize 924 Gallons of Moonshine in Wilkesboro, NC

2009-10-10T09:45:00.003-04:00

Ace of Spades, call your office.

Roger Lee Nance, of 1117 Shew Ridge Mission Road, was charged with possession of non-tax paid liquor, possession of non-tax-paid liquor for the purpose of selling, and possession of equipment and ingredients intended for the use in the manufacture of an alcoholic beverage.
“This is one of the biggest seizures of white liquor I’ve seen come out of the mountains in my career,” ALE Director John Ledford said in statement.
The arrest follows a two-month investigation by ALE agents, assisted by the state Highway Patrol. In addition to the liquor, large amounts of sugar and other items were seized during a search of Nance's property, authorities said.

You'd better stay away from Copperhead Road

Military to Obama Administration Civilians:

2009-10-08T10:37:00.002-04:00

'This word, counterinsurgency ... I do not think it means what you think it means.'

Morale Plummets Among Soldiers in Afghanistan

2009-10-08T10:16:00.003-04:00

HOPE!!!!

American soldiers serving in Afghanistan are depressed and deeply disillusioned, according to the chaplains of two US battalions that have spent nine months on the front line in the war against the Taleban.

Many feel that they are risking their lives — and that colleagues have died — for a futile mission and an Afghan population that does nothing to help them, the chaplains told The Times in their makeshift chapel on this fortress-like base in a dusty, brown valley southwest of Kabul.

“The many soldiers who come to see us have a sense of futility and anger about being here. They are really in a state of depression and despair and just want to get back to their families,” said Captain Jeff Masengale, of the 10th Mountain Division’s 2-87 Infantry Battalion.

“They feel they are risking their lives for progress that’s hard to discern,” said Captain Sam Rico, of the Division’s 4-25 Field Artillery Battalion. “They are tired, strained, confused and just want to get through.” The chaplains said that they were speaking out because the men could not.

That's a direct result, in my view, of the lack of resolve, decisiveness, and leadership coming from the White House. If the trumpet sounds uncertain, who will answer the call?

That said, the selection of soldiers who go see the chaplain isn't always representative of the military as a whole. Soldiers who speak to the chaplain about morale problems are naturally the ones with morale problems.

But you can bet dollars to doughnuts that these chaplains are in a position to assess the delta - the change, in morale - and if the chaplains in two separate battalions are concerned enough to take the extraordinary step of speaking to the media about it, then Houston, we've got a problem.

This can be turned around, though. The morale problems on the ground simply reflect the morale problems at home. And if Congress is questioning the mission, and the folks back home are questioning the mission, and the White House is questioning the mission, but none of them our paying the price... it's only the US soldier, sailor and Marine on the ground shedding blood every day for a mission the President can't be bothered to sell (too busy trying to enrich Mayor Daley and the rest of the Chicago mob with the Olympics), well, to quote Rudyard Kipling,

Tommy ain't a bloomin' fool, you be that Tommy sees!

Splash, out

Jason

Obama the Undecided

2009-10-07T11:07:00.003-04:00

The New York Times reports:

President Obama told Congressional leaders on Tuesday that he would not substantially reduce American forces in Afghanistan or shift the mission to just hunting terrorists there, but he indicated that he remained undecided about the major troop buildup proposed by his commanding general.

The truth, however, is that Obama is undecided about the major troop buildup he himself proposed during the campaign.

Democrat Barack Obama said Monday that as president he would send at least two more combat brigades to Afghanistan, where U.S. soldiers face rising violence and endured their deadliest attack in three years on Sunday.

The proposed force increase - about 7,000 troops - is part of Obama's plan to pull combat troops out of Iraq and focus on the growing threat from a resurgent al Qaeda in Afghanistan.

"As president, I would pursue a new strategy, and begin by providing at least two additional combat brigades to support our effort in Afghanistan," Obama said in an op-ed published Monday in The New York Times, a day before he plans a speech here on his vision for Iraq and Afghanistan.

"We need more troops, more helicopters, better intelligence-gathering and more nonmilitary assistance to accomplish the mission there," Obama said.

Obama hasn't articulated a contrary position since that time. McChrystal came out in support of the only guidance Obama has publicly given so far. Truth be told, it was Biden, not McChrystal, who 'put his cock on the anvil' arguing a position contrary to the President. It was Biden, not McChrystal, who was "off the reservation," with his proposal.

Biden should keep his council private and use the chain of command. If Biden really has a problem with the Commander-in-chief, he should resign now, and then he can go as public as he likes.

Democrats, of course, philosophically hold the same position -- and blame McChrystal.

Splash, out

Jason

...In Which I Rise to the Defense of General McChrystal

2009-10-06T21:27:00.004-04:00

So General McChrystal is getting excoriated by the leftards in the media, by Gen. James Jones, Obama's National Security Advisor, and now by Generalissima Pelosi herself for providing a forthright answer to a question directly in his purview by a member of the media.

The treatment he is getting is outrageous.

Why?

1.) The question was whether the General would support Biden's suggestion to dramatically lower troop strength in Afghanistan, and try to fight it with special operations forces and Predator strikes. The general said he would not.

There are strong doctrinal resources for this: COIN doctrine, however imperfect the fit with the Afghanistan battlefield, holds that the "key terrain" in the counterinsurgent fight is the population itself. The fight is not for control of real estate, but for the loyalty of the people.

That takes boots on the ground.

The second doctrinal reason to reject the Biden plan is that COIN, by its nature, is intelligence driven. The best source of battlefield intelligence is a strong relationship between our soldiers and marines on the ground and the local population. If we enact the Biden plan, the result will be a rapid retreat from the battlefield, leaving the population, including many who risked everything to support us, to the tender mercies of Taliban reprisals. If we retreat even a little from our commitment to village and tribal elders who have stuck their necks out to support us, word will spread like wildfire and the village and tribal elders will cut their own deals in order to survive.

In my view, we may already be seeing this happening: In a vicious firefight last week, in which an American outpost was in danger of being overrun, the Taliban was able to stockpile hundreds of weapons in a nearby village mosque. Large numbers of villagers must have known. And yet no one alerted coalition forces.

The logistics for massing materiel already underway, the Taliban managed to quietly gather in battalion strength to launch two deliberate attacks against American and Afghan outposts... and again, no one alerted Coalition forces.

This is symptomatic of a huge tactical intelligence failure on the ground. American forces were not, apparently, present in enough strength to defend the position and patrol aggressively simultaneously - with disastrous but not unsurprising results: A poor relationship with the people of the neighboring village and the ceding of the tactical initiative.

General McChrystal is seeing the same compromise being made all over the country: Troop strength being spread too thin. And Biden, without acknowledging the strategic and operational tradeoffs that MUST come with a reduction in troop strength, and without adjusting the General's mission in Afghanistan, wants to spread those troops even further.

So General McChrystal sticks up for his mission - and what's more, advocates precisely what President Obama himself is already on record as advocating: a substantial increase in troop strength in Afghanistan.

"I said a year and a half ago that we needed more troops in Afghanistan -- at least two brigades," Obama said. "John McCain, at the time, didn't think that was necessary, and now there's a convergence around the notion that we need at least two and maybe three brigades in Afghanistan."

McChrystal, then, was simply articulating a view already publicly endorsed by the Commander in Chief. As far as we know, the President has said nothing since that piece was published that would contradict that view. He has long held that Afghanistan is the central front on the ~~War on Terror~~ Group Hug Against Scary Things, and has repeatedly called for more troops in Afghanistan to prosecute that war. McChrystal was well within his guidelines, and when the President has been as vague and noncommital in policy statements as he has - despite a direct request from McChrystal for more troops, what else does McChrystal have to go on besides Obama's own public pronouncements?

Further, given the President's repeated calls for an increase of two to three brigades in Afghanistan, it wasn't McChrystal speaking out of school, it was Biden. I would argue that the Biden plan is the outlier, not McChrystal's statement that he would not support it.

What's more, there is no way that McChrystal can possibly be seen to be bucking the chain of command... because A.) Obama, the commander in chief, is already on record as calling for MORE boots on the ground, not fewer, and B.) Biden is NOT NOT NOT in the chain of command in any sense whatsoever.

I'm very cognizant that subordinates at all levels should take care not to pain their leadership into a corner. But that obligation goes both ways - leaders owe subordinates clear guidelines and directions. And that goes ESPECIALLY when the battlefield situation is vague.

I've noticed for several months now that Afghanistan policy was coming apart at the seams. Not from any one thing, but from having read a variety of news reports and hearing things through the military grapevine, the infantry mafia, the blogger boys club, and the intel syndicate. I haven't had time to blog them lately, and I regret that now. But this was a long time in the making.

McChrystal used the chain of command. He submitted his request to his boss,, General Petraeus at CENTCOM. And that, apparently, is where it languishes, because the President and his National Security decision-making apparatus has not yet produced a product useable for the commanders in the field.

McChrystal used the Chain of Command... the Chain of command, unfortunately, is not functioning.

McChrystal is entitled to know what he is expected to accomplish. He needs to know in order to issue orders down the chain. Every soldier and marine and corpsman and airman on the ground is entitled to know what he or she and their units are expected to accomplish.

Everyone involved in the effort is entitled to a decision from the President.

It's not like he didn't know the Afghan war was waiting for him when he got to the Oval Office.

Splash, out

Jason

And Pelosi's an ignorant twit.

The Four Tops

2009-09-29T18:55:00.001-04:00

Seven Rooms of Gloom. A capella.

Wow.

FDIC looking weaker and weaker

2009-09-29T01:52:00.002-04:00

I wrote earlier this year that the FDIC promise is paper thin.

It's getting thinner.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. may take the unprecedented step of ordering banks to prepay about $36 billion in premiums to replenish the deposit insurance fund that has been severely depleted by a rash of bank failures.
The FDIC board likely will call for "prepaid" bank insurance premiums at its public meeting Tuesday to discuss the issue, three industry executives and a government official said. The banking industry prefers that option over a special emergency fee — which would be the second this year. The executives and the official spoke on condition of anonymity because the decision has yet to be made public.

It would be the first time the FDIC has required prepaid insurance fees. Under the plan, banks would have to pay in advance their insurance premiums for 2010-2012, bringing in about $12 billion for each of the three years, two of the executives said. That is the normal amount of insurance fees, though it could vary somewhat according to growth in total insured deposits — the basis for determining the fees.

RIP William Safire

2009-09-27T14:50:00.004-04:00

The man who coined the phrase "nattering nabobs of negativism" is no more.

Though as a conservative, he was not a member of the New York Times' tribe, they understood him better than most, and nail the essence of the man in the final two graphs.

Splash, out

Jason

Angela Peacock Returns

2009-09-27T14:23:00.018-04:00

If PTSD and "Military Sexual Trauma" are such widespread phenomena among women veterans, and if this soldier's profile is so similar to others, as the article states, why is it they keep interviewing the same Angela Peacock?

I think Paul Reikoff keeps her number on speed-dial. A rapid-deployment victim. The poster girl for PTSD.

Angela's on the prayer list, big time. Lord knows lots of veterans have had trouble coming home. But come on, CNN! Up your game! Do your own research! Don't get led around by the nose by the Huffington Post/IAVA axis!

I already started a tag with her name. I'm thinking I'm gonna have to start a Google Alert to track Angela Peacock sightings!

Splash, out

Jason

AUDIT THE FED!!! (Or maybe not.)

2009-09-26T16:24:00.004-04:00

There's a bipartisan effort afoot in Congress to pry open and audit the Fed's books.

I say, beware the law of unintended consequences.

One of the reasons the federal reserve's discount window operations are effective in preventing bank runs and collapses when member banks encounter short-term liquidity problems is because discount window operations are confidential. If we blow this, we take away an important arrow in the Fed's quiver.

Large depositors are very careful with their investors' money - and are not protected by FDIC. They maintain a watchful eye on bank strength and solvency.

If discount window transactions are not confidential, then the mere act of seeking much-needed assistance at the fed discount window is likely to create a run on the banks, thereby creating the liquidity disaster that the fed discount window was designed to prevent.

Congress is playing with fire, and not more than a handful of them know how big that fire is, or even that they've got matches in their hands.

Splash, out

Jason

Ha ha ha ha ha!

2009-09-26T14:55:00.002-04:00

HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!!!!

Back in January of this year, I wrote that Obama's decision to commit to closing Guantanamo Bay Prison down without first having a plan for disposition of each one of the inmates was dumber than a sack of hammers. Indeed, I wrote that Obama was painting himself into the biggest legal corner in living memory, and that his "ready, fire, aim" decision-making process was indicative of his fundamental unseriousness and and the intellectual unseriousness of the American left.

It turns out reality caught up to these dreamy-eyed morons, as unicorn shit and pixie panties and Skittles from on high were not enough to empty the prison by that idiotic, self-imposed "deadline."

The Washington Post account is by far superior to the CNN account (no surprise: their reporters have a much thicker rolodex of well-placed sources in government than CNN), and makes the backstory clear: The outgoing Bush Admin officials and career diplomats clearly warned the Obamabots against trying to close Gitmo without placing the inmates first. The arrogant, starry-eyed libtards thought they were better, and threw the government at the mercy of foreign governments they could not control.

Craig oversaw the drafting of the executive order that set Jan. 22, 2010, as the date by which the prison must be closed.

"It seemed like a bold move at the time, to lay out a time frame that to us seemed sufficient to meet the goal," one senior official said. "In retrospect, it invited a fight with the Hill and left us constantly looking at the clock."

"The entire civil service counseled him not to set a deadline" to close Guantanamo, according to one senior government lawyer.

Think of it: The entire civil service. And this crackhead overrulled them all. I hope Obama told him what I would have told him: "You made me look ridiculous, and a man in my position cannot afford to be made to look ridiculous!!!"

Looks like Craig's been taken off the case. Indeed, according to the Washington Post, he's been heavily involved in vetting White House appointees.

So now we know who's responsible for Van Jones, too. Brilliant!

Splash, out

Jason

WIth scarlet majors at the base

2009-09-26T14:49:00.003-04:00

The great Michael Yon takes a vivid look at how the British Army public affairs machine is interfering with the press.

I slag on journos enough

2009-09-26T14:45:00.002-04:00

but I do want to pause to reflect, with gratitude, on the risks many of them take and the hardships they endure to bring us the story.

This is the story of CNN camerawoman Margaret Moth, who nearly lost her life in the service of the cause of an informed public.

Splash, out

Jason

P.S., As I recall, there was some fantastic journalism coming out of Sarajevo at that time, and Christiane Amanpour was responsible for a lot of it. She's not perfect, but she's got balls of solid rock. Well, ovaries of solid rock. Whatever.

Todoro

2009-09-21T23:37:00.002-04:00

Just up late looking for chorale music. I remember hearing this in college for the first time in 1989 and being profoundly moved by this 1955 recording.

Experts Agree, Iran is developing a nuclear delivery system

2009-09-17T16:18:00.002-04:00

This report just came out today.

VIENNA (AP) - Experts at the world's top atomic watchdog are in agreement that Tehran has the ability to make a nuclear bomb and is on the way to developing a missile system able to carry an atomic warhead, according to a secret report seen by The Associated Press.
The document drafted by senior officials at the International Atomic Energy Agency is the clearest indication yet that the agency's leaders share Washington's views on Iran's weapon-making capabilities.

At least our Eastern European allies feel secure in our commitment to protect them.
Oh, wait!

Quote of the Day

2009-09-12T20:14:00.001-04:00

"I bark at no man's bid. I will never come and go, and fetch and carry, at the whistle of the great man in the White House no matter who he is."

--Davie Crockett, Congressman, 1833.

Insiders

2009-09-11T22:30:00.003-04:00

There were 31 dollars worth of insider stock sales last month for every dollar's worth of insider buys.

I'd like to know if that's accompanied by a spike in volume or not. And I'd expect there to be some profit-taking after this. I'm advising clients that tax rate increases are coming - as are most financial advisors, I'd imagine, and so some of this might be an attempt to realize capital gains this year, rather than give the revenue-desperate Congress a chance to hike capital gains taxes effective Jan 1.

But still, not a bullish sign at all.

Splash, out

Jason

Is Tom Ricks getting too close to the Generals?

2009-09-11T00:32:00.002-04:00

The Columbia Journalism Review's Mike Hoyt asks the question.

No time to do a detailed blog today. Off to AT in the morning.

Discuss.

Splash, out

Jason

Disability Developments

2009-09-09T21:28:00.002-04:00

In a landmark expansion of civil rights for individuals with disabilities, a Minnesota panel upholds the basic human right of children with autism to dress like common street whores.

Countercolumn News Ticker

2009-09-08T01:39:00.002-04:00

Kabul turns down offer to become "sister city" with Washington D.C. ...

Obama's plan to 'have a beer' with nation's fourth graders hits unexpected legal snag ...

Length of Obama speech draws comparisons to Beslan ...

Hyannisport Police: number of women date raped at Kennedy wake "surprisingly low ..."

Diageo stock plummets after news of Sen. Kennedy's passing ...

With Lion of the Senate" gone, "Jackal" and "Hyena" of the Senate assume leadership of Congressional Democrats ...

Obama Administration moves to "reallocate" professional baseball scores ...
"The time is now for the Cubs to get their fair share"

Cool cake art

2009-09-07T21:05:00.002-04:00

For bonus points, the music for the first three minutes is played by Curfa, made up of a bunch of my close friends down here in South Florida.

RAND Study on Counterinsurgency in Afghanistan

2009-09-07T16:37:00.001-04:00

For those so inclined.

This study explores the nature of the insurgency in Afghanistan, the key challenges and successes of the U.S.-led counterinsurgency campaign, and the capabilities necessary to wage effective counterinsurgency operations. By examining the key lessons from all insurgencies since World War II, it finds that most policymakers repeatedly underestimate the importance of indigenous actors to counterinsurgency efforts. The U.S. should focus its resources on helping improve the capacity of the indigenous government and indigenous security forces to wage counterinsurgency. It has not always done this well. The U.S. military-along with U.S. civilian agencies and other coalition partners-is more likely to be successful in counterinsurgency warfare the more capable and legitimate the indigenous security forces (especially the police), the better the governance capacity of the local state, and the less external support that insurgents receive.

Splash, out

Jason

"We need to kill her."

2009-09-07T11:51:00.001-04:00

Radical Islam Facebook page calls for the murder of a 17 year-old Florida girl.

Ronald Reagan Remix - The Gipper on Socialized Medicine

2009-09-07T10:19:00.002-04:00

Reagan remixed. Based on a speech from 1961.

While America Slept: Van Jones is out.

2009-09-06T02:28:00.003-04:00

Dateline, AP. 2:06 AM on a sunday, eastern time, on labor day weekend. Likely after the print deadlines for the sunday papers, at least on the east coast.

President Barack Obama's adviser Van Jones has resigned amid controversy over past inflammatory statements, the White House said early Sunday.

So it's not a matter of news delay. The most transparent administration in history didn't even announce it until sometime after midnight.

Splash, out

Jason

Stranger-owned life insurance

2009-09-06T01:49:00.003-04:00

These contracts are abortions, and I'd like to personally adjust the actuarial outlook for any of these Wall Street scumwads trying to push these.

After the mortgage business imploded last year, Wall Street investment banks began searching for another big idea to make money. They think they may have found one.

The bankers plan to buy “life settlements,” life insurance policies that ill and elderly people sell for cash — $400,000 for a $1 million policy, say, depending on the life expectancy of the insured person. Then they plan to “securitize” these policies, in Wall Street jargon, by packaging hundreds or thousands together into bonds. They will then resell those bonds to investors, like big pension funds, who will receive the payouts when people with the insurance die.

Why? Well, we have insurable interest laws for a reason. Do you really want a sociopath like Bernie Madoff owning a substantial interest in wanting you dead?

But let's put aside the obvious perversity in granting Wall Street a windfall when they kill you. Let's just look at the math- the math the New York Times misses:

The primary purpose of life insurance is death benefits. DEATH BENEFITS. Why? To protect widows, orphans, and business partners. That's it.

When an insurance company sets its premiums on a block of business, they have to take into account the expected lapse rate. A certain percentage of all life insurance contracts will never pay a death benefit - because they either lapse or get cashed in well prior to the death benefit. Indeed, term insurance is DESIGNED to lapse without paying a claim. This is part of why term is so cheap... the premiums are well below the expected mortality for any given age group. Because of lapse rates. This is part of why young families and small businesses can afford the protection they need.

When you have third parties buying up life insurance... parties whose primary interest in the insured is identical to that of a corpse-eating zombie - they will keep policies in force that would otherwise have lapsed or surrendered. Lapse rates will fall. Premiums will rise. Life insurance will become less affordable. And families and small business will have to make do with less protection. Dividends fall on par whole life contracts. further raising premiums neccessary for a given level of protection. Seniors will have to pay longer before dividends offset premiums. Some won't be able to. And we will have forgotten why we have life insurance to begin with: To protect future widows, orphans, and dependents of small business owners from unexpected financial catastrophe due to death.

This is one asset class we can definitely do without.

Splash, out

Jason

Lying Talking Points Memo

2009-09-05T20:14:00.006-04:00

As if to underscore the notion that liberals can't even cover the smallest subjects without lying about them, here's Talking Points Memo on the photography of US dead and dying soldiers and marines in the War on Terror:

Yesterday, War Department Secretary Gates excoriated the Associated Press for publishing a photo the the dying Lance Cpl. Joshua M. Bernard in Afghanistan (above left). WTF! For those of you with short memories or who were not alive in 1968, I can tell you that photos of dying American soldiers in Vietnam were a regular part of the day's news.

Here's the photo TPM's writer, John Taplin, runs to illustrate his point.

The photograph, taken in 1965 or 1966, I believe, by Time Life's Larry Burrows, was one of the most famous photos of the war. Here's the lie: No one in the photograph was dying.

One commenter, Ripper McChord, has it about right:

A Marine's life belongs to the country. His death is his own. I've interviewed th parents of dead servicemen and this is a personal grief that only Gold Star families know.

A right to watch his last minutes?

No. certainly not. Perhaps a privilege--if he or his parents so allowed, but they directly asked for privacy.

A duty to watch his death? Only if your a voyeuristic moron who's never seen a car accident or watched "Saving Private Ryan." Can anyone really say that encroaching on the sacred sacrifice this young man made actually shows them something they haven't seen in a thousand horror movies or enlightens the public debate one iota? Like hell. If that's your argument, you're just mirroring the anti-abortion activists who put photos of bloody fetuses on billboards for shock value and politics.

Lance Cpl. Joshua M. Bernard was a human being who volunteered to serve you and me. His life and death deserve more consideration than crass political sport.

That said, I do not support a blanket ban, imposed by our government, on publishing images of dead and dying troops. Such images have been a part of war reporting since the camera appeared on the battlefield, and unpleasant and gruesome as they are, I believe that the images taken of dead soldiers at Gettysburg, Petersburg, Fredericksburg, and later and famously, the photos of American dead on the beach at Buna should be part of the record.

The SecDef should confine his efforts to the pursuit of war, not telling journalists what they may or may not publish. There should be narrow exceptions made in order to protect operational security and to protect the integrity of the family notification process.

I think the final call should be made by the fallen service member's family, and by the enlisted members of the fallen service member's unit. NOT by the media outlet, and not by the Secretary of Defense

Splash, out

Jason

Obama's Retirement Reform Proposal

2009-09-05T14:18:00.002-04:00

If Obama and his Administration gave a good god-damn about retirement security, they could start by reigning in obscene spending so we won't have to inflate American's retirement savings into oblivion, or tax the bejeezus out of distributions from 401(k)s, 403(b)s IRAs, SEPs, and annuities, in order to have a prayer of paying off our debt.

Instead, our Dear Spender proposes replacing cash refunds with taking on even MORE government debt.

If he really wanted to help people, he would push for waiving the 10% withdrawal penalty on 401ks and IRAs for people under 59 1/2 who are unemployed, or for the purpose of starting a new business (and hiring!). All that's needed is to expand the definition of qualified hardship withdrawals to include unemployment income.

But he won't.

Instead, he screws around the edges. Unused vacation pay?? Sounds like an idea only someone who's had his head so far up the Union's ass for years would love.

He wants to put long term retirement savings in government savings bonds, of all places? With interest rates at historic lows???? If he were in private practice, he'd get sued nine ways from Sunday.

And then, Dear Leader wants to send the paper savings bonds directly to the workers? So they can stuff them in a drawer somewhere? No third party administration? No transfer agent to keep track of beneficiaries? This sounds like a banana republic plan.

I'm all for having a default 'opt-in' for retirement plan participation. That's been a good idea for a long time - though there are a lot of details to work out, including figuring out a reasonable 'safe-harbor' solution for plan sponsors who don't want liability for taking either too much risk or too little risk with the money. There are ERISA headaches when a plan sponsor's executive class gets a 6% return over years because of a reasonable allocation to equities, while the worker bees get 2% returns because the worker bee assets were deposited into money markets. Lots of companies have declined to offer retirement plans precisely BECAUSE of this kind of ERISA liability.

(Incidentally, an automatic opt-in provision helps executives, who can't max out their own plans, under "top hat" rules, unless they meet participation requirements among the rank and file.)

The plan to issue savings bonds instead of tax refunds? It's a massive screwing of the working and middle class. With interest rates low, massive spending and inflationary expectations, such a deal is a very bad one for workers (and a great one for the IRS!).

It's also a massive redirection of spending power from main street USA to K Street, Washington. All it does is ensure government bureaucrats once again take the first cut of any tax refund checks.

(What gets me is that libtards will, if pressed, and in the same breath, argue at once that we need increased participation in 401(k)s but we shouldn't partially privatize Social Security because equities are too risky to rely on for retirement savings.)

All in all, I'm thoroughly unimpressed with Obama's proposal.

Why the Hell is he wasting bandwidth on this garbage, anyway? He ought to be pressing the case for his abortion of a health care reform package, or mustering up public sentiment to fight and win in Afghanistan. (That's the one he thought was important, remember?)

Instead, he's blowing political capital on these distractions, impaling himself against the Republican pikes over health care reform, and letting the Afghanistan war effort shrivel and die for lack of rhetorical oxygen and leadership from the President.

The likely result is that Obama will fail at all three initiatives.

I want him to fail on health care reform. Utterly. I do NOT want him to fail to win in Afghanistan.

Splash, out

Jason

Why the argument that "we already ration" is bogus

2009-09-05T11:26:00.002-04:00

Liberals are fond of arguing that insurance companies already set limits on care, therefore it's fine for government to do the same thing. They are so stupid, they forget that they are making this argument in nearly the same breath as they deny the proposed existence of "death panels" whose purpose is to do exactly what they insist we already do, and what we must do to control costs, eliminate waste, and discover cost efficiencies.

Their argument is as stupid as they are, and that's saying something.

For proponents of a single-payor system, and ESPECIALLY for proponents of a system in which it is illegal to pay out of pocket for medical care, there is a HUGE difference between what the libtards falsely call "rationing."

In a private market, I am free to select my own menu of benefits and exclusions, deductibles, caps and limits. Case in point: One major carrier in my area, United Health, offers a standard $3 million dollar lifetime benefit cap. I can pay a little extra per month in premiums and enhance that lifetime cap to $5 million.

From the perspective of economic freedom and, I'll say it, basic human rights, between having my insurance company deny a claim and having the government deny treatment. Here it is:

My insurance company would tell me: "We're sorry, but this treatment is not covered by your plan. If you and your doctor want to do it, you are free to purchase it yourself. By the way, here's a list of in-network doctors. They offer discounts."

My government will tell me: "We're sorry, you may not get this treatment."**

Splash, out

Jason

**My current President will tell me, in so many words, "You may be better off taking the pain pill."

Obama Administration Blames Bush for Underresourcing Afghan War for Years ...

2009-09-01T08:01:00.002-04:00

I would point out, though, that Obama elected to keep the same Secretary of Defense. He also sacked the guy he says was underfunded and neglected.

"This was underresourced, underfunded, undermanned and ignored for years," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said.

"The president is focused on ensuring that we meet measurable benchmarks. ... It's going to take some doing."

I'd hate to be the President that has to clean up after this crew in power now.

But if I were, I sure wouldn't be passing the buck backwards nine months into my term.

Splash, out

Jason

Shorter Eleanor Clift

2009-08-29T23:46:00.003-04:00

Yes, Kennedy was a sociopathic drunken ass who killed a young woman in the prime of her life. But he's sufficiently liberal, so it's ok.

UPDATE: Link fixed.

On the effectiveness of torture

2009-08-29T22:35:00.004-04:00

Crossposted from Althouse's comments on this post:

Any libtard who blindly asserts that 'torture doesn't work' is a half-witted, naive little panty-waist talking out of his ass.

Torture works. It always has. The threat of torture works. It always has. Not in every single instance with every single suspect, but damn well enough and consistently enough.

Here's where the typical pony-tailed pinko tries to assert "yeah, it's effective at getting the victim to say what he thinks the torturer wants to hear."

That's because the libtard shitbird is an amateur, and he read about torture committed by amateurs, and therefore, in his ignorance he cannot conceive that other people are professionals.

Torture is extremely effective at extracting confirmable information, where the victim cannot be certain that the information is not already known to the interrogator, and where the detaining power is sufficiently brutal - or is perceived to be sufficiently brutal - that the victim has a reason to believe that his lot will become substantially worse if he is caught in a lie.

This is not difficult to do where the detaining power is organized and disciplined about tracking information received and shares it among the interrogators, carefully keeping track of known and unknown, confirmed and unconfirmed information.

In some cases, less intense forms of interrogation are effective BECAUSE more brutal interrogations were performed on others, and the subject of the less intense interrogation has no idea whether the first guy broke or not - but must assume he has.

I keep seeing libtards argue crap they don't understand till they're blue in the face.

There are legitimate moral arguments why we should not practice torture - putting aside definitional problems. But every time some ignorant fool argues that it just isn't effective, he makes an utter clown of himself.

Ezra Klein: "We Ration."

2009-08-28T18:23:00.002-04:00

Behold the depths of libtard stupidity:

"Look at Canada," says Charles Krauthammer. "Look at Britain. They got hooked; now they ration. So will we."

So do we. This is not an arguable proposition. It is not a difference of opinion, or a conversation about semantics. We ration. We ration without discussion, remorse or concern. We ration health care the way we ration other goods: We make it too expensive for everyone to afford.

In case you missed it, Ezra - or his editors determined to dig his hole for him, entitle his piece "We ration. We ration. We ration. We ration." Hey, libtard! You wen' foget one "We ration!"

Here we have the modern libtard - and in this case, the leading public polemicist for PelosiCare - a man who cannot discern between a rationing system under a command-control economy and a free-market system. Either he's bone stupid or the intellectual dishonesty of the left has descended to unheard-of depths.

If a free-market system is "rationing," then the term has zero meaning whatsoever. We ration fuel, we ration rubber, we ration access to golf courses, movie theaters, restaurants and fruit cocktails. We ration coffee and sugar and turnips and peas. We ration newspapers and Internet access. We even ration sex, and favor people who are attractive. RATIONISTS!

This is the kind of obtuseness the left is reduced to. Up is down, left is right, war is peace, free markets is rationing, and 2 + 2 = 5. But each one of these statements is equally false, and for the same reason.

Fortunately, Reason Magazine is on the case:

Like most left-leaning folks, Klein clearly doesn't know the definition of rationing. Take this one from Britannica:

Government allocation of scarce resources and consumer goods, usually adopted during wars, famines, or other national emergencies.

The entire Washington Post editorial is a disaster. The whole thing is predicated on a falsehood. I've never seen such a decisive editorial FAIL before it even gets started.

I've often said - and I never have time to build the case anymore - but I've often said that any screwed up shit-for-brains lefty with a knack for turning a phrase can secure some prime real estate in our high-gloss media. For a conservative to get the same shot, he has to be five times smarter than the liberal competing for the same space. Ezra Klein utterly beclowns himself here - and scores the WaPo. Megan McArdle, love her or hate her, can think circles around Ezra Klein and Andrew Sullivan combined. If she was as hopelessly lost as those two, AND a libertarian/sort-of-conservative, she would NEVER have gotten her gig at the Economist, OR The Atlantic.

Wow. We even ration Op-eds.

Klein. Clown.

Splash, out

Jason

Intelligence Failures

2009-08-28T01:53:00.002-04:00

A long-time reader writes in:

Several very disturbing things have happened in the last few days, the aggregate of which will be to either disembowel or corrupt the output from our intelligence apparatus.

- First, there's the shameful release of a classified report that even Obama appointee CIA Director Leon Pannetta has eloquently argued against on the grounds it will undermine the foundation of trust between CIA patriots and their government. http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=8398902
- Second, there's AG Eric Holder's announcement that not only will he seek to prosecute intelligence employees for doing their jobs, but that he's selected a prosecutor to head that investigation that has already displayed a bias against the intelligence apparatus and its professionals in the past. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/24/AR2009082401743_pf.html Can you say "Witch Hunt"? I knew you could. Holder has displayed a preference for the rights of terrorists to get access to our court systems over the rights of Americans to continue to live.
- This leads to the third, disturbing occurrence, the WH creation of a unit that will supervise all high profile interrogations. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=112169988 This is upsetting on multiple counts. First it displays unparalleled WH micro management of the intelligence process. Second, we now have an "Interrogation Czar". If this is under the WH auspices like all the other Czars, will they claim executive privilege in keeping out congressional oversight to a degree never imagined even by those who criticized the Bush administration? Finally, this office will work from the FBI, under the same Eric Holder who doesn't seem to care for our anti-terror fight, displays a preference for terrorists' rights over Americans' civil liberties, has displayed animus against intelligence professionals, and who thinks a law enforcement approach to countering threats to our nation is preferable to a military one even though that's the mindset that led to all the terrorist attacks under Clinton and to 9/11.

Ironically, what these things mean is that, intentionally or unintentionally, the White House is going to gain much greater influence over the intelligence that comes out of our agencies, in a way that vastly overshadows anything the Bush White House is alleged to have had, and that the left railed against. Remember the meme that the Bush WH was trying make the intelligence fit what they wanted to do? Can you imagine what will happen under this WH when the it is seen as being so intensely involved in management of the intelligence apparatus by those inside it?

One has to wonder whether these acts are to intentionally weaken our intelligence apparatus, intentionally control it, or unintentionally destroy it through liberal naivete.

I confess I hadn't thought of that last issue. But I think the reader makes an excellent point - when intelligence product is manufactured by the pols at the White House, and not by a separate agency of careerists that must answer as much to Congress as the Presidency, how can ANYONE trust that the product is free of political taint?

Countercolumn News Ticker

2009-08-27T09:56:00.004-04:00

Massachussetts, Irish Republican Army Mourn Passing of Sen. Ted Kennedy ...

Democrats Rush to Honor Kennedy with "No Waitress Left Behind" Act ...

Kennedy Allies to Slip Reduction in Statute of Limitations for Vehicular Manslaughter Into Omnibus Bill ...

Proposals to "Lose Iraq in Kennedy's Memory ..."

Congressional Dems Aim To Pay Tribute to Kennedy by Outlawing Care He Received ...

Never did learn how to pronounce "Alito." ...

In Ironic Twist: Kennedy's Final "Code Blue" Went Unreported for 12 Hours ...

Kennedy To Be Buried at Sea - In a 1960's Model Oldsmobile ...

Developing ...

Why we need government health care NOW

2009-08-24T22:51:00.002-04:00

The VA tells 1,200 veterans they have Lou Gehrig's Disease - by mistake.

Hilarity ensues.

More VA Shenanegans

2009-08-22T14:07:00.002-04:00

Turns out when these guys aren't infecting veterans with Hepatitis C, and letting legitimate VA disability claims go unprocessed for months and months on end, they're giving out $24 million in taxpayer money to government employees in efficiency and performance bonuses.
Quick! Let's put the federal government in charge of health care right away!

Splash, out

Jason

"Hello," he lied, part two

2009-08-22T13:24:00.002-04:00

The latest episode of WeeWee's Big White House Adventure features our hero, St. Barry, Partner of God in Matters of Life and Death, lashing out at reform opponents (e.g., people who can read) for spreading "outrageous myths" concerning his health care plan.
Which myths? The Senior Partner(TM) specifically mentioned abortion, claiming that the bill will NOT allow for public funding of abortions. The problem: Not even the Associated Press believes him.

Associated Press, August 5, 2009 -- Gov't Insurance Would Allow Coverage for Abortion

Health care legislation before Congress would allow a new government-sponsored insurance plan to cover abortions, a decision that would affect millions of women and recast federal policy on the divisive issue.

Federal funds for abortions are now restricted to cases involving rape, incest or danger to the life of the mother. Abortion opponents say those restrictions should carry over to any health insurance sold through a new marketplace envisioned under the legislation, an exchange where people would choose private coverage or the public plan.

Abortion rights supporters say that would have the effect of denying coverage for abortion to millions of women who now have it through workplace insurance and are expected to join the exchange.

The predictable leftard argument is that Congress is insisting that abortions will not be paid for using tax dollars, but premium dollars. This is a distinction without a difference. Utterly dishonest. They pretend that money is not fungible. Government subsidizes the plan, the plan pays for abortions.

Obama also claimed that the plan would not fund benefits for illegal immigrants. If this is true, why did the Democrats in Congress vote, by party line, not to check patients for eligibility to prevent this very occurance? Obama also claimed that the "Death Panel" rumors are false. Not even the New York Times is signing on to that piece of tripe anymore.

New York Times: A Basis is Seen for Some Health Care Fears About the Elderly.

White House officials and Democrats in Congress say the fears of older Americans about possible rationing of health care are based on myths and falsehoods. But Medicare beneficiaries and insurance counselors say the concerns are not entirely irrational

Bills now in Congress would squeeze savings out of Medicare, a lifeline for the elderly, on the assumption that doctors and hospitals can be more efficient.

Obama. While he's spending precious political capital on anything but shoring up support for the War in Afghanistan, he is squandering it here at home, using his bully pulpit not to beat down Al Qaeda and the Taliban, but to beat down his fellow Americans.

Obama. Everything he says about health care reform is a lie, except for "if," "but," and "the." And I'm not so sure about "the."

Oops. I messed up.

2009-08-22T11:42:00.003-04:00

I made the mistake of giving the libtards too much credit for honesty and judgement. I had thought they were being truthful about not covering illegal immigrants under ObamaCare.

Turns out that that's not true, either. The libtards are bound and determined to allow even illegal immigrants to suckle at the public teat.

Health reform legislation, particularly H.R. 3200, contains a number of provisions that open the door to taxpayer funding of immigrants’ health care. That’s for illegal aliens, legal aliens who are supposed to rely on their sponsor for financial assistance their first five years here, and certain immigrants who sponsor other immigrants.

In brief:

Despite nominally barring illegal immigrants from receiving a health-insurance subsidy, an amendment to require that applicants be screened for eligibility — as are all other welfare recipients — was rejected on a party-line vote.
Even legal immigrants whose sponsors are supposed to provide them financial support would be eligible for taxpayer-funded subsidies.

Certain legal immigrants who qualify for premium subsidies or expanded Medicaid would also be able to sponsor new immigrants, whom they would have to pledge to support.

Illegal immigrants would be exempt from the legal mandate to have health insurance, but they’d still receive taxpayer-funded medical services at health clinics and hospitals required to serve all those presenting with medical emergencies.

So they have carefully left the back door sitting wide open - and voted overwhelmingly to keep it open - for illegals to steal health care from the American taxpayer. (Indeed, in a way, they might have to. If the libtards get their way, they will make it illegal for illegal immigrants to buy their own private health insurance!)

They do all this - on a party line vote - while simultaneously trotting forth their leaders to claim that the ObamaCare will not cover illegals, KNOWING DAMN WELL THAT IT WILL.

There is simly no negotiating in good faith with the current crop of libtards. They will lie to your face. They'll sabatoge and undercut their own legislation. They'll search your court records and divorce proceedings if you get in their way.

Nothing is beyond the pale for these people.

Splash, out

Jason

For music majors:

2009-08-22T02:18:00.002-04:00

Remember when your music composition/arranging professor told you to avoid parallel fifths?

Send him this.

The ACLU

2009-08-22T01:29:00.002-04:00

Remember when the leftards got the vapors when Colin Powell's office outed Valerie Plame to the press when they thought it was someone other than someone in Colin Powell's office?

Yeah, I remember that, too.

Now the ACLU is spying on CIA operatives outside their houses, and showing their photos to Al Qaeda operatives in Gitmo to identify these covert operatives by name so they can be subpoenaed.

When you get their fundraising envelope in the mail, send it back with no donation... just a copy of this article.

Splash, out

Jason

Best lie I've ever seen.

2009-08-22T00:56:00.003-04:00

The LA Times looks at the decline of the porn business in the San Fernando Valley.

I was particularly impressed with this gem: "I'm happy for the production, but I feel bad for exploiting the girls' situation."

Honorable mentions for Best Lies from the porn industry:

"You can make 100,000 per year camming from your living room" and "Fuck me with that big white cock."

Compare and Contrast

2009-08-21T21:54:00.006-04:00

When it looked like the Achille Lauro terrorists were going to go free - terrorists who had only killed a handful of people, Ronald Reagan dispatched the U.S. Navy to intercept the airplane flying them home, over international waters, forced the plane down, and brought them to justice.

At 5:30 P.M. on Thursday, October 10, President Reagan was aboard Air Force One, returning to Washington, D.C. from a speaking engagement in the Chicago area, when word reached him that the terrorists were getting away. He authorized the carrier USS Saratoga, patrolling the Adriatic Sea, to put seven F-14 Tomcats into the air. Their orders: divert the Egyptian aircraft to a NATO base at Sigonella, Sicily. The appearance of the Tomcats unnerved the EgyptAir pilot, who compliantly altered course for Sicily. He had no way of knowing that the American "top guns" had orders to refrain from shooting down the 737 without direct instructions from the president.

Initially the Italians were not disposed to cooperate, scrambling their own warplanes to prevent a landing at Sigonella, but after a call from Reagan, Italy's Prime Minister Bettino Craxi gave permission to land. The American plan was to load the Palestinians onto a U.S. military aircraft and transport them to the States. But when American troops encircled the 737 they found themselves surrounded in turn by Italian soldiers. Italy had decided that since the Achille Lauro was an Italian vessel, the hijackers should be tried in Italian courts. The terrorists faced charges of premeditated murder, kidnapping and hijacking. When Reagan called Craxi this time, the Italian leader wouldn't budge -- Abul Abbas and his cronies would remain in Italian hands. After Arafat threatened *uncontrollable reactions" if the Italians turned Abbas over to the Americans, Italy refused a U.S. request to extradite the terrorist leader. Abbas was soon freed. In 1986 the four hijackers were convicted and sentenced to long prison terms,

The American public emphatically approved of the bold mid-flight interception of the Achille Lauro terrorists. Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak decorated the 737 pilot and demanded an apology from the United States. Reagan vowed he would never apologize.

When Scotland let the Lockerbie bomber go free - an ogre who murdered hundreds - Obama, the Apologist-in-Chief, dispatched a letter expressing "disappointment."

Splash, out

Jason

More Democrat lies about health care reform

2009-08-21T21:35:00.002-04:00

Libtards say that a public option would not eliminate private insurance companies from the field, but would compete with them, keeping them honest.

This is bullshit. First of all, a public plan would pay no income tax. This alone would be a decisive blow to the private sector. But on top of that, they would face zero cost of raising capital, zero reserve requirements, and an implicit government guarantee. We all know how that shit worked out over at Freddie and Fannie.

The libtards say that the public option gives consumers more choice. No, once private insurers throw in the towel, consumers will have LESS choice, and fewer options, not more. What options are left will be MORE expensive, not less, because of adverse selection.

The libtards, including the WeeWee in Chief, point to the Post Office as an analogy. But I still stand in line at the Post Office, and adverse selection does not apply to the parcel industry.

Splash, out

Jason

"Hey, Look over there!!!!"

2009-08-21T20:28:00.003-04:00

The most maddening aspect of the whole health care debate for me is the utter willingness of the libtards to lie wholesale about EVERY ASPECT of the debate. The intellectual dishonesty... the flagrant intellectual dishonesty - goes all the way up to the top. To the President, to Speaker Pelosi, and to Harry Reid.

This alone, regardless of the merits of the policy objectives themselves, is a powerful reason to fiercely oppose this legislation. The lies have been so frequent, and so egregious, that there is simply no way to reason with the current crop of libtards in control of Congress and the White House and their noise machines. You cannot take them at their word. You cannot assume that your words will be honestly taken. Instead, the libtards in charge, unfortunately, have made it so that the default position for opponents of PelosiCare must be that every thing they currently offer in compromise is a lie, and a trick. They are utterly devoid of reason and utterly without honor.

The fish rots from the head down:

President Obama himself claimed that he never said he was in favor of a single payor system. That was a flat-out lie: He is on tape saying precisely the opposite a couple of years ago.

The entire libtard-industrial complex is saying that Palin was referring to end-of-life-care consultations, and threw them out of the legislation as a sacrificial lamb. Unfortunately, too many hopeful idiots believed them. But it was clearly a big lie. Palin wasn't referring to the end-of-life consultations, but to the various boards and commissions that MUST be convened in order to rationally allocate scarce health care resources. THESE are the "death panels," and Palin had it precisely right. The entire bill will turn the Health and Human Services department into one big 'death panel.'

Nancy Pelosi is calling soccer moms and grandmoms speaking out against the measure "nazis," and "unamerican."

This was too far even for the Obama Administration (though they may well have privately encouraged her bomb-throwing.)

Following the attack on a black conservative, caught on tape at a St. Louis Town Hall, the leadership of the SEIU issued a press release claiming their own members were attacked - and edited out a section of the video showing a witness screaming at a Union thug "you attacked him!" They kept the audio, but since the video proved them to be liars, they edited it out.

Now that Palin has come out swinging on tort reform, the "operative statement" on the left is that malpractice costs do not contribute to high health care costs - an assertion that would be laughable in any other context, but with so much at stake, it's not laughable - it's sinister, maddening, and Orwellian.

Obama continues to insist that the bill will be revenue neutral, despite the findings of the Congressional Budget Office. Obama's White House made no attempt to rebut the

Obama claimed that for those making less than $250,000 per year, our taxes would not go up one dime. But many of those makeing less than 250k per year are small-business owners, and Obama is now advocating an 8%-of-payroll tax on any businesses that do not offer group health care benefits.

This 8% is either going to come directly out of health care benefits for workers, as small-businesses punt their private insurers, or it will come directly out of small-business-owner income, be it 10k or W-2 income.

Obama is claiming "you won't have to wait in any lines!" But this isn't even true of the Post Office, and it's CERTAINLY not true of the VA health care system.

Obama claimed no one will be forced to buy coverage. But he also claimed he wanted a system with "everybody in, nobody out."

Obama claimed you'll be able to keep your insurance company. This is a flat-out lie. First of all, workers who get their health care from their employers will get booted from their plans by the millions as smaller companies drop coverage to save costs and move workers to the public option. Some states require group insurers to issue an individual policy, but not all.

Further, if Obama gets his way, adverse selection will cause millions of healthy workers to move to the public option, leaving private insurers with a pool of sick people. Premiums must rise to compensate for the deteriorating risk pool, which further accelerates the adverse selection problem. Private insurance risk pools will quickly collapse. This isn't just theoretical bullshit: It will happen as surely as night follows day.

The '47 million uninsured Americans' claim is itself a lie: The figure includes millions eligible for Medicaid and millions of illegal immigrants. The damnable thing is we've known this figure to be false for years, and yet the libtards STILL embrace it.

The libtards, including Obama himself, have claimed that federally-funded abortions would be excluded by the plan. This is also a lie, and the President continues to lie about it. He is totally two-faced: He will tell libtard audiences that "reproductive care" will be covered, but tells centrist audiences that there is no language in the bill specifically including abortions in the list of covered services. If the President is appointing people who populate the 'best practices' boards, then they are going to cover abortions. This is obvious to most intelligent people, but Obama continues to try to play both sides - and continues to lie to all but Leftard America.

The leftards continue to claim that the UK spends less with better outcomes than the United States. But the UK lags significantly behind the US in the metrics that actually count: The 5 and 10 year survivability rates of people diagnosed with various dread diseases. Why? The UK sharply restricts access to newer drugs and treatments - to save money. Why? Because the UK, like all socialist systems, has appointed a Death Panel, called NICE, whose job it is to rationally direct scarce resources to where they will provide the most value.

The leftards continue to claim you can be 'dropped for a preexisting condition.' This is also a lie. Under just about any state law I'm aware of, an insurance company cannot target an individual, in-force policy for a rate increase because he or she has developed a preexisting condition. They can adjust rates on a class, or a group, but typically not an individual.

Yes, you can drop someone for letting his or her policy lapse. That's life among grownups and it's true for Medicare, as well. (That's what disability income insurance is for: Everyone who can qualify should have enough disability income insurance to cover health premiums, in my book. The LAST time you want to be lapsing your medical insurance is right when you lost your job because you are sick or hurt.)

The libtards are still arguing that preventative care reduces costs, overall. Idiots who don't take time to think about the mechanics of the plan take them at face value. But preventative care does NOT save money, in the aggregate. Some screens are expensive, and where positive results are rare, they can very easily lose money, in the aggregate. This is well-documented, but obvious to anyone who gives the issue more than a moment's thought.

The ONE thing the libtards aren't lying about now, is that illegal immigrants are not going to be covered under the bill (except, of course, for point-blank emergencies that no doctor in good conscience could turn away.)

This is a disappointment to the cheese-eaters at NPR, who wrote a story, in all seriousness, headlined "Health Care Overhaul Ignores Illegal Immigrants."

No doubt the bastards will try to Rahm that through in the reconciliation commitee.

Splash, out

Jason

Hail, Barry ...

2009-08-20T10:36:00.001-04:00

...Full of grace.

Update: Barak atah adonai eloheinu melech ha'olam shecheyanu v'kiy'manu v'higyanu lazman hazeh.

Half of NY area car dealers quitting "Cash for Clunkers."

2009-08-20T10:00:00.002-04:00

Obama's administration can't handle the logistics and pay the dealers what they were promised - even after the dealers in good faith fronted their customers the cash.

The Feds have only made good on about 2 percent of the deals so far.

But don't worry. We'll have oodles of doctors and clinics lining up to do business with a government insurer. None of them will quit in disgust just when demand surges because of the perception that medical care is free.

Idiots.

Perlstein: Democratic Politicians Do Not Like or Encourage Code Pink

2009-08-19T23:21:00.004-04:00

So he says on Professor Bainbridge's blog.

Heh.

I swear, you can be the dumbest, most ill-informed twit on your block, and you can get on as a columnist in a major U.S. daily. Conservatives - those few left in journalism, have to be three times smarter than libtards to write a column.

Obama Administration to Veterans: Drop Dead.

2009-08-19T21:00:00.003-04:00

No, really.

Last year, bureaucrats at the VA's National Center for Ethics in Health Care advocated a 52-page end-of-life planning document, "Your Life, Your Choices." It was first published in 1997 and later promoted as the VA's preferred living will throughout its vast network of hospitals and nursing homes. After the Bush White House took a look at how this document was treating complex health and moral issues, the VA suspended its use. Unfortunately, under President Obama, the VA has now resuscitated "Your Life, Your Choices."

Who is the primary author of this workbook? Dr. Robert Pearlman, chief of ethics evaluation for the center, a man who in 1996 advocated for physician-assisted suicide in Vacco v. Quill before the U.S. Supreme Court and is known for his support of health-care rationing.

More ...

I was not surprised to learn that the VA panel of experts that sought to update "Your Life, Your Choices" between 2007-2008 did not include any representatives of faith groups or disability rights advocates. And as you might guess, only one organization was listed in the new version as a resource on advance directives: the Hemlock Society (now euphemistically known as "Compassion and Choices").

This hurry-up-and-die message is clear and unconscionable. Worse, a July 2009 VA directive instructs its primary care physicians to raise advance care planning with all VA patients and to refer them to "Your Life, Your Choices." Not just those of advanced age and debilitated condition—all patients. America's 24 million veterans deserve better.

Thanks to the Sainted General Shinseki.

Don't worry. The Democrat leadership in Congress is hard at work on a plan to include veterans in the Cash for Clunkers program.

Splash, out

Jason

Ice Cream Trucks

2009-08-19T20:36:00.003-04:00

A threat to all of us.

The Price of Freedom

2009-08-19T00:44:00.004-04:00

This song - as I'm apparently the last f***ing Guardsman to learn - was written by a twelve-year-old daughter of a National Guardsman and her 16-year-old sister.

I think they did a wonderful job, don't you?

P.S., The price of peace is steep. Freedom, on the other hand, costs a buck-0-five.

Splash, out

Jason

I love "An Phis Fliuch" in this vid.

2009-08-19T00:08:00.001-04:00

The slip jig by the same name isn't bad either.

Splash, out

Jason

Viet Nam Primer

2009-08-17T03:17:00.002-04:00

Written during the Viet Nam war by S.L.A. Marshall and David Hackworth, this excellent tactical treatise is still a must-read for cadets, midshipmen, lieutenants, captains and beyond.

Just too good to exerpt; if you have an interest in warfighting at the unit level, where the rubber meets the road, written by a true master of the art in COL Hackworth, then read the whole thing.

Splash, out

Jason

Death panels? I want them DEAD! The Public Option? DEAD! Niedermayer?

2009-08-16T22:44:00.001-04:00

DEAD!

The angels sing in Echoplex harmony today ...

2009-08-13T16:09:00.003-04:00

...Because Les Paul has left the studio.

A thousand times more influential than Michael Jackson could ever be, and he won't get one one thousanth the media coverage on his passing.

Rest ye well, sir. And thanks for billions of musical memories from

millions

of musicians you touched.

Oh, Christ ...

2009-08-13T13:28:00.002-04:00

Are we capitalizing the word "veterans" now, too?

Mr. Black-Berets-From-China, now the Secretary of ~~Data Security Breaches~~ Veterans Affairs appears in -- wait for it -- The Huffington Post.

What's next? Tom Daschle writing about health care in Mad Magazine?

The latest liberal douchebaggery

2009-08-12T23:29:00.001-04:00

Phony doctors

Should we drug test food stamp recipients?

2009-08-12T23:12:00.003-04:00

According to an oh-so-unscientific Facebook poll, 93% of respondents say YES!!!

I say, BE CAREFUL!!!!!

This is an issue where conservatives should tread carefully. It's very easy to paint yourself into a corner here. For example, are we prepared to let children of casual pot-smokers starve because mom lit up a joint a week ago?

No?

Are we then willing to throw these kids into the foster system the moment mom shows up hot on a piss test to collect her food stamps benefits? Maybe for crack or cocaine, sure. But marijuana? Is breaking up the family ALWAYS going to be the best thing for the children?

No?

Then any conservative - or anyone else for that matter, who votes YES on this poll ought to be ready to give an answer: What are we going to do with food-stamp dependent children of casual pot users?

For drug users with no children? Hell with 'em. But for the ones with? Beware the law of unintended consequences.

Yes, I realize you need to pass a drug test to get a lot of jobs. But if I tested hot on a drug test, my prospective private-sector employer is just gong to deny me the job. Not break up my family.

Go VERY slowly here... and don't let politicians or anyone else demagogue this issue.

Splash, out

Jason

Libtards using kids as sock-puppets. Again.

2009-08-12T14:18:00.001-04:00

Haven't seen a talking plant like this since Steve Martin starred in Little Shop of Horrors.

"Hello," he lied

2009-08-11T17:28:00.002-04:00

Obama: "I have not said that I am a supporter of a single-payer health plan."

Obama to an SEIU gathering: "I happen to be a proponent of a single-payer universal health care plan."

"Hello," he lied.

A project for young officers and cadets out there ...

2009-08-11T17:11:00.002-04:00

Michael Jordan. OODA-Loops.

Discuss.

What can you tighten your OODA-loop - at Brigade level? At Battalion level? At company level? At platoon-level? At squad-level?

Verily I say unto you: Counterguerilla operations - at the TACTICAL level, are won with extremely tight platoon-level and company - level OODA loops. At the STRATEGIC level, you have to have a tighter OODA-Loop all along the spectrum.

This is easy to say, but extremely difficult to do in practice.

USAA Federal Savings Bank to allow customers to deposit checks by iPhone

2009-08-10T11:20:00.003-04:00

This is pretty cool!

The Internet has taken a lot of the paperwork out of banking, but there is no avoiding paper when someone gives you a check. Now one bank wants to let customers deposit checks immediately — through their phones.

USAA, a privately held bank and insurance company, plans to update its iPhone application this week to introduce the check deposit feature, which requires a customer to photograph both sides of the check with the phone’s camera.

“We’re essentially taking an image of the check, and once you hit the send button, that image is going into our deposit-taking system as any other check would,” said Wayne Peacock, a USAA executive vice president.

Customers will not have to mail the check to the bank later; the deposit will be handled entirely electronically, and the bank suggests voiding the check and filing or discarding it. But to reduce the potential for fraud, only customers who are eligible for credit and have some type of insurance through USAA will be permitted to use the deposit feature. Mr. Peacock said that about 60 percent of the bank’s customers qualify.

Innovation is a good thing! I wasn't too impressed with New York Times's line: "USAA is an unlikely innovator."

What the hell does THAT mean? USAA isn't from New York, Connecticut or California? Just why IS USAA an unlikely innovator, in the eyes of the NY Times?

No word on what the fee is, if any. It would seem that this would be much cheaper than processing a paper check.

Splash, out

Jason

Obama Administration Mulls Declaring War on Own Intelligence Agents

2009-08-09T09:32:00.002-04:00

If you're considering the CIA as a career, I'd stop considering it for a while - at least until this wrecking ball of an administration is turned out of office.

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed has a reliable ally in this Administration. The guys we asked to get information out of him to save thousands of other lives? Better get a good lawyer.

Splash, out

Jason

Amputee to return to battle in Afghanistan.

2009-08-09T08:46:00.004-04:00

"'Tis but a scratch!"

A BRITISH soldier who had part of his leg blown off by a landmine is preparing to return to Afghanistan to settle “unfinished business” with the Taliban.

Private Matt Woollard, 20, is expected to be the first British infantryman to return to the front line after being fitted with a prosthetic limb.

Woollard, a member of 1st Battalion, the Royal Anglian Regiment, lost his lower right leg after setting off an insurgent bomb while on patrol near Kajaki in May 2007. His heart stopped three times while he was receiving treatment.

“I want to get back and do what I was sent to Afghanistan to do in 2007 — take the fight to the Taliban,” Woollard told The Sunday Times.

We have footage:

But read on, and look what's buried:

The mounting casualties come amid concern among senior officers that some of the mines and explosives used in the Taliban bombing campaign are coming from Iran. Their fears appeared to be backed by statements from Dennis Blair, America’s director of national intelligence, confirming that Iran is supplying Afghan insurgents with weaponry.

In a statement to the US Senate intelligence committee, obtained by the Secrecy News blog last week under freedom of information rules, Blair said Iran was covertly supplying weapons to the Taliban while publicly supporting the Afghan government.

“Shipments typically include small arms, mines, rocket-propelled grenades [RPGs], rockets, mortars and plastic explosives,” said Blair. He added: “Taliban commanders have publicly credited Iranian support for successful operations against coalition forces.”

British military intelligence sources were more cautious. “It is an undefined amount of explosives that has come in from Iran,” said one source. “But, yes, there is concern that some of the mines and explosives the Americans are talking about may have been used in the Taliban bombs.”

Impossible!!! The Taliban are Sunni radicals!!!! The Iranians are Shia!!! It's impossible for them to even be in the same zip code without spontaneously combusting!!!! Bush lied!!! People died!!!!!

Splash, out

Jason

Who's gonna shut me up?

2009-08-09T01:02:00.004-04:00

Obama, Chicago machine thug that he is, doesn't want the opposition to be doing a lot of talking.

Yeah, he want us to shut up.

Here's my response:

Tiochfaidh ar la!!!!

Jason

SEIU

2009-08-08T15:37:00.005-04:00

There seems to be a mini insurrection at the SEIU's website, as a number of member workers write in objecting to the bald-faced lie being progated by the union leadership that it was a union member and reverend from a local church who was attacked.

As a former member of SEIU, I am embarrassed and ashamed to see events like this. Clearly, it was people in SEIU T-shirts who attacked this man, who was doing nothing more than exercising his 1st amendment rights. Having participated in SEIU events, I was aware of the practice of 'importing' professional protesters, to give the union an appearance of strength. I never agreed with those tactics, and I certainly disagree with the methods employed by SEIU at the St. Louis County Town Hall Meeting.

Someday, maybe Americans will wake up and realize how you guys prey on honest, hard working people in order for you to profit personally from their efforts. I hope so. I did and am, therefore, a 'former' member. I'll most certainly never again be a 'member', and never want to be associated with any organization so intent on suppressing the constitutional rights of individuals, for the good of the Union bigwigs.

SEIU members should settle for nothing less than the removal of union leadership. It's the only way for this corrupt body to get its honor back at this point.

Splash, out

Jason

Lies and the Lying Liars who Tell Them

2009-08-08T10:12:00.003-04:00

The Service Employees International Union has, amazingly, released a statement claiming that their thugs didn't attack a tea-party-style protester, but it was the tea-party protesters who attacked them!

St. Louis - Today, the SEIU Missouri State Council released the statement of Executive Director Brandon Davis:

"Last night, in St. Louis, a Reverend and SEIU member was assaulted at a town hall dedicated to discussing our national healthcare crisis. The incident, along with a town hall in Tampa, Florida, has been all over the radio and cable news shows. GOP operatives are rushing to paint it as SEIU thug violence. That couldn't be further from the truth.

"In fact, the Reverend, a St. Louis Post-Dispatch reporter, and others who attended in hopes of a peaceful dialogue about our nation's healthcare crisis, endured the latest attempt by right-wing fringe groups to hijack the democratic process through violence if necessary. Last night, the Teabaggers' violent tactics broke and dislocated the shoulder of the Reverend.

Most tellingly, the SEIU has already produced a video attacking what their juvenile press office refers to as 'teabaggers.'

Watcb tbe vid at the Michelle Malkin link. Watch the end closely. It shows an SEIU member on the ground. The audio continues, though, with a witness yelling "you attacked him" after the video fades to black.

Why?

What are they trying to conceal?

"You attacked him for no reason!"
"He attacked America!"

Here's an idea:

You could cease patronizing SEIU establishments, but that signal is pretty indirect and tough to do in some areas. If you must visit an SEIU establishment, don't tip SEIU employees. Instead, hand them a note telling them exactly why you're not tipping them, and what union leadership has to do to restore them in good graces: retract this press release, apologize to Kenneth Gladney, and cease sending goons to intimidate Americans.

Splash, out

Jason

If the trumpet makes an uncertain sound ...

2009-08-07T03:28:00.002-04:00

...then who will answer the call?

It's official. The U.S. is no longer engaged in a "war on terrorism." Neither is it fighting "jihadists" or in a "global war."

President Obama's top homeland security and counterterrorism official took all three terms off the table of acceptable words inside the White House during a speech Thursday at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank.

"The President does not describe this as a 'war on terrorism,'" said John Brennan, head of the White House homeland security office, who outlined a "new way of seeing" the fight against terrorism.

The only terminology that Mr. Brennan said the administration is using is that the U.S. is "at war with al Qaeda."

I guess his pal Bill Ayers put him up to this.

Splash, out

Jason

Scratch a Liberal ...

2009-08-06T20:01:00.001-04:00

Scratch a liberal, you'll find a fascist.

Freedom of Speech

2009-08-06T19:31:00.004-04:00

In order to more fully portray the vileness of the assault on democracy being propogated by Nancy Pelosi and the White House communications office, I'm going to discuss it in the context of this great Norman Rockwell painting, Freedom of Speech.

The painting depicts a 1940s version of Everyman: a working man, by his tidy but informal presentation, and the lean strength of his frame. He could well be a farmer - Rockwell frequently portrayed Middle America in his art. Note the wear and tear on his hands - aged well beyond his face. The figure has a bill or program or agenda in his pocket, and is looked up to and apparently admired by the citizens - citizens - surrounding him, young and old alike.

The painting, for those who may not be aware, was one in a touching series of paintings depicting the Four Freedoms as constructed by Franklin Delano Roosevelt: Freedom from Fear, Freedom from Want, and Freedom of Worship were the others.

Now, when you or I see this painting, we see an admirable figure, a leader, a great American. We see a citizen speaking his mind, an American posessed of the God-given, inalienable right to freedom of expression. We see discourse and debate. We see what America is all about.

The modern Libtard, represented by Nancy Pelosi and the White House Press office, sees a manufactured mob.

This is pure poison. Pelosi and her enablers have simply declared rhetorical war not just on the Republican party, but on the electorate itself.

Their attitude is nothing short of a big 'F***k You' to the American people. I cannot overstate how vile and dangerous modern libtards are. They need to be opposed at every turn. They need to be made to feel the heat until they see the light, or driven from office. They are bigger enemies of America than McCarthy could ever dream of being. For all his faults, at least McCarthy loved his country and the things that made it great.

You and I look at this painting and see America.

Pelosi and Obama see a threat.

Splash, out

Jason

"How Did This Happen?"

2009-08-02T14:20:00.004-04:00

The New York Times Public Editor looks into how the Times ran an article with seven factual errors in it.
Not a huge deal in my book. Just an interesting look at how the sausage is made.

It's amazing to me how newspaper folks can be ready to commit sepukku over trivial shit like whether Cronkite was 64 or 65 years old when he retired, while at the same time glossing over the institutional biases that lead to David Carr mis-analyzing the entire war - and then not giving a shit, Purple Stars, Congressional Medals of Honor for Songwriters, Sadr Stupid, and this whole bag of shit.

Splash, out

Jason

Obama's beer of choice is ...

2009-07-30T10:33:00.001-04:00

... Bud Light????

Shoe Bomber Sues To Be Allowed to Pal Around with Terrorists

2009-07-30T09:52:00.003-04:00

The Obama administration, parting with years of practice under Bush, folds like a cheap tent.

Remember when the libtards and media were soiling themselves ...

2009-07-29T19:24:00.003-04:00

...over Cheney's secret energy task force meetings?

That was then, this is now.

Splash, out

Jason

UPDATE: To add to the irony, Biden once referred to Cheney as "the most dangerous vice president we've had probably in American history?"

That Was Then, This is Now

2009-07-29T01:58:00.002-04:00

Back when Bush was President, and Republicans controlled Congress, Obama objected to the Republicans pushing legislation through to fast.

That was then, this is now.

Are you smarter than a 5th grader?

2009-07-28T00:08:00.001-04:00

She's not.

Bad Press

2009-07-25T00:06:00.004-04:00

This one with a South Florida connection: A Navy commander has filed a complaint with the Miami Herald over reporter Carol Rosenberg's offensive and degrading behavior and questioning.

Full complaint here.

I don't know if he would have much standing, since they don't have the same employers. And I don't like the precedent of government officials suing newspapers for allowing their reporters to create a hostile work environment. Still, if she is interfering with the AP photographer's work, and publicly inferring that the Navy officer is gay - knowing that if the reputation stuck, he would lose his career, Rosenberg comes extremely close to committing a couple of torts.

If these reports are true - and there are apparently lots of witnesses, Rosenberg is sullying the Miami Herald brand. Her reporting is not to be trusted. She seems to have come unglued. She should be fired. It's not like there aren't good, underemployed journalists out there to replace her with.

Way to cultivate your sources, moron!

Splash, out

Jason

Dear Mom, this is going to be hard for you to read

2009-07-23T23:29:00.002-04:00

I died doing what I was born to do I was happy and felt great about myself although the army was sadly the ending of me it was also the making of me so please don't feel any hate toward it.

A 19-year-old British private's letters home, including his last one.

Rest ye well, brother.

Stocks soar as ObamaCare falters.

2009-07-23T21:14:00.002-04:00

It ain't a coincidence.

The more Obama and his misguided policy initiatives wash up on the legislative rocks, the faster the recovery will come.
This is the change we've been hoping for.

Now find your Congressional representatives when they come home for recess and drive a stake through ObamaCare's heart.

Splash, out

Jason

Bald-faced lies department

2009-07-21T08:11:00.004-04:00

The Washington Post reports:

The president recalled that as a boy living in Hawaii, he would perch on his grandfather's shoulders and watch the space capsules land in the Pacific Ocean.

Oh. My. God.

He'll probably get a pass on this one, though. The paper's reporter, by using the verb 'recalled' instead of the more skeptical (and appropriate) verb "claimed," demonstrates she'll believe anything.

Splash, out

Jason

UPDATE: The White House website transcribes the President's remarks thus:

I should note, just personally, I grew up in Hawaii, as many of you know, and I still recall sitting on my grandfather's shoulders when those capsules would land in the middle of the Pacific and they'd get brought back and we'd go out and we'd pretend like they could see us as we were waving at folks coming home. And I remember waving American flags and my grandfather telling me that the Apollo mission was an example of how Americans can do anything they put their minds to.

So it was the Post's screw-up, not a lie by the President. Consider this post retracted, with my apologies.

The NY Times publishes... Peter Fucking SINGER!?!?!?!?!?

2009-07-15T23:21:00.003-04:00

I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw the byline.

Here's something you should know about Peter Singer: He's an avowed eugenicist. Not only has he made the case for the elevation of animals to an equal moral plane with humans... he has, in the not-too-distant past, made a methodical and affirmative case for the murder of disabled infants.

Now, you don't get the full effect of his argument from his Wikipedia page. At least in its iteration as of this writing. So let's go to a friendlier forum: AnimalLiberationFront.com

But there is another case in which Singer supports infanticide that raises the blood pressure of his critics, one where he brings an impaired newborn into a cold calculation of pain and pleasure and concludes one life-form is exchangeable for another. "When the death of a disabled infant will lead to the birth of another infant with better prospects of a happy life, the total amount of happiness will be greater if the disabled infant is killed ... killing a disabled infant is not morally equivalent to killing a person. Very often it is not wrong at all."

This is a man who also stated in an interview with Ronald Bailey, that if he were solely responsible for his own mother, a victim of alzheimer's, she might not continue to live.

From the Animal Liberation Front profile:

A recent article in The New Yorker shrewdly identified a key contradiction in Singer's approach to ethics. Confronting him with the fact that his own mother was dying of Alzheimer's disease, which rendered her, in Singer's scheme, a "nonperson," but that he had not euthanized her, Singer responded by saying it was "different" in the case of someone he knew and loved, and that he choose to care for her as long as possible, spending copious amounts on health care, albeit on someone doomed to die, rather than giving the money to aid those who could live. "I think this has made me see how the issues of someone with these kinds of problems are really very difficult." Betraying the abstract viewpoint that is an occupational hazard of the academic, Singer had no problem of prescribing euthanasia to imaginary others, but found it impossible to do in his own case with someone all-too concrete.

Really, though, this is the thinking at the heart of progressivism: utilitarianist arguments that dismiss the dignity and natural rights of the individual in favor of the collective.

It is one thing to be a liberal. One can be a liberal and still have respect for the dignity of the individual, the human being created in God's image. Progressivism is different. Its misguided utilitarianism gave rise to the whackier theories of Margaret Sanger, whose views are of a piece with the Nazis of the Third Reich, with the Stalinist collective farms and institutionalized collective child rearing, and with Peter Singer and Universal Health Care.

The masses do not think of UHC in those terms. But they are rubes. The intellectual progressives are fully aware that UHC will lead to eugenics and euthenasia at the margins.

What surprises me is that I haven't seen anyone make the connection between Singer and his earlier controversial views on infanticide. Perhaps, if he is associated with Obama and the libtard progressive UHC cause, he will deflate Obama's political capital in a hurry and cause UHC to take its rightful place in the dustbin of Congressional history.

Splash, out

Jason

Obama: "Nobody Wants To Invest in a Place Where the Government Skims Twenty Percent Off The Top."

2009-07-13T23:13:00.002-04:00

...And like shit through a goose, the irony is totally lost on our spender-in-chief and his dimwit team of speechwiters.