The Fulcrum
Thursday, April 29, 2004
On Vacation
Very early on Friday morning, my wife and I are flying to the US Virgin Islands. Friends of ours are getting married and they were wonderful enough to invite us to join them. Since we never had the chance to take a honeymoon when we got married almost two years ago, we're taking this opportunity and will not be back until Wednesday.The picture of the pool is from the Westin Resort on St. John, where we'll be staying. The resort looks out over Cruz Bay and as you can see, the water is just the most incredible mix of blues and greens imaginable. While I've never been to the Virgin Islands, I have done a bit of scuba diving in the Caribbean so I can't wait to see the crystal clear water and all the tropical fish and corals.
The other photo is of Trunk Bay, one of the many coves and bays that surround the island. One of the best things about St. John, as opposed to St. Thomas, the larger island, is that about 75% of the island is designated as National Forest. So much of it is relatively untouched rain forest. I will have my digital camera and an extra SD Smart Card, so I will bring back lots of pictures which I promise to share with you all.I doubt I'll have any opportunity to blog while I'm away what with the beaches and the rain forest and...ah... the rum! So be good, leave lots of comments about how jealous you all are, and I'll see you when I get back!
Winning Hearts and Minds - Part MCXXIV
This is sure to make us even more popular than we already are in Iraq:
A US general has been suspended in Iraq over the alleged abuse of prisoners by US troops in jails she ran.This also happens to be yet another bit of evidence that activities post-war were completely unplanned for:
[snip]
CBS says the pictures it obtained show a wide range of abuses, including:Prisoners with wires attached to their genitalsThe prison where the abuses are alleged to have taken place was a notorious torture centre during the Saddam Hussein era.
A dog attacking a prisoner
Prisoners being forced to simulate having sex with each other
A detainee with an abusive word written on his body.
"We had no training whatsoever," he [former guard] said.
"I kept asking my chain of command for certain things... like rules and regulations. And it just wasn't happening," he said.
He said he never saw a copy of the Geneva Conventions - which govern the treatment of prisoners - until after he was charged.
The Army investigation confirmed that reservists at Abu Ghraib had not been trained in Geneva Convention rules.
The Dick and Bush Show
So the Sock Puppet and the Puppet Master are sitting with the 9/11 Commission today.
No oath that they will tell the truth.
No cameras to capture this historic moment.
No recorders so that the country will know what is said.
Is there anyone out there who can honestly say that all the restrictions have some completely innocuous purpose? Is there anyone out there who really believes that these two don't have something to hide?
Anyone?
No oath that they will tell the truth.
No cameras to capture this historic moment.
No recorders so that the country will know what is said.
Is there anyone out there who can honestly say that all the restrictions have some completely innocuous purpose? Is there anyone out there who really believes that these two don't have something to hide?
Anyone?
I AM A LIBERAL!
How did liberal come to be an epithet in modern politics?
It wasn't always so, but I was too young to really know what it was like when liberal wasn't spit like something foul from your mouth by so many people. I've always thought it was a kind of fear. Conservatives - by definition - try to keep things in stasis; they like the way things are or were. They look to the past for a better time, for better behavior, for a better life. Liberals tends to look to the future and to believe that government and technology (generally) and intellectualism can lead to a better life.
For most people, even liberals, the future is frightening with all of its unknowns, with its problems and opportunities unseen. Our primate brain, evolved on the predator filled savannahs of Africa, still tend to look with suspicion and fear at the shadows and places we cannot see clearly. Those who can see the past clearly and with longing, would be most afraid of a future seen at best through the haze and gauze of time so they fear not only the future, but those who would welcome and speed the coming of the unknown. And what conservatives and reactionaries fear, they hate.
I welcome a better future. I have learned from the past, yes. But I do not long to remain there. I am a liberal. Proudly so. But in this dangerous time for our country, how liberal is liberal enough? Steve Bates at The Yellow Doggerel Democrat asks that question today. It's what got me thinking about liberalism.
Go read the post, it will make you think, too.
It wasn't always so, but I was too young to really know what it was like when liberal wasn't spit like something foul from your mouth by so many people. I've always thought it was a kind of fear. Conservatives - by definition - try to keep things in stasis; they like the way things are or were. They look to the past for a better time, for better behavior, for a better life. Liberals tends to look to the future and to believe that government and technology (generally) and intellectualism can lead to a better life.
For most people, even liberals, the future is frightening with all of its unknowns, with its problems and opportunities unseen. Our primate brain, evolved on the predator filled savannahs of Africa, still tend to look with suspicion and fear at the shadows and places we cannot see clearly. Those who can see the past clearly and with longing, would be most afraid of a future seen at best through the haze and gauze of time so they fear not only the future, but those who would welcome and speed the coming of the unknown. And what conservatives and reactionaries fear, they hate.
I welcome a better future. I have learned from the past, yes. But I do not long to remain there. I am a liberal. Proudly so. But in this dangerous time for our country, how liberal is liberal enough? Steve Bates at The Yellow Doggerel Democrat asks that question today. It's what got me thinking about liberalism.
Go read the post, it will make you think, too.
Wednesday, April 28, 2004
Bush in Wonderland
Read the news coming out of Iraq today. Go ahead. Read it all or just read some of it.
Now tell me how isolated, what level of denial, how insane would someone have to be to say this:
Now tell me how isolated, what level of denial, how insane would someone have to be to say this:
"Most of Fallujah is returning to normal, there are pockets of resistance."
Bringing Freedom to the World
As long as your press says nice things about us.
Colin Powell has had the unenviable task of showing the rest of the world, yet again, what BushCo. means by "spreading peace and freedom throughout the Middle East." Visiting Qatar, one of our closer allies in the region, Powell asked that the small country do something about the coverage of one of the few "free" media in the region; al Jazeera.
Colin Powell has had the unenviable task of showing the rest of the world, yet again, what BushCo. means by "spreading peace and freedom throughout the Middle East." Visiting Qatar, one of our closer allies in the region, Powell asked that the small country do something about the coverage of one of the few "free" media in the region; al Jazeera.
The United States warned the Persian Gulf state of Qatar yesterday that an otherwise strong relationship between the two nations is being harmed by "false" and "inflammatory" anti-American coverage of Iraq by the Qatar-based Arab television network Al Jazeera.This administration is showing the world the worst face possible if its real goal is to spread freedom around the world. Detaining prisoners without due process and outside of the Geneva Conventions, restricting civil liberties at home and now attempting to get another government to muzzle its press. What a great representation of the best of America, no? Sure some of the coverage is "inflammatory," no doubt. But is this the way a country with a supposedly free press should act? Is this the face we want to show the world?
Secretary of State Colin L. Powell and other U.S. officials delivered the terse warning to a delegation headed by Qatari Foreign Minister Sheik Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabir al Thani - the highest level at which the subject has been discussed.
Semantics and the Medals - Coda
A final (I hope) word on John Kerry's medals from someone who actually has the qualifications to speak about such things. Please note that unlike the aWol President and the "Other Priorities" VP and all the other chickenhawks in BushCo., Gen. Wesley Clark is yet another decorated veteran. Clark call 'em like he sees 'em.
From the New York Times (via Hesiod):
From the New York Times (via Hesiod):
...the Republican attack machine follows a pattern we've seen before, whether the target is Senator John McCain in South Carolina in 2000 or Senator Max Cleland in Georgia in 2002. The latest manifestation of these tactics is the controversy over Mr. Kerry's medals.
Tuesday, April 27, 2004
Weekly Dose of Relaxation
I haven't been able to keep up regularly with the Friday Dog Blogging, so there's no telling how long I'll keep this up... But for your relaxation pleasure comes this week's peaceful and (I think) beautiful photo to remind us all that there is always a little bit of beauty to be found if you just look hard enough.
These hyacinths are growing beside the road just down from my house, they are taking over from an old tree that somebody cut down and dumped in the field.
These hyacinths are growing beside the road just down from my house, they are taking over from an old tree that somebody cut down and dumped in the field.
Spooks to Spy on Blogs
Say hello to the men in trenchcoats!
Via Hesiod.
Via Hesiod.
The Price of Arrogance
From MSNBC, via Hesiod:
You really need to read the entire article, but I warn you; unless you are dead, it will make you cry.
You really need to read the entire article, but I warn you; unless you are dead, it will make you cry.
The neurosurgeons at the 31st Combat Support Hospital measure the damage in the number of skulls they remove to get to the injured brain inside, a procedure known as a craniotomy. "We've done more in eight weeks than the previous neurosurgery team did in eight months," Poffenbarger said. "So there's been a change in the intensity level of the war."
Numbers tell part of the story. So far in April, more than 900 soldiers and Marines have been wounded in Iraq, more than twice the number wounded in October, the previous high. With the tally still climbing, this month's injuries account for about a quarter of the 3,864 U.S. servicemen and women listed as wounded in action since the March 2003 invasion.
Political Cartoon or WMD?
Perspective seems to be missing in a lot of things these days.
Take, for example, this story:
Take, for example, this story:
Secret Service agents questioned a high school student about anti-war drawings he did for an art class, one of which depicted President Bush's head on a stick.There are just so many things I could say about this: the First Amendment issues, the lack of perspective, the lack of a sense of humor, the lack of better things for the Secret Service to be doing... But I think I'll let a friend of the unidentified boy put it into perspective:
Another pencil-and-ink drawing portrayed Bush as a devil launching a missile, with a caption reading "End the war -- on terrorism."
The 15-year-old boy's art teacher at Prosser High School turned the drawings over to school administrators, who notified police, who called the Secret Service.
"If this 15-year-old kid in Prosser is perceived as a threat to the president, then we are living in '1984'."
Semantics and the Medals - Redux
The Freepers and GOPers can lie and spin the story all they want, Thomas Oliphant was there.
In a voice I doubt I would have heard had I not been so close to him, Kerry said, as I recall vividly, "There is no violent reason for this; I'm doing this for peace and justice and to try to help this country wake up once and for all."
With that, he didn't really throw his handful toward the statue of John Marshall, America's first chief justice. Nor did he drop the decorations. He sort of lobbed them, and then walked off the stage.
[snip]
...I saw what happened and heard what Kerry said and know what he meant. The truth happens to be with him.
Private Matt Maupin
Anyone remember that name?Private Maupin was kidnapped during an attack on his convoy in the first week of April, and a tape of him was shown on al Jazeera TV. Our government made the usual noises about not negotiating with terrorists and kidnappers and then PVT Maupin disappeared. He disappeared in the worst way - he was, apparently - forgotten.
I haven't seen any stories with updated information on him. There have been stories that mention his name, but that's it. No official word that the government is doing anything at all to secure his release or to find him. No word on who may have him or what they want.
Does anyone remember Private Maupin?
Monday, April 26, 2004
All Things, Great [or] Small
These are the things that BushCo. will lie about or spin.
Not content to lie about, then spin the aftermath of "the great," that being the Iraq War and all the reasons leading up to it, this misadministration is even trying to dissemble and spin "the small," a movie, by telling NASA not to talk about it - at least initially.
From the New York Times:
Says one anonymous scientist: "It's just another attempt to play down anything that might lead to the conclusion that something must be done" about global warming, one federal climate scientist said. He, like half a dozen government employees interviewed on this subject, said he could speak only on condition of anonymity because of standing orders not to talk to the news media.
Why confront those annoying, disturbing questions when "we" won't be around anymore anyway?
Not content to lie about, then spin the aftermath of "the great," that being the Iraq War and all the reasons leading up to it, this misadministration is even trying to dissemble and spin "the small," a movie, by telling NASA not to talk about it - at least initially.
From the New York Times:
"Urgent: HQ Direction," began a message e-mailed on April 1 to dozens of scientists and officials at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.NASA - and the administration - have backed off their strict embargo on information about the movie and the issues it will surely raise, but the official list of questions and answers that agency members will likely have to stick to has not been approved or released yet.
It was not an alert about an incoming asteroid, a problem with the space station or a solar storm. It was a warning about a movie.
In "The Day After Tomorrow," a $125 million disaster film set to open on May 28, global warming from accumulating smokestack and tailpipe gases disrupts warm ocean currents and sets off an instant ice age.
Few climate experts think such a prospect is likely, especially in the near future. But the prospect that moviegoers will be alarmed enough to blame the Bush administration for inattention to climate change has stirred alarm at the space agency, scientists there say.
"No one from NASA is to do interviews or otherwise comment on anything having to do with" the film, said the April 1 message, which was sent by Goddard's top press officer. "Any news media wanting to discuss science fiction vs. science fact about climate change will need to seek comment from individuals or organizations not associated with NASA."
Says one anonymous scientist: "It's just another attempt to play down anything that might lead to the conclusion that something must be done" about global warming, one federal climate scientist said. He, like half a dozen government employees interviewed on this subject, said he could speak only on condition of anonymity because of standing orders not to talk to the news media.
Why confront those annoying, disturbing questions when "we" won't be around anymore anyway?
Semantics and the Medals
"It depends on what the meaning of 'is' is."
Arguments over the finer points of semantics often leave people in confusion. I don't believe the current, manufactured, flap over John Kerry's "medals" should fall into this category of semantic hair splitting. But it does require a little bit of knowledge of "military-speak." Every profession has a jargon; the military's just happens to be one of the better developed and more arcane. In the official jargon, there is a big difference between a medal and a ribbon.
A medal is just that, a die cast bit of metal hanging from a short piece of ribbon that is uniquely colored and striped. Medals are worn on the most formal uniforms in the military - and sometimes on civilian clothing as well. A ribbon on the other hand is a small bar of that colored and striped ribbon with no medal hanging from it that is worn on less formal uniforms. (See the photo at left.)
I never had to buy that most formal of dress uniforms when I was in the military, so I never bought dress medals; although I did have the larger presentation medals that came with some of the medals, I never wore them. To me - and to most soldiers - in the more relaxed, unofficial jargon of soldiers, these were "medals." Or, if you had enough of them, "fruit salad," because of the mix of colors and stripes.
It would not have been unusual for Kerry to have spoken of medals and been specifically talking about ribbons. And it would be why, having to speak more specifically about the event years later that he could say that he threw out his ribbons, but retained the medals and not contradict his earlier statements.
But don't look for that kind of knowledgeable detail from the Rethugs, as they haven't ever had a medal pinned to their chests. Nor from the press, apparently, who no longer look beyond the talking points handed them every morning.
Arguments over the finer points of semantics often leave people in confusion. I don't believe the current, manufactured, flap over John Kerry's "medals" should fall into this category of semantic hair splitting. But it does require a little bit of knowledge of "military-speak." Every profession has a jargon; the military's just happens to be one of the better developed and more arcane. In the official jargon, there is a big difference between a medal and a ribbon. A medal is just that, a die cast bit of metal hanging from a short piece of ribbon that is uniquely colored and striped. Medals are worn on the most formal uniforms in the military - and sometimes on civilian clothing as well. A ribbon on the other hand is a small bar of that colored and striped ribbon with no medal hanging from it that is worn on less formal uniforms. (See the photo at left.)
I never had to buy that most formal of dress uniforms when I was in the military, so I never bought dress medals; although I did have the larger presentation medals that came with some of the medals, I never wore them. To me - and to most soldiers - in the more relaxed, unofficial jargon of soldiers, these were "medals." Or, if you had enough of them, "fruit salad," because of the mix of colors and stripes.
It would not have been unusual for Kerry to have spoken of medals and been specifically talking about ribbons. And it would be why, having to speak more specifically about the event years later that he could say that he threw out his ribbons, but retained the medals and not contradict his earlier statements.
But don't look for that kind of knowledgeable detail from the Rethugs, as they haven't ever had a medal pinned to their chests. Nor from the press, apparently, who no longer look beyond the talking points handed them every morning.
Bush Disrespects Living Soldiers, Too
How badly did the Bush Pentagon bungle the planning for post-war Iraq? The gyrations they are putting the military through right now to begin addressing the problems in Iraq give some clues.
From this morning's Wall Street Journal:
Retraining troops into new specialties (MOS - Military Operational Specialties) is no mean feat. Each MOS has its own training structure and schools; each has its own personnel management system. And all of that is basically doubled because there is one system for enlisted and non-commissioned officers and one for commissioned officers. So while "retraining [tank brigade]...soldiers as infantry troops" sounds easy, while "establishing provisional active-duty units" sounds like a mere paperwork exercise, they are unbelievably complex and disruptive.
The pressure to do these things quickly and - like every thing BushCo. has done in Iraq - cheaply, will mean that they will be more dangerous than necessary and will likely not work as planned. These "provisional units" will more than likely be made up of a mix of experienced and retrained soldiers, but with experienced units and soldiers needed for actual operations, we can expect that these units will wind up with a deficit of experience and - until they are better established - to have higher accident and fatality rates in battle.
This is a bad idea all around.
From this morning's Wall Street Journal:
With security in Iraq deteriorating, the U.S. military is laying plans to increase by about 10% the number of National Guard forces moving into Iraq this fall as part of the next rotation of troops at the same time it retrains more than 100,000 soldiers so it doesn't run out of troops in more than a half-dozen critical specialties.Some of these ideas may sound relatively benign to non-military people; but believe me they are an incredible departure from "normal."
[snip]
If soldiers volunteer to stay on active duty longer, they can. To cover the gaps in key specialties, the Army Reserve will begin this week asking for volunteers to begin active-duty tours for two years. "We're going to be establishing provisional active-duty units with the volunteers," said Lt. Gen. James R. Helmly, chief of the Army Reserve. Gen. Helmly said it is unclear how many volunteers among the Reserve's 211,000 soldiers will step forward.
[snip]
Most of the looming shortages will be covered by retraining soldiers. To address the shortage of infantry soldiers, for example, the army is reducing the number of heavy-armored-tank brigades and retraining many of those soldiers as infantry troops, which are more effective in peacekeeping operations.
Retraining troops into new specialties (MOS - Military Operational Specialties) is no mean feat. Each MOS has its own training structure and schools; each has its own personnel management system. And all of that is basically doubled because there is one system for enlisted and non-commissioned officers and one for commissioned officers. So while "retraining [tank brigade]...soldiers as infantry troops" sounds easy, while "establishing provisional active-duty units" sounds like a mere paperwork exercise, they are unbelievably complex and disruptive.
The pressure to do these things quickly and - like every thing BushCo. has done in Iraq - cheaply, will mean that they will be more dangerous than necessary and will likely not work as planned. These "provisional units" will more than likely be made up of a mix of experienced and retrained soldiers, but with experienced units and soldiers needed for actual operations, we can expect that these units will wind up with a deficit of experience and - until they are better established - to have higher accident and fatality rates in battle.
This is a bad idea all around.
