A tribute to Al Gore, our rightful President; a man for our times:

Why I don't trust SWAT teams:

Alcohol - Not just for breakfast anymore

Rum, vodka, and whisky. Besides being great drinks... they are also the cure for severe poising.

Dr Fraser said: “He managed to go through three bottles of my finest before we ran out of that, but that got us through until the bottle shop opened.

Full story here.

Birthday

Happy Birthday to Me:

My birthday starts in about three hours here, or seven hours there. I'll be spending part of it working, of course, but for part of it I'm going to meet up with Greyhawk of the Mudville Gazette. As you know, Hawk and I served together in Easy Company, Milbloggers. He says we'll celebrate by harmonizing "Dog Face Soldier" over some non-alcoholic beer (thanks to General Order #1, still in force after all these years).

That sounds like it could be OK, actually.

Burying the Lede on Army Recruiting

Why, oh why am I not surprised it took until halfway through the WaPo's article on Army recruiting to mention the real cause of the impending officer shortage? And no, it's *not* the war:

According to Army data, the overall attrition rate for captains averaged 12.2 percent from 1999 to 2007. But the estimated captain deficits for the past year were pronounced in some fields that require heavy deployments, such as military intelligence, where the Army is short 10
percent; transportation, where the gap reaches 21 percent; and aviation, where the shortfall is 11 percent.

Army officials said the projected officer shortage is mainly the result of the Army's plan to add 65,000 active-duty soldiers to its ranks -- including more than 6,000 captains and majors -- by 2010.

...Army surveys show that the bonuses would persuade 40 to 55 percent of captains who intended to leave to sign new contracts. The Army's goal is for 85 percent of those eligible to stay on, either taking the bonus or another incentive such as attending graduate school or selecting their next post. About 600 of the 900 captains who chose incentives other than bonuses picked graduate school.

...Army officials acknowledge that many eligible captains -- those promoted to that rank on or after April 1, 2002 -- would have stayed regardless. They say that they will not know whether the incentives are attracting officers who would have left until at least 70 percent sign up.

The officials said that while $35,000 might tilt wavering captains toward staying, it is unlikely to change the minds of those fundamentally opposed to three more years with likely war-zone duty.

Incroyable! You mean the "shortage" is *not* about a broken Army unable to recruit due to the horrible strain of Iraq and Afghanistan?

If the Army was fundamentally too short of personnel to fight a protracted war now, they were going to be fundamentally too short to fight any significant conflict. In other words, the force was either too small or the composition of forces wasn't well suited to the tasks the Army was called upon to perform. And we can't "grow" mid-level officers overnight.

This is a problem bringing back the draft won't solve.

Bottom line: this shortage predated the war, but Congress didn't have to deal with it until the Army and Marine Corps were called upon to perform the services for which we pay them. Labelling it a result of the GWOT is misleading and inaccurate. We keep hearing that Iraq and Afghanistan are keeping up from dealing with "greater threats". But how can the Army and Marines be expected to deal with Iran, if it comes to that, if we were too shorthanded to deal with Iraq?

That's a question you won't see addressed too often in the media.

Jackbooted Oppression Alert!!!

Jackbooted Oppression Alert!!!

Now the BushReich is forcing their antediluvian, Red State values on SouthWest Airlines:

A video on Breitbart.TV is headlined, "Southwest Airlines Sorry for Making Man Remove Vulgar T-Shirt". I don't know why, when the man in question wore a T-shirt with the words "MASTER BAITER" printed in large type on the back and front of the shirt. With a huge "Ain't I a stinker?" grin on his face, he told a television reporter, "To undress in front of 132 people, to put a new shirt on, I was unbelievably embarrassed."

Not content with destroying our freedoms, now they want the clothes off of our backs. Olbermann was reich right.

This is how freedom dies.

Update: more violations of our Constitution rights!!!! No man should be forced to suffer for the sake of his Art:

"This lawsuit is about a corrupt little county in Virginia and making sure they can't do this to anyone else ever again," he said.

At times like these, I fear for my country.

Bonus update: Now Greyhawk is trying to SwiftBoat a true American hero, just for speaking truth to power!

The big phony. Who does he think he is???

Greetings from Camp Victory

Greetings from Camp Victory:

I'm here now. I don't have a lot of time to blog, because (a) I can't do it on official computers anyway, and (b) I'm very busy. But I wanted you to know I got here, and everything is fine. It looks like you folks have had a good week or so here, which I'm glad to see. I'll keep you advised as I can.

SERINITY THE SEQUAL

SERINITY THE SEQUAL

According to this story there is talk about making a sequel to Serenity. As a dyed in the wool Firefly fan I find this very exciting.

Help with the decision by buying the new release of Serenity.

I want to know what they will do about Wash!

Big Yellow Clue Bus Finally Stops At Yale....

Big Yellow Clue Bus Finally Stops At Yale....

...thus proving a fancy Ivy League education does produce *some* critical thinking skills:

Yale will be one of nearly 200 law schools that the Air Force’s judge advocate corps will visit this year, said Capt. Eric Merriam, the chief of recruiting for the corps.

“We appreciate the opportunity to explain the opportunities for qualified attorneys to serve the United States as members of the Air Force JAG Corps,” he said.

Still, the court decision does not appear to have stifled any bitterness over the recruiters’ visit. A coalition of law school faculty, students and staff members were to release a letter on Monday strongly disagreeing with the don’t ask, don’t tell policy, and gay rights activists at the law school planned a silent protest for the afternoon.

And not everyone here thinks that the fight was worth it. Stephen Vaden, a third-year law student and an opponent of don’t ask, don’t tell, said the school would be better able to effect change in the military’s policies if more students were exposed to career opportunities within the armed forces.

“I think that those individuals who want to change the don’t ask, don’t tell policy are going about it in completely the wrong way,” said Mr. Vaden, president of the Yale Law Republicans. “Standing in the courtroom, screaming ‘Discrimination!’ and trying to ban them from the law school,” he added, “they’re doing themselves more harm than good.”

Ms. Jeruss and other students said that their protest was not aimed at the recruiters personally, and Captain Merriam said that the JAG Corps’ recruitment efforts would not be affected by any dissent at Yale. But students promised that as long as the don’t ask, don’t tell policy was in effect, they would demonstrate whenever military recruiters travel here.

“We may not be able to stop the recruiters from coming, but we certainly still have the ability — and I think, the responsibility — to speak out,” said Addisu Demissie, a third-year law student. “That’s what we have left.”

Yep. Full and unfettered freedom of speech and the benefit of a first class legal education. Oh... and $350 million in federal grants. And in return, all you need do is allow the other guy an equal chance to present his position. If you can't make these things work in your favor, there is something seriously wrong with your position, wouldn't you say?

America. What a country.

THE PHONEY CONTROVERSEY OVER RUSH LIMBAUGH’S COMMENTS

THE PHONEY CONTROVERSEY OVER RUSH LIMBAUGH’S COMMENTS

The non-story about Media Matters misrepresentation about Rush Limbaugh’s comment about phony soldiers is the subject of this excellent article by Andrew C. McCarthy. Read it here.

What gets lost in the carping by the left about Rush’s comment is that Rush was talking about an earlier ABC News story by Charles Gibson entitled STOLEN VALOR that focused on scam artists posing as War heroes. Some of these poseurs have been very active in the anti-war movement.

It bears noting that few civilians have donated as much money to military charities as Rush Limbaugh. Whether you agree with him or not, his actions have demonstrated that servicemen and women have few supporters as generous as Rush Limbaugh.

"David Hume was talking bullshit"

-One of the commentors, over at Samizdata. At least it's not mincing words. Heh.

The post itself and the discussion in the comments are quite interesting, and is sort of a companion piece to my previous post on the violence in Burma, and failure of a lot of people to recognize it for what it is--the repression of an unarmed popluace by an armed government.

As author of the post says:

"In Burma, as in so many other places, many people seem to have thought
that opinion, namely the good intentions of the majority, were more important
than firepower - they appear to be mistaken."

I like that. I 'm going to steal that.

Presidential politics, made easy.

Take this quiz, and see who your candidate is.

Be honest, now.

(No, I don't know how its weighted.)

The picture made me laugh.

I think this is the first time I've seen this anywhrere else: Roger Simon over at Pajamas Media makes the case that had Al Gore won the 2000 election, the USA would be in largley the same place today.

Oh, and check out the comments. Michael Totten thinks so too!

Fantasies of the Left and Right.

So, Michael Scherer writes this piece for Salon, fantasizing about "religious conservatives" who are basically fantasizing about "blackmailing" Rudy Guilani (or any 'pro-choice' Republican candidate) over their views on abortion by backing a 'third party' anti-abortion candidate.

This is fantasizing on a lot of levels. First, there's the fantasy of clowns like James Dobson thinking that they really have some power to wield. Second, there's the fantasy of left wing writeres like Scherer, creating a boogey man of 'religious conservatives' that can be used to 'build up the hate' as I like to say. And it basically serves both sides. Dobson gets presented as being relevant, and Scherer gets to frighten his readers about this supposed threat from religious conservatives.

I find it ironic how they actually feed on each other.

Update: One of the guys over at Powerline thinks pretty much the same thing.

"...Burmese wanted to know why George Bush hasn’t invaded their country yet.”

Yeah, well that isn't going to happen any time soon. And again we see a demonstration of what happens to an unarmed populace with a government not afraid to use deadly force.

Catching this item over a memeorandum, I clicked through the various blogs commenting on this, and none of them really seem to get it. There is cursing at an impotent UN, there are snide remarks about big oil companies, a few comments about China, a remark about Condolezza Rice "doing something", as if words are going to fix this. They just don't get it.

Ace is angry.

From his post:

As far as I'm concerned, the left owns this guy lock stock and barrel. They programmed him with their bullshit and wound him up like some killbot and set him loose on the world. Words matter. When you use hyperbolic bullshit as a political tool and insist its not hyperbole, there are going to be some percentage of weak minded idiots like this who really take that bullshit seriously and act on it. Its very Newtonian and predictable. Action, reaction. Its the exact same thing as the abortion clinic bombers which the left always loves to point out.

And, Ace has a point. The upcoming election here in the US is going to be fascinating to watch, if you can detach yourself some, just to see how it plays out.

Heh. Looks like they just figured it out, after all.

HANOVER, N.H. - The leading Democratic White House hopefuls conceded Wednesday night they cannot guarantee to pull all U.S. combat troops from Iraq by the end of the next presidential term in 2013.

This makes me giggle, for some reason.

Again, it's about conservatives

Once Again, it's all About the Conservatives:

You'd not have thought so, given that the story is really about Columbia; I thought we were more or less agreed that the Ivy Leagues were the last bastion of liberals. But no, those blasted conservatives are screwing up the world again.

UPDATE: Of course, as Dr. Helen reminds us, psychologists agree that conservatism is a kind of disease. That would be more convincing if psychology was an actual science, rather than a form of sympathetic magic with seminars and papers; but for what it's worth, there it is.

What's with this?

It's like that old Steve Martin routine about Las Vegas. "Wow, Look at the tits!"

That said, it looks like Andrew Sullivan is irritated that some people are assuming that Hillary Clinton will be the next President, and that she might, just might, not pull out of Iraq after all.

I'm afraid I'm going to remember that picture though, long after I forget about the article.

I have to go find some eye-bleach now.

Snipers

Against Snipers:

Doubtless you saw the most recent attack on American tactics by the US press.

The Army on Monday declined to confirm such a program exists.

"To prevent the enemy from learning about our tactics, techniques and training procedures, we don't discuss specific methods targeting enemy combatants," said Paul Boyce, an Army spokesman.

Boyce also said there are no classified programs that authorize the murder of Iraqi civilians or the use of "drop weapons" to make killings appeared to be legally justified, which is what Vela and the two other snipers are accused of doing.

The transcript of a court hearing for two of the three accused snipers makes several references to the existence of a classified "baiting" program but provides few details of how it works.... The Post said that although it doesn't appear that the three alleged shootings were specifically part of the classified program, defense attorneys argue that the program may have encouraged them by blurring the legal lines in a complex war zone.

So, to recap: the Army "declined to confirm" the existence of a program that doesn't appear to be connected to the matter at hand, but since the unconnected program that might exist is classified, we thought it was news. (Our editor notices that the Army actually denied that it had a program anything like the one we're reporting exists -- "there are no classified programs that authorize the murder of Iraqi civilians or the use of "drop weapons" to make killings appeared to be legally justified." However, we'll just fold that into "declined to confirm," rather than lead with the denial. That way, we're being objective!)

Meanwhile, Marine father Herschel Smith argues that we should just close sniper schools. "The rules of engagement prevent targeting the enemy in Iraq or Afghanistan if they do not fall within the precise stipulations (e.g., self defense, engaged in hostile acts, etc.). Within the current framework, we may as well end the sniper schools and rely on standard service rifle training of infantry. The number of sniping kills due to defensive operations doesn’t justify the expense of the schools."