5/5/2004
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508 off topic or abusive comments have been dumped since 3/26/2004. Todayâs count is 41.
Because Iâve been sucked into the sink trap before, and been sternly admonished by Fred to stop playing in the thing (âI thouâ I saw a wabbit, welly I did . . . I did . . .â), I thought Iâd point out that some poor RB souls got zapped into the thing along with Man Bites Dog TROLL (BTW, MBD really belongs in there, and worse). Take a peek, if you are wondering about what happened to SH, AF . . .
#1
Geeze Mike S. and SH, what did you do to get on Fred's bad side ? :)
Posted by: Carl in N.H ||
05/05/2004 20:14 Comments ||
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#2
I'm confused. What happened?
Posted by: Rafael ||
05/05/2004 20:26 Comments ||
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#3
I fixed it. Thanks for pointing it out.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/05/2004 20:27 Comments ||
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#4
I thought it was an interesting thread.
Posted by: Phil B ||
05/05/2004 20:32 Comments ||
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#5
Sometimes we get hot under the collar, but try not to go overboard on the ad hominem comments.
Posted by: Fred ||
05/05/2004 20:45 Comments ||
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#6
LOL at Phil B
Posted by: Carl in N.H ||
05/05/2004 20:51 Comments ||
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#7
I'm already too addicted to reading Rantburg. Now I don't know if I can fight the temptation to read the Sinktrap every day too. Maybe I have to just stop cold-turkey!
Posted by: Mike Sylwester ||
05/05/2004 20:52 Comments ||
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#8
Fred, can you put up a link to the sinktrap. I'd probably read it.
Posted by: Phil B ||
05/05/2004 21:26 Comments ||
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#9
on the right....
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/05/2004 21:28 Comments ||
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#10
Did I get chumed in the disposal and not even know it. How embarrassing.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
05/05/2004 21:58 Comments ||
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#11
Sorry, but I can't see it and I have searched twice. Is it a browser issue? I'm using IE6.0
Posted by: Phil B ||
05/05/2004 22:01 Comments ||
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#12
Phil B, I don't think it's your browser because I use IE 6.0.2800 and it works just fine. Go to the Rantburg home page and scroll down until you see a table of links with a yellow background. It's the last link in the list. Did you locate the link "Sink Trap" but nothing happened when you clicked? If that's the case I can't help.
#13
Once you click on a headline on the main page, the Sink Trap link disappears. It only shows up on the main page (all articles), and not page 1 or 2.
Posted by: Rafael ||
05/05/2004 22:59 Comments ||
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#14
Thx Rafael! I was searching through HTML trying to find out what was going on.
Posted by: Phil B ||
05/05/2004 23:07 Comments ||
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Hat tip Amish Tech Support
NEW YORK (Reuters) - A 44-year-old woman who told police she robbed a string of banks to raise money to pay for surgery for her cat pleaded not guilty to larceny in Brooklyn Criminal Court on Monday. "Iâm sticking up for my cat!"
Catherine Kaczanowski, who was arrested last month, said she set off on her crime spree after learning her stray cat Smoochie had a cancerous tumor and needed surgery, police said. She is accused of hitting five banks near her Brooklyn home and making off with a total of $7,500. All to go into a kitty.
Kaczanowski pleaded not guilty to grand larceny, criminal possession of stolen property, petit larceny and robbery. Petâs larceny
Police say she slipped notes to bank tellers demanding money and saying, "I donât want to hurt anybody." "Fork it over and my cat lives another eight times."
When arrested, the frail 5-foot-3 (1.6 meter), 100-pound (45 kg) recluse told police she was desperate to save Smoochie, a stray she adopted as a kitten nearly three years ago. "Oh poor lost kitty. Want to watch MeowTV?"
Smoochie had the surgery, which was successful, the New York Post reported quoting a law enforcement source. Kaczanowski told police she got the idea of robbing banks after reading about other successful bank heists. Police said Tuesday they had been unable to verify her story. The cat declined to comment.
Posted by: Steve from Relto ||
05/05/2004 11:53:50 AM ||
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#1
I'll bet the cat put her up to it. Evil, sneaky critters, I know, we've got two of them.
Posted by: Steve ||
05/05/2004 12:57 Comments ||
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#2
It's a well known fact that cats are telepathic with humans, Steve. It's their eyes and their purring.
Makes you do all sorts of things you wouldn't do for a dog.
Dang it! Time to feed the cat and let it out!
Posted by: Jack Deth ||
05/05/2004 14:08 Comments ||
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#3
Steve - My elsewhere today mentioned German Shepherd foster mothered a stray grey kitten.
That cat, now an adult, is the only think on earth able to whack "Iron Maiden" on the muzzle and survive.
When we are talking about Ahl Al Sunnah Wal Jamaâah, we are not speaking about Abu Hanifah, nor Imam Maalik, nor Imam Shafiâi, nor Imam Ahmed, we are speaking about the salaf, though, all four imams are from Ahl Al Sunnah Wal Jamaâah.
A Deen is always attributed to Allah (swt)
A Millah is always attributed to a nabi
e.g. Millat Ibrahim (as), Millat Muhammad (saw)
A Firqah (sect) is always attributed to belief matter - Aqeedah
e.g. Ahl ul Sunnah Wal Jamaâah, Muâtazilah (rationalists), Ashâaris, Maturidis, etc.
A Madhab is always attributed to a Juristic scholar
e.g. Hanafi madhab = Abu Hanifah (ra),
Maliki Madhab = Imam Malik (ra),
Shafiâi Madhab = Imam Shafiâi (ra),
Hanbali Madhab = Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal (ra).
Al Uâzaaâie = Imam Al Uâzaaâie,
Al Thawrie - Imam Al Thawrie,
Al Salaamie = Imam Al âIzz ibn Abdul Salaam etc.
A Jamaâah is always attributed to a particular duty or obligation
This makes my brain hurt.
Posted by: Mike Sylvester ||
05/05/2004 12:35:42 AM ||
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#1
A Deen is always attributed to Allah (swt)
What about a Kerry?
Al Salaamie = Imam Al âIzz ibn Abdul Salaam etc.
Damn. Now I want salami for lunch.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
05/05/2004 7:20 Comments ||
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#2
What is this gibberish in regards to? There's not enough context to demonstrate what the hell they're on about. Are these theological definitions? Salafism?
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
05/05/2004 9:01 Comments ||
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#3
This is news to me. I thought that :
A Jamaâah is what one wears to bed on a cold night.
Posted by: Howard UK ||
05/05/2004 04:35 ||
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#1
Another Zionist mole at BBC? Good thing there are public spirited Islamic citizens in the UK willing to expose this failure to endorse suicide bombing adhere to approved doctrine.
Imagine the nerve of these Beebers rejecting Palestinian characterizations of the conflict as though these were not objective facts endorsed by the UN bureacracy.
How long before the Beeb takes corrective action?
5---4----3----2----1
#2
I find this article risible, however I was startled by the link to the Islamic Fun CD-ROM, presumably full of fun-packed things for kids to do. However, the CD includes a game whereby South Lebanese farmers can shoot at Israeli tanks:
Your child will learn about Islam by playing lots of exciting
games, full of colourful animations and cute sounds effects....
THE RESISTANCE (*)
You are a farmer in South Lebanon who has joined the Islamic Resistance to defend your land and family from the invading zionists.
(*) Some in the media have kicked up a fuss over this game. It seems that the media is silent when they, the zionists, use their tanks to slaughter our children but when our children play a shoot-em up game where they shoot zionist tanks in return for correct answers we are accused of training terrorists and instilling hatred towards Jews! On the contrary the questions in the game educate children not to fall for the zionist lie that zionism, jewishness and Judaism are synonymous but to understand that zionism, a racist ideology, has nothing to do with Judaism - one of the questions in the history/politics section asks "What is the difference between a Jew and a zionist?".
Clearly no bias there then... It's a fuggin Death Cult⢠- I tell you...
Posted by: Howard UK ||
05/05/2004 9:47 Comments ||
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#3
Apologies if this has appeared many times before!
Posted by: Howard UK ||
05/05/2004 9:48 Comments ||
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#4
Games?
I am surprised that TSR games doesn't have a Mosque AD&D scenario with a labyrinthe of tunnels, and chambers with WMDs, protected by suicide bombers ready to meet virgins to stop the adventurers.
(Forgive me - it has been 20 years - I don't remember all the rules or terms)
#1
Quesedillas and fajitas tonight, with salsa and a good cold Tecate!
Posted by: Mike ||
05/05/2004 14:25 Comments ||
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#2
Fajitas and margaritas - in mass quantities. A great way to commemorate yet another French defeat. There are so many, it's hard to squeeze em all in just one calendar year. . But as this one took place in our backyard, I'll celebrate with particular gusto.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
05/05/2004 14:40 Comments ||
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#5
Cinco de Mayo is a source of great pride for all Mexicans. But in truth, the French were easy back then too, and that is when they really were a world power. Verdad?
Posted by: Carlos ||
05/05/2004 15:10 Comments ||
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#6
Claro que si, Carlos. On both meanings of the word "easy".
Sorry, couldn't resist......
#8
Carlos, if the French were so easy, then why does Mexico take such pride in this victory?
Hey, when you've only got one...
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
05/05/2004 15:22 Comments ||
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#9
The French haven't been a world power since Napoleon lost at Waterloo after wasting his army on a Russian winter.
That's why, in 1918, we and the Brits pulled their asses out of the fire, and again in 1945.
They are so self-conscious about this and deny the truth.
The Mexicans knew that Frenchman Maxmillian, in the end, was a carpetbagging paper tiger, and finally got enough of him, and sent him to that great cheese & wine party in the sky.
Hence we have today - Celebrating a French Defeat.
#13
"Carlos, if the French were so easy, then why does Mexico take such pride in this victory?"
-because when your outnumbdered about 5 to 1 (and your Mexican) & still whoop the dog sh*t out of your enemy (even the French Army) there's reason to celebrate.
In 1918 German's revolution in infantry tactics allowed them to smash the British front and put the
British Expeditionary Force on the verge of anihilation. They were saved by massive French reinforcements, not the opposite. :-)
#15
Y'all leave the French alone. Theys lovers, not fighters - but that don't mean theys sissies. The French is important in the international community, and you caint say theys dumb - why theys a permanent member of the Security Counsel of the United Nations. Folks look up to them for help with what they call the "nuances of diplomacy." That's where theys at their best.
#19
Most people don't know that back in 1912, Hellmann's mayonnaise was manufactured in England. In fact, the Titanic was carrying 12,000 jars of the condiment scheduled for delivery to Vera Cruz, Mexico, which was to be the next port of call for the great ship after its stop in New York.
This would have been the largest single shipment of mayonnaise ever delivered to Mexico.
But, as we know, the great ship did not make it to New York; the ship hit an iceberg, sank, and the cargo was forever lost. The people of Mexico, who were crazy about mayonnaise, and were eagerly awaiting its delivery, were disconsolate at the loss.
Their anguish was so great, that they declared a National Day of Mourning, which they still observe to this day. This National Day of Mourning occurs each year on May 5th... and is known....of course....as....... Sinko de Mayo
#20
Yeah, CF - Didn't I hear about a shark, caught with a whole jar of mayo in his stomach, along a loaf of bread, and a kilo of salami somewhere off Iceland in 1917?
ONG KONG, May 5 â A flotilla of Chinese warships sailed slowly down the length of Victoria Harbor today in a rare show of force that comes as democracy advocates here say they face growing intimidation by Beijing.
Two guided-missile destroyers, four guided-missile frigates and two submarines displayed Chinaâs military strength for the first time since the territory was handed over by Britain in 1997. It marked a distinct change of tactics by Beijing.
The Chinese military has been a nearly invisible presence here for the last seven years. Soldiers are required to wear civilian clothing when they leave their bases, and the main base is tucked away on an island at the harborâs western end..
But today , residents here watched as a submarine sailed past the downtown Bank of China tower, designed by I.M. Pei. Sailors in dress whites lined the sides of the destroyers and frigates, and some gave friendly waves to workers on a passing tugboat.
The Peopleâs Liberation Army described the visit as an occasion to honor the navyâs 55th anniversary. But there was no such visit on the 50th anniversary in 1999. Todayâs display, too, came as people favoring popular elections here find themselves under growing pressure.
Posted by: Yosemite Sam ||
05/05/2004 3:41:45 PM ||
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#1
But did they dance?
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
05/05/2004 15:56 Comments ||
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A flotilla of Chinese warships sailed slowly down the length of Victoria Harbor today in a rare show of force that comes as democracy advocates here say they face growing intimidation by Beijing.
Well, folks, Bejing promised Hong Kong some automomy, having a great existing economic engine and all. Now they feel that the mainland is catching up and, being the control freaks they are, the Chicoms are now tightening the screws. Anybody watching this from the beginning and believing ChiCom promises is delusional.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
05/05/2004 16:32 Comments ||
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#3
There's nothin scarier than a surfaced submarine.
#5
never believe the chicoms would allow 50 years of two systems..but i thought they at least wait a decade....
not good for the region if china feels this confident..
Posted by: Dan ||
05/05/2004 19:42 Comments ||
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#6
Wait for the Gulf to blow up and China's oil gets cut off. It will real interesting, real quickly.
Posted by: Phil B ||
05/05/2004 19:50 Comments ||
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#7
they've been manuevering for taking the spartlys for the last decade..these guys may not be to good on hi-tech but they are very dangerous and patient
Posted by: Dan ||
05/05/2004 20:22 Comments ||
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Euro-MPs decided by 515 votes to 88 yesterday to absolve the European Commission over rampant fraud at its Eurostat data office. This establishes the remarkable precedent that the political figures in charge of the European institutions are not responsible for abuses committed on their watch. At least £3 million of taxpayerâs money is known to have disappeared into slush funds described by fraud investigators as "a vast enterprise of looting". Missing records hint at far greater losses and similar patterns of black accounts are suspected across a wide range of EU agencies and departments. "I canât be blamed or asked to take responsibility for something I donât know about," said Pedro Solbes, the Eurostat commissioner. He has returned to Spain to become finance minister in the new socialist government. Jens-Peter Bonde, a Danish Euro-MP, said: "The moral of this story is that every commissioner is untouchable as long as they make sure civil servants keep them in the dark. This is madness." EU: The Home of Corruption and Procedural Madness. Whoda thunk it?
Posted by: Bulldog ||
05/05/2004 8:36:20 AM ||
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"I canât be blamed or asked to take responsibility for something I donât know about," said Pedro Solbes, the Eurostat commissioner. He has returned to Spain to become finance minister in the new socialist government.
Easy to see why he was selected for the new job.
Posted by: Anny Emous ||
05/05/2004 10:27 Comments ||
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By Ted Rall Or, Weâre Looking For a Few Good Homosexual Rapists
Now itâs official: American troops occupying Iraq have become virtually indistinguishable from the SS. Like the Germans during World War II, they cordon off and bomb civilian villages to retaliate for guerilla attacks on their convoys. Like the blackshirts who terrorized Europe, Americaâs victims disappear into hellish prisons ruled by sadists and murderers. The U.S. military is short just one item to achieve moral parity with the Nazis: gas chambers. Congratulations, Ted, you are now indistinguishable from Joseph Goebbels. Please follow his example to its conclusion (but leave your kids, if any, out of it this time, OK?)
"Numerous incidents of sadistic, blatant and wanton criminal abuses were inflicted on several detainees" by soldiers, freelance mercenaries and professional torturers under the command of CIA intelligence officers at Baghdadâs Abu Ghraib prison, according to an internal government report. The detainees, about 60 percent of them assumed to be innocent by the Americans themselves, were routinely beaten, sodomized "with a chemical light or broomstick," urinated upon, tied to electrified wires and threatened with death, stripped and forced to perform homosexual sex acts on each other and U.S. troops. Donât be fooled by military apologists who insist that these American SS are nothing more than a few bad apples. Seymour Hersh, who has read the armyâs internal report, quotes Major General Antonio Taguba as saying that U.S.-committed atrocities are "systemic, endemic throughout the command structure...[The soldier-torturers] were being told what to do and told it was OK." Note that "atrocities" is added in front of the alleged Taguba quote. Tagubaâs report does not refer to anyone as a "soldier-torturer." As of May 3, the Taguba report was still classified and we only have Hershâs word for its contents. Most of Hershâs claims about it are interpretive rather than expository and are therefore subject to the utmost suspicion.
True, most soldiers probably donât condone torture. But all soldiers have been tarnished by it. The free press is tarnished by you, Ted.
George W. Bushâs new gulag archipelago, a string of concentration camps, military and INS prisons that span the globe from North Carolina to Iraq to Afghanistan to Guantánamo Bay to New York City, has been designed to give torturers the veil of secrecy they require to carry out their hideous acts as well as the tacit understanding that they wonât be held accountable. The Red Cross, defense lawyers and relatives of the victims, few of whom are charged with a crime, are denied access to the detainees or even the simple confirmation that theyâre being held by our government. Some soldiers, like Sergeant Ivan Frederick II, "questioned some of the things I saw," such as "leaving inmates in their cell with no clothes or in female underpants, handcuffing them to the door." But when he discussed these abuses with his superiors, he says they brushed him off: "This is how military intelligence wants it done." Ted neglects to mention that Frederick is one of the defendants and is facing a long stay in Leavenworth if he canât convince the court martial that it was someone elseâs fault.
As proven by the classic psychological experiments of the â50s, people put in a position of total power over another human being find it hard to resist abusing their charges. Prison guards mistreat inmates for a simple reason: they can. Wherever one controls another, sadism is inevitable. The ability to strike at others without fear of retaliation is a kind of control. In all seriousness, this passage is very revealing, not just about the monster Rall himself, but the authoritarian left in general. The view of power projected here is perhaps the best explanation for why Ted uses his own power (such as it is) to desecrate the dead, incite murder and mutilation, and verbally assault the families of American soldiers.
However, this tragic truism can be mitigated by creating mechanisms to ensure transparency behind bars. Granting prisoners access to attorneys, journalists and other members of the outside world, unannounced inspections by human rights agencies, recognizing their rights under the Geneva Conventions and rigorous prosecutions of criminal guards can never entirely eliminate abuse, but theyâre essential to prisons run by democratic societies. Under the Geneva Conventions, many of the detainees could have been shot out of hand as partisans, saboteurs, and spies. Further, the use of human shields (which Rall endorses) is a war crime in and of itself.
We know about Abu Ghraib only because the inbred psychos who forced nude Iraqi men to pile up in pyramids were dumb enough to snap photographs as mementos of their time liberating the nation from Saddam. Itâs like the Rodney King video: cops beat up blacks every day, but there usually isnât a camera around. We know about it, Ted, because another of those low-class individuals whom you characterize as "scum" turned them in.
Abu Ghraib, you can bet your bottom dollar, is merely the tip of the iceberg. Where are the facts to support this, Herr Propaganda Minister?
Our military is structurally corrupt. We have Tedâs word word for that, it must be true. What intelligent, nuanced progressive does not know that generalizing the behavior of a dozen thugs to a group of a million or more will invariably yield the truth?
Beginning in Afghanistan during the weeks after 9/11, civilian command yielded to the amoral gangster mentality of the arrogant intelligence officers of Army Special Forces and the CIA, who stand accused of massacring thousands of captured Taliban prisoners yet have never faced a real investigation. Accusations arenât facts, and a lying POS like Ted is not the arbiter of what is or is not a real investigation.
The new tone of lawlessness comes all the way from the White House, directed by a commander-in-chief who starts illegal wars without justification, strips captured prisoners of their rights under the Geneva Convention and whose smirky fingers-crossed response to the prisoner abuse scandal--"I shared a deep disgust that those prisoners were treated the way they were treated...Their treatment does not reflect the nature of the American people"--sends a wink and a nudge to our uniformed torturers. Keep it up, boys. Keep those broomsticks busy. Like any good authoritarian, Rall is able to read Bushâs mind, and to put words in his mouth. This kind of power-projection is a clinical symptom of alcoholism, btw.
Even our coalition partners are getting the message. British soldiers running a coalition gulag in Basra reported smashing the jaw and teeth of an Iraqi accused of stealing, then dumping the broken body of the accused thief off the back of a moving truck. "They did not know whether he survived," writes The New York Times. This is a gross distortion of even the BBCâs credulous version of this hoax.
One more Iraqi, it seems, who wonât be tossing roses at his liberators.
Rall Receives Death Threats over Tillman Cartoon. Imagine that. The abuse of power and status inevitably provoke a response. Cause and effect. 99.9% of death threats in this country are BS, but if I were Ted I would not bet my life on that pattern holding up in this case.
#1
This propogandist lefty idiot was on O'Reilly last night and I wanted to reach in the tv and ring his neck. This anti-American spill makes me want to do more than that!
I get so tired of these pseudo intellectuals thinking they know everything and YET they never bother to do anything to defend this country either in word or deed. If they think the US is so bad why do they remain here?
The worse part is the portrayal of the military as a bunch of sadist. I am proud of my service (and I never even thought of raping anyone!) but sometimes I wonder why I spent 8 years of my life defending the freedom of idiots like Rall. And what makes it worse is they would be the first people to yell for protection from the military if needed. They can put down the military and the US and in the next breath complain when they aren't protected enough. What the hell do they want!!
Posted by: AF Lady ||
05/05/2004 21:14 Comments ||
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#2
AF Lady, agreed. I was in a Dim Blog area spelling out my reasons for the unfitness of Hanoi John to be our next CIC. I used my nick of NAM VET 67-68. I was told I was an idiot, that I must have fought for the North Vietnamese and should get over Vietnam. My question was why wasn't Kerry's 1971 activities an issue with them. There is a vitrole left in this country which is disturbing. It has been incarnated to some degree in the Democratic leadership. The country is completely divided with no middle ground as I see it. People like Rall, Dean, Moore, Franken et al and all their dedicated followers appear to be living and believing in a reality of conspiracies. I truly beleive that our country is being undermined by these people. I think sometime this year, as was posted a couple of days ago by Crawford
I think, that I am in agreemnet that there will be some violnce somewhere before election. Not neccessarily from Alq but from some group. Perhaps at the DNC or RNC conventions. Perhaps at the Sept 12th Vietnam Vets march in DC.
Posted by: Bill Nelson ||
05/05/2004 21:30 Comments ||
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#3
Bill, congrats on the successful infiltration, sorry about the slings and arrows at Dim Blog - as always, you're welcome here :-) - don't you think most Americans will be repulsed by the hate groups converging on the Rep Convention in NY? I say, let em get their publicity. These types do best in darkness, and sunlight is the best cleanser
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/05/2004 21:33 Comments ||
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#4
Update:
MSNBC has the Taguba report, apparently complete except for the annexes.
#7
Rall, seems to be reading from Kerry's old script.
Bill, I have never fully understood the fascination that many VN Vets have with DNC candidates. My service was in the late 80's and early 90's. Most of the military in those days were very attached to Reagan and Bush. When I began to supervise in the civilian world, I began to notice a different attitude among some VN era Vets. On guy in particular tried to convince me that Al Gore's service, as a Journalist was more admirable than Bush's service as a pilot. It seems like the Kerry and Bush choice is thoroughly dividing the ranks of VN Vets. Do you have any insight on why some Vets are still allying with the same people who sided with Ho and cut all funds to the South Vietnam after the Americans were out?
Note - I am mystified by the support that African Americans give to George Wallace's party.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
05/05/2004 21:54 Comments ||
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#8
I think sometime this year, as was posted a couple of days ago by Crawford
I think, that I am in agreemnet that there will be some violnce somewhere before election.
And Bill, I wish to God I saw a reason to change my mind, but events keep reinforcing that prediction. Today's wonderful performance by Congressional Dems is another point on the chart.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
05/05/2004 21:57 Comments ||
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#9
AF Lady: Right on. I think the libs think the military is some kind of automated machine--not regular folks doing their duty. D-U-T-Y is a four-letter word in liberal circles. Bunch of cowardly twerps. Thanks for spending 8 years defending the rest of us.
After skimming the Taguba report (#4), I thinkTed Rall is someone who probably would have no trouble treating people like the MPs did the prisoners at Abu Ghraib. He's so full of himself. And a lot of people in the media are just like that--they misuse their skills as wordsmiths. It just makes me sick. The horrible thing is that people will believe him.
#10
Super Hose...My ex father-in-law was in Nam and various area countries for 11 years (intelligence). He HATES Kerry and is involved with an area Vietnam vet group and I'm sure he is speaking out about all this. I think many vets are disgusted with Kerry. At least many I know. Even my ex ( who is a liberal... took years to get over his liberal bs...anyway nother story) hates Kerry. So at least one lib that won't vote for Kerry.
Posted by: AF Lady ||
05/05/2004 22:39 Comments ||
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#11
F*ck Ted Rall, he's a second rate cartoonist and a first rate douche bag. He doesn't know his ass from a hole in the ground. Prolly the kid that got his lunch money taken away everyday at school and got wedgied on the bus ride home - typcial penis envying bitter little weasel-assed nerd. Has the type of face you couldn't stop kicking. Makes himself feel good by denigrating much better men then himself. He wouldn't last a day in my world. Sad thing is he's getting publicity for this junk, just like michael 'buffet jockey' moore. Cashing in on the shock factor though the substance and facts are not supporting the accusations.
F*ck you Ted Rall, you f*cking piece of steaming monkey sh*t -you couldn't hold Pat Tillman's (may he rest in peace) sweaty boot sucks you ass feltching b*tch.
Posted by: AF Lady ||
05/05/2004 22:44 Comments ||
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#13
On a subject other than Ted Rall -- has anyone been able to locate an early report about the Abu Ghraib investigation? The earliest I have is Feb 24th, but it's pretty clear the investigation was announced sometime in January.
The CJTF site and the CPA site don't have anything that I can find, but the likely date is Jan. 14th.
Anyone?
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
05/05/2004 23:20 Comments ||
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Yes, I know, a real news flash. Hat tip to Drudge: Lies And Moore Lies [Updated]
Is bloviator Michael Moore making up stuff again? Sure looks like it. Weâd expect no less...
Just days from the opening of the Cannes Film Festival heâs basking in a vat of lard wave of publicity that the Walt Disney Company is blocking his arteries subsidiary Miramax from distributing his new angioplasty treatment documentary âFahrenheit 9/11â on political grounds. Publicity-hound Mooreâs allegations about Disney ring false. The very same Disney Company -- through its Hyperion division-- just published Pacifica Radio host Amy Goodmanâs new book âThe Exception to the Rulersâ â a volume brimming with just as much lefty fringe politics and anti-Bush theorizing as contained in Mooreâs films. Indeed, Goodmanâs book is a blunder-buss assualt on corporate media conglomerates-- like Disney! But not Disney itself? Seems like this is selective outrage, typical of Nader types. That, or sheâs smart enough not to bite the hand that feeds her.
The Mouse House seems sophsiticated enough to put up with and even finance the slapshots by Goodman and Moore if a profit is to be made. Duh! Dissecting the current dust-up, it seems clear that Disney never intended to distribute Mooreâs film. Maybe the Mousketeers are cowards, but at least they are consistent. And Moore is whining now only to hype the pre-Cannes buzz. Sources report that Miramax never planned to release the Moore film, that it was always slated to come out through Lions Gate, as did the earlier Dogma. Noted elsewhere is that Clinton supporter / financial contributor Harvey Weinstein runs Miramax, so this doesnât quite jibe with me; youâd figure Miramax would snap it up and release it, oh, say, around October 20th, wouldnât you?
Below find an exclusive full text copy of the article by Andrew Gumbel which will appear in Thursdayâs London-based daily The Independent which quotes inside sources saying there is nothing new in Disneyâs red light, that Moore knew it was a no-go from the outset. After youâve read Andrewâs piece take a look at this L.A. Weekly column I wrote in March describing Moore as the Ann Coulter of the left. (more...) Except that most men wouldnât mind having sex with Ann; I doubt that ladies that have any level of taste / self-respect would say the same about Flintâs answer to the Goodyear Blimp.
#1
The Ann Coulter of the left? Well....they both have breasts, so maybe there' s something to that.
Posted by: Rex Mundi ||
05/05/2004 17:27 Comments ||
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Sources report that Miramax never planned to release the Moore film, that it was always slated to come out through Lions Gate, as did the earlier Dogma.
Oh, God, that's just disgusting. Why anyone would put Kevin Smith's enjoyable films in the same sentence with Moore's unwatchable dreck is a mystery to me.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
05/05/2004 17:32 Comments ||
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#4
Not that I'm an Ann Coulter fan (do like the way she gets under the skin of some lefties though) but at least she takes great pains to footnote the crap out of her books. I could be wrong but I don't think Michael Moore's book had a lot of footnotes to backup his various insinuations.
Much huggermugger in the blogworld over the latest Rall cartoon; lots of speculation about whether heâll be dropped from the syndicate, lose readership, meet up with an angry Tillman relative. But sometimes just being yourself is punishment enough. I have no idea if Mr. Rall is personally happy, although the one time I met him he didnât strike me as a jolly old soul. But it has to be hard to be happy when one carries around so much bile and rage. Itâs tiring. Anger wears you down, especially when your anger doesnât seem to accomplish anything. Ted Rallâs cartoons could have run in every paper every day since 9/11 and there will still be kids who saw Tillmanâs choice as a remarkable act. (Tillmanâs Choice: thereâs a phrase that sums up quite a lot, doesnât it?) People like Rall are sitting on the curb, feet in the gutter, watching the parade go past, smirking at the guy with the baton, sneering at the cheerleaders. Everyone else watching the parade thinks I wonder if there will be elephants! And when they do appear, he rolls his eyes. Elephants. How obvious.
You want to live like that? I donât want to live like that. Because when you see red all the time you miss things. My favorite panel of the cartoon had Tillman signing up and asking âDo I get to go kill Arabs.â Of course Rall knows that itâs not literally true, but itâs true in some metaphysical sense, which makes it truer than reality itself. And itâs a bitter joke, donât you know, because thatâs the unspoken subtext, isnât it?
The notion that there are men literally signing up with the literal desire to literally kill Americans â not even on his radar, apparently. Ah well. Every era has its Bill Mauldin. Every era has its Nast. And every era has its Rall. We just donât remember them like we remember the Mauldins and Nasts. You know, the guys who were right. And could draw.
Posted by: Steve ||
05/05/2004 8:55:44 AM ||
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You are right. Being Rall is punishment enough for one lifetime.
However, I would love to see the pussy meet Pat's brother face to face. He would pee right through his pink panties. I'd just like to see Kevin stare a hole right through that piece of excrement. Pussy-boy talks really big.
ON THE RECORD: BUSH, ROVE, CARD RIP KERRY IN NEW BOOK; PRESIDENT VOWS TO MAKE KERRY âREGRETâ DISPARAGING WAR COALITION
President Bush vows to make John Kerry âregretâ disparaging the coalition that liberated Iraq, a new book set for release next week will reveal.
...
MISUNDERESTIMATED: The President Battles Terrorism, John Kerry, and the Bush Haters," has been obtained by the DRUDGE REPORT.
[The book was ranked #49 on the AMAZON hit parade Wednesday afternoon.]
...
Sammon quotes the president plotting to beat the Massachusetts Democrat by turning his own words against him.
. . .
Rove details for Sammon â Senior White House Correspondent for The Washington Times and political analyst for Fox News Channel â the Bush campaignâs strategy to paint Kerry as a condescending elitist whose âblatantâ attempts to capitalize on his Vietnam experience will ultimately backfire. Condescending Elitist. Hmmm That is not original in describing Kerry
Card, the White House Chief of Staff, goes further by deriding Kerry as a JFK âwannabeâ who lacks the mettle to be president! On-the-record: Bush faults his own father for having âcut and run earlyâ from Iraq after the Gulf War in 1991. "I think freedom will prevail, so long as the United States and allies donât give the people of Iraq mixed signals, so long as we donât cower in the face of suiciders, or do what many Iraqis still suspect might happen, and that is cut and run early, like what happened in â91," Bush tells Sammon. Papa, I love you but. . .
⢠On-the-record: Card, who has worked for both Bushes, describes â43â as an action-oriented Texan with street smarts, while â41â is the consummate diplomat who governed âwithout bravado or braggadocio.â
. . .
⢠The presidentâs daughters, Barbara and Jenna, feared he would not survive his Thanksgiving visit to Baghdad, W! you were freakinâ out the kids. But I think they knew you did what you had to do.
the secrecy of which was nearly compromised when First Lady Laura Bush inadvertently asked an out-of-the-loop Secret Service agent for her husbandâs location! Baghdad, what Baghdad?
⢠On-the-record: Powell declares: âThe press is fixated on Vietnam.â This unhealthy obsession, according to Bush aides, threatens to influence the presidentâs contest with Kerry, a decorated Vietnam veteran. Yes Mr Secretary, even in the remote provinces we can detect heavy breathing amongst reporters covering Iraq, and trying to compare it to Vietnam.
⢠Months before Howard Deanâs âI Have a Screamâ speech, Rove quietly produced a TV spot featuring an earlier Dean outburst and found that even Democratic focus groups were turned off by the anger of the Bush haters. Yes, We all realize Bush is responsible for all major crimes of the 20th century, even though he was born in 1948. They got the wrong guy for the Lindbergh kidnapping and killing.
#1
I clicked over to Amazon and ordered this as soon as I saw it on Drudge. (This was early this afternoon.)
That same hour, Rush started talking about it (and the Drudge story, I think.)
As God is my witness, I saw this go--IN ONE HOUR--from Amazon's sales rank 82,000+someodd to #49.
The power of Rush and Drudge! Woohoo!
Posted by: Jen ||
05/05/2004 18:47 Comments ||
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#2
Question:
Won't the behind-the-scenes look at the Bush team's discussion about tactics against Kerry backfire on Bush ?
Posted by: Carl in N.H ||
05/05/2004 20:11 Comments ||
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#3
I think a lot of them are "public record" or came out of our mouths already, so no ...
Posted by: Edward Yee ||
05/06/2004 0:20 Comments ||
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Another in a long line of examples demonstrating why Naderâs a NitwitTM... Nader Upset Over Baseball Uniform Ads
Presidential candidate Ralph Nader called the advertisements on uniforms during major league baseballâs season-opening series an "obscene embarrassment" and sent a letter of protest Tuesday. â No, Ralphie Boy, pictures of chicks with big knockers would be obscene (in some circles, I suppose), your pathetic posturing on a non-issue is embarassment.
"This overcommercialization is sapping the fun out of being a fan of major league baseball," Nader wrote in his letter to commissioner Bud Selig. "Now, you have sunk to a greedy new low." For me most of the âfunâ of baseball was lost ten years ago with the strike. I have this basic conceptual problem with millionaires going on strike. And this is rich commentary from Ralphie, lecturing Bud Selig on greed when he treats his own employees like shit, underpaying and overworking them while he verbally abuses them to boot. Iâd love to dropkick this sanctimonious prick.
The ads appeared on the uniform sleeves and caps of the New York Yankees and Tampa Bay Devil Rays during their two-game series in Tokyo on March 30-31. Whatâs that one about a horse, a barn, and a fire?
While the New York Mets and Chicago Cubs wore similar ads when they played in Tokyo in 2000, and baseball said in advance that the Yankees and Devil Rays would wear patches, Nader said the ads this year "ambushed fans across the country and left them shaking their heads at this obscene embarrassment." How many complaints from fans did you receive, Ralph?
Tim Brosnan, baseballâs executive vice president for business, has said he is open to considering additional uniform advertising in the future, but Selig and chief operating officer Bob DuPuy have said it is not under consideration. "We urge that you immediately put this issue to rest once and for all and eliminate any current or future possibility that major league baseball will accept advertisements on uniforms," Nader wrote. Canât see why Ralphieâs panties are in a bunch. NASCAR, Formula 1 and professional cycling are practically walking billboards. If these were just arm patches, thatâs fine, and Ralph should consider the possibility that the Japanese hosts asked them to do this. And an ostensibly serious Presidential candidate is whining about this? Jeez...
#2
If I remember the story about Nader's treatment of employees, professional sports is one of his many white whales.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
05/05/2004 15:22 Comments ||
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#3
he also proposed a <55MPH speed limit for all fastballs, since balls thrown faster have been known to cause injury upon impact with the batters. His new book: "Fastballs - Unsafe At Any Speed" is due to hit the shelves at World Series time
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/05/2004 15:32 Comments ||
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Ralph is aware, I trust, that MLB is a commercial enterprise?
He might well prefer the idealistic purity of the defunct East German Olympic swim team.
#8
BigEd, I speculate that Nader has not watched more than 10 straight minutes of a game on TV or in person in the last 2 decades.I don't picture him as being one of the boys who played tackle footbal on the pavement at recess. I may be mistaken.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
05/05/2004 17:00 Comments ||
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#9
Instead of patches they should just put a big green field on the back of each uniform (visiting team only) so that the television folks can project any ad they want onto the uniform. This has the advantage of allowing far larger ads, being able to have different ads each inning and leaving the game unspoiled for those that show up to see the game in person.
EFL. I wondered if any news service would pick this up.
By JAMES ROSEN, May 4, 2004 Dozens of Vietnam veterans questioned John Kerryâs fitness to be president Tuesday, accusing him of exaggerating his credentials as a war hero and having betrayed U.S. troops in Southeast Asia with anti-war activities after his return home. . . .About says it all, doesnât it? Calling themselves "Swift Boat Veterans for Truth" - in reference to the type of gunboat Kerry commanded on Vietnamâs Mekong Delta - 184 vets signed a biting letter to him in which they said he is now trying to benefit from a war he once protested.
"You now seek to clad yourself in the very medals that you disdainfully threw away in the early years of your political career," the letter said. "You have deceived the public, and in the process have betrayed honorable men, to further your personal political goals. Your conduct is such as to raise substantive concerns as to your honesty and your ability to serve, as you currently seek, as commander-in-chief of the military forces."
* * * "The John Kerry I know is not the John Kerry that everyone has portrayed," Gardner said at a news conference. "His indecisive moves on our boat put our boat in jeopardy and put our crew in jeopardy. If a man like that canât handle a 16-foot boat, how can we expect him to be commander-in-chief of the United States military?"
* * *
(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service.)
#1
About time. Kerry is parading his war service everyday with his little troop of Vets. Not all Nam vets or Vets of any time period are enthralled with Hanoi John's 1971 activities. His dubious medals are another issue since it seems they are tied to an early out to run for political office. The Dimns of course think this is all Bush's idea but it is interesting that of 200 interviewed 184 signed the petition. It would be hard to beleive that they are all Republicans.
Posted by: Bill Nelson ||
05/05/2004 12:43 Comments ||
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I'm excited to listen to Hugh Hewitt tonight to see if he mentions this!
Posted by: Yosemite Sam ||
05/05/2004 13:04 Comments ||
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A shrapnel wound, from a riccochet, from a gun he fired?
Oops, I am not supposed to question this. I am not questioning his wound, or his courage. The poor bastard is just unlucky. He was lucky in that none of his men were wounded by his marksmanship.
Leadership, man, leaderhip!
Thank God for his men that there were no waterfalls near his swift boat.
Yeah, Sam, HH should have a few dicey remarks on this one. After all, its a vast right-wing conspiracy.
#5
bet the dems are wishing they did not bring out the attack dogs on Bush about his miltary record..
Posted by: Dan ||
05/05/2004 14:18 Comments ||
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#6
Read yesterdays Media Research Center analysis of news. Many of the networks were denigrating these guys as Republican just out to get Kerry for partisan reasons.
Posted by: AF Lady ||
05/05/2004 15:44 Comments ||
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#7
bet the dems are wishing they did not bring out the attack dogs on Bush about his miltary record..
The dems know as you should failing to attack Bush on anything would not have changed Bush's attack on Kerry one bit. Kerry is waay too easy a target, and it is just getting easier the more he tries to tout his military record and use the famous 'chickenhawk' argument.
Kerry has a lot of explaining to do he isn't prepared, as a leftist, to do; to explain his votes as a senator on national security issues. Plus he has an additional handicap: Teresa 'Rosa Luxemberg' Heinz.
Try hauling around a trumped up military record, a definitive record as a leftist and possible traitor in wartime, and a lifetime of votes against the nation in national defense issues. Frankly, it's a wonder to me he is even in the running and the left isn't scrambling to chuck him overboard.
Democratic strategist Donna Brazile criticized Sen. John Kerry yesterday for failing to put black and Hispanic leaders into senior campaign positions, saying it raised serious questions about his commitment to racial diversity.
Gee, how can they say that, I mean, he is married to a African-American, right?
In a new sign of growing political discontent among the Democrats' large minority base, Miss Brazile, who managed Al Gore's presidential campaign in 2000 â the first black woman to hold that post in her party â admonished the Kerry campaign for not involving more minorities in the development of the Massachusetts senator's campaign policy, strategy and message.
"The last thing the Democratic Party needs in 2004 is to repeat the failures of its most recent past on matters of race and inclusion," Miss Brazile wrote in this week's edition of Roll Call, the Capitol Hill newspaper. "If the past is indeed prologue, this message has been lost on Sen. John Kerry's campaign, which has failed to understand how to navigate one of the most important issues in American politics: race relations and diversity."
Her surprisingly sharp criticism of the party's presumptive presidential nominee was the second major broadside hurled at the Kerry campaign in the past week by a prominent minority leader. In a letter to Mr. Kerry last week, Raul Yzaguirre, president of the National Council of La Raza, wrote that "relegating all of your minority staff to the important but limited role of outreach only reinforces perceptions that your campaign views Hispanics as a voting constituency to be mobilized, but not as experts to be consulted in shaping policy." "Not a single one of your senior staff is Latino. Quite frankly, we find this deeply troubling," Mr. Yzaguirre wrote, adding that that raises "questions about the seriousness of your commitment to diversity."
Kerry campaign officials deny that minorities are not represented in its highest councils, pointing to deputy campaign manager Marcus Jardotte and senior adviser Art Collins, both of whom are black, and senior political adviser Paul Rivera, who is Hispanic. But these positions are well below the small, tight-knit circle of all-white senior campaign advisers that Mr. Kerry has assembled around him, including chief strategist Bob Shrum, campaign manager Mary Beth Cahill and senior adviser Tad Devine. As word of Miss. Brazile's criticism spread through the party, Democratic strategists yesterday urged Mr. Kerry to get a handle on the problem.
"It certainly needs to be dealt with and dealt with immediately. This is something that the Kerry campaign ignores at their peril," said Maria Cardona, architect of a major Hispanic outreach ad campaign for the New Democrat Network. Rep. Jesse L. Jackson Jr., Illinois Democrat, has suggested that the staffing controversy may undermine minority-voter enthusiasm for Mr. Kerry's candidacy. "The senator should remedy this very quickly," he said.
I love it when they eat their own.
At the same time, a Bush campaign official said that its campaign was extensively staffed by minorities at top policy and strategy-setting levels.
Posted by: Steve ||
05/05/2004 11:12:01 AM ||
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#1
Unfortunately for Kerry, The top Black Woman foreign policy nerd is a Republican.
#2
I first caught wind of this when I read an opinion column written by a black journalist. I then pointed it out to Kerry-loving/Bush-hating "friends." Who went on to say, "Yeah, but I bet the Bush campaign team is all white." I wish that last sentence provided more proof than "campaign official said."
#3
Remember when Sharpton chided Dean for the same thing and yet has been silent on skerry. Typical, just like their silence on Dodd's comments on how great a person KKK Byrd was at all points in history or some such nonsense. Their party is so ridiculous its a parody, break out the paper mache puppets I say.
I would never criticize Monsuer Kerryâs service or the wounds he received. If this is accurate though, it does show how calculating he is and how far back his ambition has stretched.
The medical description of his first wound.
Some critics of Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry have questioned the circumstances surrounding the first of three Purple Hearts Kerry won in Vietnam. Those critics, among them some of Kerryâs fellow veterans, have suggested that a wound suffered by Kerry in December 1968 may have made him technically eligible for a Purple Heart but was not severe enough to warrant serious consideration, even for a decoration that was handed out by the thousands. Whatever the case, Kerry was awarded the Purple Heart, and, along with two others he won later, it allowed him to request to leave Vietnam before his tour of duty was finished.
Kerry was treated for the wound at a medical facility in Cam Ranh Bay. The doctor who treated Kerry, Louis Letson, is today a retired general practitioner in Alabama. Letson says he remembers his brief encounter with Kerry 35 years ago because "some of his crewmen related that Lt. Kerry had told them that he would be the next JFK from Massachusetts." Letson says that last year, as the Democratic campaign began to heat up, he told friends that he remembered treating one of the candidates many years ago. In response to their questions, Letson says, he wrote down his recollections of the time. (Letson says he has had no contacts with anyone from the Bush campaign or the Republican party.) What follows is Letsonâs memory, as he wrote it.
I have a very clear memory of an incident which occurred while I was the Medical Officer at Naval Support Facility, Cam Ranh Bay.
John Kerry was a (jg), the OinC or skipper of a Swift boat, newly arrived in Vietnam. On the night of December 2, he was on patrol north of Cam Ranh, up near Nha Trang area. The next day he came to sick bay, the medical facility, for treatment of a wound that had occurred that night.
The story he told was different from what his crewmen had to say about that night. According to Kerry, they had been engaged in a fire fight, receiving small arms fire from on shore. He said that his injury resulted from this enemy action.
Some of his crew confided that they did not receive any fire from shore, but that Kerry had fired a mortar round at close range to some rocks on shore. The crewman thought that the injury was caused by a fragment ricocheting from that mortar round when it struck the rocks.
That seemed to fit the injury which I treated.
What I saw was a small piece of metal sticking very superficially in the skin of Kerryâs arm. The metal fragment measured about 1 cm. in length and was about 2 or 3 mm in diameter. It certainly did not look like a round from a rifle.
I simply removed the piece of metal by lifting it out of the skin with forceps. I doubt that it penetrated more than 3 or 4 mm. It did not require probing to find it, did not require any anesthesia to remove it, and did not require any sutures to close the wound.
The wound was covered with a bandaid.
Not [sic] other injuries were reported and I do not recall that there was any reported damage to the boat.
Posted by: JerseyMike ||
05/05/2004 7:50:02 AM ||
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#1
1) December 1968 - Kerry had fired a mortar round at close range to some rocks on shore. The crewman thought that the injury was caused by a fragment ricocheting from that mortar round when it struck the rocks.
2) February 2004 - Kerry calls Secret Service agent and "SOB" after falling off of a snowboard.
3) May 2004 - Kerry falls off bicycle.
Lemee see - Hit by schrapnel from riccochet of gun he fired, falls of snowboard, and falls off bike.
#2
On one hand,Kerry wouldn't be the first newcomer to combat to fire at something during the night that wasn't there.And filled w/tales of all the weird diseases in the river to want medical attention for a minor injury to make sure it didn't get infected.And if Kerry received Purple Heart for an insignificant injury,well Kerry didn't invent the system,he simply used it.
OTOH,to say I got a splinter that was pulled out by tweezers is why I would make a better President,c'mon.
Posted by: Stephen ||
05/05/2004 12:50 Comments ||
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#3
February 2004 - Kerry falls off snowboard.
May 2004 - Kerry falls off bicycle.
If he falls a third time, can he opt out of the campaign?
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/05/2004 13:24 Comments ||
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#4
Gerald Ford wasn't a klutz--in fact, he was a star football player in college.
Portraying him as a bumbling fool (which made SNL the show it is today and began their career of sucking the gravitas out of the office of the Presidency) was the way the Left got Americans to dismiss Ford as a capable chief executive.
The Left used the same trick with Dan Quayle--Is he smart guy, with lots of experience and know-how such that he would've been a good VP?
Sadly, we'll never know.
But we do know he can't spell "tomato," ergo he's an "idiot."
In Kerry's case, his klutziness is a "bonus."
There's plenty about him to make him unfit to be President.
Posted by: Jen ||
05/05/2004 13:31 Comments ||
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#5
The NY Times, of course, doesn't include the band-aid part in its "coverage" of the story.
#6
Jen - I voted for Ford in 1976 over Jimmy Crackpeanuts. But, He did have some unfortunate pratfalls. His helicopter had a notch put in the top of a doorway because he didn't duck enough and bumped his head a couple of times.
And yes, Quayle unfairly got the bad end of jokes for mispelling potato. Oddly enough, potatoe is the alternate spelling. At the time I thought it was odd there was so much of a fuss.
Posted by: Howard UK ||
05/05/2004 16:07 Comments ||
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Howard - You lucky rascal. If we were like you in Britain, we wouldn't worry about much of the campaign nonsense for several months. One could watch the Iraq situation, give moral support to the troops defending us there, but we could spend more time doing something less stressful; following Major League Baseball. This campaign is too damn long.
PS I think Rasmussen must be playing with his daily tracking poll to keep people interested.
#9
The sad part of the Quayle story is he had the answer in his hand, an answer prepared by someone else, and the answer was wrong. Even if I thought the answer was wrong, in front of cameras, etc, I think I would trust whomever prepared the answers.
If the person who created the wrong-answer was on his staff they probably haven't worked in politics since. If not they're probably a big-wig on the left by now.
#10
In the town of Huntington next to Fort Wayne is located teh Dan Quayle Museum of Vice Presidents. I'll have to check sometime and see whether Mr Potato-head or Murphy Brown are exhibitted.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
05/05/2004 23:04 Comments ||
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EFL & hat tip to DailyPundit.com
Secretary of State Colin Powell is exhausted, frustrated, and bitter, uncomfortable with President George W. Bushâs agenda, and fatigued from his battles with the Pentagon, reports GQ magazine writer-at-large Wil S. Hylton in the June 2004 issue of GQ magazine. Why GQ? Come on, cowboy it up, just a little.
Powellâs mentor from the National War College, Harlan Ullman on Powellâs discomfort with the Bush team: "This is, in many ways, the most ideological administration Powellâs ever had to work for. Not only is it very ideological, but they have a vision. And I think Powell is inherently uncomfortable with grand visions like that ... Thereâs an ideological core to Bush, and I think itâs hard for Powell to penetrate that." Whatâs wrong with a vision. I have them all the time.
Ullman on Powellâs relationship with Vice President Dick Cheney: "I can tell you firsthand that there is a tremendous barrier between Cheney and Powell, and there has been for a long time ... Itâs like McCain saying that his relations with the president are âcongenial,â meaning McCain doesnât tell the president to go f*ck himself every time." Thatâs not very collegial.
Ullman on National Security Advisorâs Condoleeza Riceâs comments that Powell and Cheney are "on more than speaking terms," and that theyâre "very friendly": "Condiâs a jerk." Letâs see where this goes...
Posted by: Dragon Fly ||
05/05/2004 8:41:23 AM ||
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Oddly, though, I'd trust Condi a lot quicker than I'd trust Powell. Powell's always struck as too mcuh of an institution man and not enough of a doer.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
05/05/2004 9:04 Comments ||
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#2
Robert Crawford...do you think he has always been an institution man? Or is this a result of his past decade of work?
#3
I don't quite think that Bush has an ideological 'core' to him. But Bush is a conservatives who lets principles guide him in his decision making, but not his thought processes.
This article has the earmarkings of a mild smear piece against Bush, by calling Bush 'ideological' and hinting at some mental abberation on Bush's part. The writer uses every bit of
It is altogether possible this story is a Kerry plant.
Everytime conservatives have come to the conclusion that Powell was going to quit or that there was some 'war' going on in the National Security team, Powell has disabused the press of the very notion.
From the article: Wilkerson on the neocons: "I make no bones about it. I have some
reservations about people who have never been in the face of battle, so to
speak, who are making cavalier decisions about sending men and women out to
die. A person who comes immediately to mind in that regard is Richard Perle,
who, thank God, tendered his resignation and no longer will be even a
semioffcial person in this administration. Richard Perle's cavalier remarks
about doing this or doing that with regard to military force always, always
troubled me. Because it just showed me that he didn't have the appreciation,
for example, that Colin Powell has for what it means ... I call them utopians
... I don't care whether utopians are Vladimir Lenin in a sealed train going
to Moscow or Paul Wolfowitz. Utopians, I don't like. You're never going to
bring utopia, and you're going to hurt a lot of people in the process of
trying to do it."
I won't address Wilkerson's chickenhawk arguments here but I will say I think Powell needs a new chief of staff.
BTW, Perle's resignation left the wall against the barbarians just a little weaker.
#4
What kind of Washington insider calls the sitting National Security Advisor a "jerk" on the record, even if it was true?
Posted by: Mitch H. ||
05/05/2004 9:27 Comments ||
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Utopians, I don't like. You're never going to
bring utopia, and you're going to hurt a lot of people in the process of
trying to do it."
Interesting that State thinks Mid eastern democracy is "Utopia". Seems to be a self fulfilling policy. Read Michael Rubins latest column in National Review Online, on how Bremer and the State Dept folks have resisted democratization in Iraq. Best thing about June 30 - it means Bremer is finally gone.
But BUSH is responsible for Bremer, - THE BUCK STOPS HERE - remember. Too bad the Dems havent given us a real choice.
#6
Robert Crawford...do you think he has always been an institution man? Or is this a result of his past decade of work?
Hell if I know. I just know he's been a disappointment as SecState, someone who's been way too tolerant of the entrenched bureaucracy and way too disinterested in accomplishing US foreign policy goals.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
05/05/2004 10:05 Comments ||
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#7
Powell was reluctant to clean house at state. I hope that gets done during the next administration whomever is in charge. If you can't fire them because of Union rules put them all into the Lichtenstein bureau where they can't cause much harm.
My question is, who would be a good replacement if Powell left?
#8
Rudi Giuliani. Think he'd take crap from the Arabists below him? Or from our weak allies? I know others have recommended him as UN ambassador, but I think that would be a waste
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/05/2004 10:25 Comments ||
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#9
Powell is a fine Sec State and I truely hope hi stays on. If Cheney and he are opposites then good. Nobody needs a group of 'yes men' to run a company or a country. You confide, present, argue and decide. They (Cheney and Powell) have both lost and won political battles over the last few years but they share a common goal: The security of the U.S. I hope both stay!
#10
If our government has a problem it's State.
Since the 1940s, State has been infiltrated with literal Communists or Communist sympathisers.
(Read Whittaker Chambers' book Witness about outing Alger Hiss and other Communist moles.)
In recent decades, it's been staffed with people, like Ambassador Joe Wilson, who have been deeply bribed by the Arab world in that "special relationship" we used to have with them because we needed their oil.
Ever since 9/11, time and again they've thrown roadblocks in the way of the Executive branch (and often the Legislative branch, too) of the government to do things that are favorable to the Arabian world and unfavorable to the U.S.
Going back to the FDR, there is also a "special relationship" between State and the U.N. which thrives to this day.
Colin Powell runs interference between the U.N., Foggy Bottom and the White House--Mr. Good Cop to the neocons' Bad Cop, especially Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld.
I don't mind Powell, because I think he's harmless; 3rd world countries like him and he's pleasant to deal with, plus he was a 1000% improvement over Madame.
But I long for the old days when Henry Kissinger was SecState and knew what to do when it came to American Foreign Policy and who was loyal to President Nixon.
State strikes me as being almost a priesthood and needs to be reformed by some kind of Pope.
If we ever have to deal with Saudi Arabia and its "satellites"--which we will--State, as constituted, won't help and will have to be dragged screaming and kicking, as now, to do their part in the WOT.
Posted by: Jen ||
05/05/2004 10:38 Comments ||
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#11
Am I missing something???
Or are there NO QUOTES FROM POWELL in that story?!?
It might just be that I haven't had enough coffee.
#12
I know others have recommended him as UN ambassador, but I think that would be a waste
Damn right. With all that's been going on with that little oil-for-food/bribery scheme, it's not worth wasting someone of Giuliani's character on the UN.
#14
I wonder if the whole thing is a political set up.
Ever since Powell joined up with Bush, there has been suggestions that this 4-star general was somehow a closet liberal, and that it would only take a little push for him to become another Jesse Jackson. Uh-huh.
Used to being horribly patronized his whole life, why do I suspect that Powell plays his patronizers for fools? Either this deputy is intentionally putting out disinformation with a specific goal in mind, which is what I believe, or he is a subordinate that Powell would have relieved in a heartbeat, and a long time before this.
One does not get to be a general without having political acuity and strategic thinking way beyond ordinary.
#15
I wouldn't give Rudi the state job (or the UN job for that matter) even though I think he'd do a fine job in either position (or as Attorney General for that matter). I would make Rudi Giuliani the Vice President (because Cheney's health rules him out in 2008).
I could see someone like Schwarzenegger being Secretary of State. He wants to help his new country (and can't be President) he's known world wide, he's a big believer in America and he's an immigrant so he can relate to other countries and they can relate to him. And boy does he know how to stay on topic when pushing a program or movie. Unfortunately he just got a new job so the timing is all wrong.
#16
I hate to say it, but this post was found at Daily Pundit and Bill Quick (Bless his heart! I do like the guy.) has had a real hate on for Powell for a long time.
Posted by: Jen ||
05/05/2004 12:13 Comments ||
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#17
ruprecht -
Don't take our Terminator. He just got started whacking the nitwit Socialists in the State legislature around a bit. He needs to finish that job first.
#18
Colin Powell has always struck me as a conservative guy.Not conservative politically,but conservative in temperment-a don't rock the boat,can't we get along,doesn't like changes kind of guy.Great temperment for an Ambassador or Medium-level beaureucrat,well suited to be a Secretary of State-when times are dull.Not a reformer,because reform entails change.Not the person to whip a reluctant State Dept.into supporting the Pres. policies.
#11.Powell has quite a habit of talking "off the record".Woodward's new book on Bush Administration has become famous in D.C.for Powell being source for much of it w/out being qouted directly.
Posted by: Stephen ||
05/05/2004 12:25 Comments ||
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#19
Let's get Powell out of there and promote Richard Armitage. He tells it like it is...and we share a hair cut.
#20
Amen Big Ed! The govenator aint done bitch-slapping the Liberals into submition in the state house. The FEAR him because he talks straight and has the peoples ear/mind/vote. He tells them to either do it this way or he will make a ballot measure. Politicians FEAR ballots measures because voters ALWAYS vote for their wallets and safety never on ideology. Also if Arnie left, Cruz (Control) Bustamove would take over! He's ours you can't have him....Yet!
#21
I get so tired of all this "chicken hawk" Bull-O-Knee. Woodrow Wilson managed to get us into WWI without a single day of military service, and FDR wiggled into WWII without prior military service either. (He didn't get polio until he was 39, so don't even try that silly argument.) Another side of this chicken hawk crap is this: A man that spends his life training for something, invariably wants to use his skills, therefore, I believe that a military man is just as capable of involving us in a war as one that spent his life as a civilian.
Mayor Bloomberg Installing Anti-Missile Devises [sic] On His Private Jets (the misspelling of "devices" is theirs, not mine.)
NEW YORK (CBS) Mayor Bloomberg is paying a high price to keep himself safe from terrorists. Heâs installing something on his private plane, usually reserved for presidents and high-ranking dignitaries. CBS 2âs Cheryl Fiandaca investigates.
Investigates, does she? The whole tone here suggests that Bloomberg is doing something wrong, but there is no effort to spell out exactly what that is. Why not?
Extreme wealth has many advantages, just ask Mayor Bloomberg. I lack first hand experience with those benefits, but I had sort of guessed that they existed.
He doesnât travel on commercial airliners, only on his companyâs private jets. And because he can afford more than just luxury, CBS 2 Investigates has learned the mayorâs planes will also have very sophisticated, very expensive security systems installed to prevent a terrorist attack.
Itâs the ultimate status symbol for the extremely rich. The 35 million-dollar Falcon long range jet. Billionaire mayor Michael Bloomberg has 3 of them. But apparently luxury isnât enough.
Sources say fear of terrorists armed with shoulder launch missiles is prompting Bloomberg Financial Corporation, the company that made the mayor a billionaire to, this August, install passive anti-missile systems on 2 of the companyâs jets which the mayor uses. The price tag? Two and a quarter million dollars a piece.
âWhen a missile is launched at the plane, it redirects the guidence in the missile toward that simulation. Itâs taken off course and it doesnât hit anything and eventually it explodes in the air and thatâs the end of that,â explains aviation expert Charles Slepian.
âWeâre going to see more and more of it as technology advances to get the cost out of the systems to make them more affordable for corporate aviation,â says Lance Fera, Vice President of Tag Aviation.
Heat seeking shoulder launch missiles have been used successfully for years. They can be easily fired from nearly every vantage point when a plane is most vulnerable, during landing and take off. And thatâs not all, âIt can hit a plane waiting to depart, on the departure line. It can hit it in the fuel tank and destroy that aircraft and possibly the one in front of it and the one behind it, and create a chain reaction,â adds Slepian.
The technology isnât new, the military has used passive anti-missile devises on itâs planes for years. The system is also on Air Force One. One devise [sic] now available to civilian aircraft is Baeâs Matador, which uses heat transmitting lamps to confuse the missile and deflect it off course. Experts say the errant missiles donât have enough explosive power to do any real damage, and rely on hitting a planeâs engine for maximum impact. But even this system isnât foolproof. And Slepian says it may not be worth it, âHereâs the problem, there are a number of false responses, often the guidance system is activated and there are no missiles and it has to be reset and thatâs expensive."
So what can you do if youâre a commercial passenger and canât afford the luxury of a private jet and the safety of a system like a passive anti-missile devise? The answer, not much.
Oh, the horror of not being a billionaire. The mere millionaires at CBS News are obviously jealous.
A congressional research group claims over the past several years the FBI estimates indicate there have been 29 instances where civilian planes have been hit by shoulder fired missiles causing approximately 550 deaths. Congressional leaders say there are nearly three quarters of a million shoulder launch missiles available in the world, and some are in the hands of terrorist groups including al Qaeda. And with prices that start at $5,000 they arenât difficult to get, which is why companies that can afford this extra protection are buying it.
This morning when NPR Marketplace mentioned the possibility of missile protection for airliners, their guy declared, "after all, Uncle Sam gave thousands of them to the Afghan rebels in the 1980s." He neglected to mention the much larger number of Soviet SA-7 and derived missiles that have been provided to terrorists all over the world before, during and since the Afghan conflict or that these, not the US Stingers, were involved in almost all missile attacks on commercial aircraft.
Also neglected was the "shelf life" of the Stinger, which has long since expired. It is possible to overhaul one but this is a factory or at least depot-level job that the average jihadist is unlikely to be able to duplicate in the basement of the local mosque.
Congressman Steve Israel says the U.S. government should buy it too. Israel is sponsoring legislation that would outfit all 6,800 commercial airliners with the system at a cost of more than 10 billion dollars.
âThese corporate CEOâs understand that shoulder fired missiles are one of the most glaring vulnerabilities that we have in our air travel. If CEOâs on private jets are entitled to protection and President Bush and Vice President Cheney and members of congress are entitled to protection I believe that everybody that gets on a plane is entitled to the same protectionâ says Congressman Israel.
Steve is onto something. In fact, given the hazards of commercial travel, I think everyone is entitled to a private jet. Pony up, taxpayers.
Bloomberg Financial would not comment on itâs jets, and the mayors office declined to comment citing security issues.
The idea of using passive anti-missile devices is gaining momentum. Less than two weeks ago, El Al, Israelâs national airline, announced it would begin testing a new anti-missile system this June. And last Thursday, Congressman Israelâs bill to install the equipment on commercial planes, moved through the house aviation subcommittee.
#1
This is a pathetic article, devoid of information, and is typical of the caliber of "reporting" done by CBS these days. It's obvious that the reporter is totally clueless about MANPADS, SAMs, etc. and the systems that defend against them. She should have stopped with Bloomberg is installing defensive systems on his corporate aircraft instead of trying to turn this into a political hit piece on Bloomberg. (Living in San Diego, I have no opinion on Bloomberg. We have our own problems with incompetent local government)
However, the MANPADS threat is real. Congress received a classified presentation on the subject after 9-11 that would make the blood of any air traveller run cold. The reporter's sources gave her a somewhat garbled version of the story. A short unclassifed summary of the situation is that there are 84 different countries that make shoulder launched surface to air missiles capable of shooting down an airliner. There are many, many (exact number is classified) of these things in circulation and it's just a matter of time until somebody pots an airliner. There are a number of systems available that can protect large multiengine aircraft from most types of MANPADS. The companies that make these systems would be more than pleased to take on the task of equipping the civil aviation fleet.
It is a testament to the government's response to the terrorist threat that our skies have been as safe as they are. And if you want first class protection for your aircraft buy the Nemesis system from Northrop Grumman in Rolling Meadows. I would be willing to bet that they would cut you a good deal to equip 6,000 airliners.
#2
Who cares? He's got the money; it's his business.
Too bad the reporter feels the need to make a jealous, snotty, envy-the-rich report about a rich guy who spends his own money on his own protection, but doesn't seem to have a problem with another rich guy who spends his money in a public effort to elect his own moonbat president.
But I'm not surprised. It's CBS, after all.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
05/05/2004 18:59 Comments ||
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#3
RWV - LOL - I do bridge/road engineering for said gubbmint
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/05/2004 19:06 Comments ||
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#4
If Bloomburg wants to slap up to 96 launchable High Temperature flares in diferent locations on his Gates Falcons. Let him.
The flares come in launchers of 12. Weight in at about 15 pounds apiece. And are usually launched
in Salvo.
Once!
The problem is that most of the latest Shoulder launched SAM warheads are now both Heat Seeking and Radar Guided.
Which is the main reason the Congressional Boondoggle to 'protect' Commercial Airliners
is being held up.
Posted by: Jack Deth ||
05/05/2004 20:30 Comments ||
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#5
Frank G, that makes me feel better. The roads and bridges here are about the only things that work. Wish I could say the same for the rest of the infrastructure.. It's always a thrill to watch another sewer line break spill into Mission Bay.
#6
RWV, most of the media spends most of time opinionating on subjects they nothing or next to nothing about. Television anchors are the worst, but print journalists are a close second. Not only does it drive me nuts, I consider it extremely corrosive to society.
Posted by: Phil B ||
05/05/2004 20:40 Comments ||
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#7
Mr. Deth, I do believe that, even though the reporterette keeps saying passive countermeasures she really means active countermeasures, not flares. The Matador system she refers to is an outgrowth of the old HAVE CHARCOAL system developed by Sanders in the 80's. Systems of that ilk use either flashing lamps or mechanically gated IR sources to emit pulses of infrared energy intended to interact with the missile seeker and spoof its guidance system. Newer systems use lasers to apply the energy pulses, but the principle is still the same - make'em think you're where you're not.
It's a viable approach but unfortunately the pulse patterns tend to be different for different missile seekers making the selection of the proper countermeasure to fool whatever missile that happens to be headed your way more difficult. Also, the pulse patterns used by the military tend to be classified and not releasable to non-DoD customers. So any system sold to other than DoD customers would have to have "generic" (read less effective) countermeasure programs rather than the first line stuff. Other than spontaneous declassification, I'm not sure how you get around that problem.
exerpted from Mary Jo Whiteâs tesstomony before Joint House And Senate Select Intelligence Committee
October 8, 2002
MJ White provides specifc feedback to JFK on law enforcement approach to counter terrorism.
But criminal prosecutions are, plainly, not a sufficient response to international terrorism. ...as one example -- and Iâll only give one -- of the limitations of the Criminal Justice System in dealing with international terrorism -- criminal prosecutions of international terrorists have limited deterrent effect. When thousands of international terrorists, all over the world, are willing, indeed anxious, to die in the service of their cause, we cannot expect prosecutions to effect significant deterrence. To clarify sucessful splodydopes are hard to prosecute or has anyone arraigned Attaâs ashes? -snip-
This leads me to my final point about information sharing, but in the other direction. And I have to say if I were to single out the most significant concern that I had about our counterterrorism efforts, prior to September 11, dating from at least 1995, Jamie, what happened in 1995? it was that I feared we could be hampered in our efforts to detect and prevent terrorist attacks because of the barriers between the intelligence side and law enforcement side of our government.
Some of these barriers were and, perhaps, still are statutory. Some were, and perhaps still are, cultural. Some were, and still are, court imposed. Some were, and may still be, voluntarily imposed by the agencies by way of guidelines to assure compliance with all legal requirements and to make an adequate record of such compliance.
-snip-
And yet, at least as things were done in the 1990s through September 11, as we perceived it, that evidence, if gathered on the intelligence side, could not be shared with prosecutors unless and until a decision was made in the Justice Department that it was appropriate to pass that information over the wall to prosecutors, either because it showed that a crime had been committed that needed to be dealt with by an arrest or further overt investigation or because evidence of such crime was relevant to an already ongoing criminal investigation.
Because of this structure and these requirements, I do not know, even today, what evidence and information might have been relevant to our international terrorism investigations that was never passed over the wall. I donât know that there is any, but I donât know that there isnât any either.
To make a decision to pass information over the wall requires in the first instance a recognition of what that information is and what its significant is. In the area of international terrorism, this is a very difficult task, made more difficult by a combination of language and cultural barriers, coded conversations, literally tens of thousands of names of subjects that are confusing and look alike and an unimaginably complex mass of snippets of information that understandably may mean little to the people charged with reviewing and analyzing the information and deciding whether to recommend that it be passed over the wall.
A prosecutor or criminal agent who, as it happens, has, for many years, been investigating particular terrorist groups or cells and who has, thus, amassed a tremendous body of knowledge and familiarity with the relevant names and events might well recognize as significant what seems to other conscientious and generally knowledgeable agents or lawyers as something essentially meaningless. What can happen, and I fear may have happened -- but I donât know that -- is that some relevant information that could have been passed over the wall wasnât and, thus, an opportunity could have been lost to make a connection that might have led to a further investigative step that might have led to the detection of an ongoing terrorist conspiracy.
We must, in my view, do everything conceivably possible to eliminate all walls and barriers that impede our ability to effectively counter the terrorism threat. If policy and culture have to change to do that, they must change. If the law must be changed to do that, I would change the law.
Indeed, I believe the Justice Department and the Congress thought that the law had been changed to help address this problem by the USA PATRIOT Act. A recent decision by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act court -- the FISA court -- now on appeal, however, suggest otherwise. The FISA court decision also eludes to certain enhancements to the wall that the FISA court imposed prior to September 11, effectively making the court the wall in certain international terrorism investigations.
The walls that so concerned us throughout my tenure as United States attorney, thus, were built higher prior to September 11. While we were not made privy to the full rationale for this decision, because weâre on the other side of the wall, and we certainly would not condone any misrepresentations -- inadvertent misrepresentations to any court or any abuse of the FISA authority, raising the walls did concern us greatly, from a public safety point of view.
We voiced those concerns with officials in the Department of Justice prior to September 11. We do not know what, if any, relevant information was kept behind those walls.
Incidentally, when I was asked after September 11 by the Justice Department and FBI Director Bob Mueller what legislative changes we would recommend, we made a number of recommendations. But what I said was the single most important point is to get the walls down between the intelligence and the law enforcement community. That remains my very strong view today.
I, in my written statement, offered a number of other recommendations, but the single most important recommendation I would make to the committees would be to address the full range of issues presented by the bifurcation of the intelligence and law enforcement communities and functions as they operate in international terrorism investigations, including the permissible use of FISA and the dissemination and use of the product of FISA searches and surveillances.
And so I will end there by thanking you very much for this opportunity to share my perspective and concerns.
Thank you.
Although this testimony is dated, I find it relavent and possibly damning ... if anyone in the media notices.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
05/05/2004 3:53:47 AM ||
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#1
Super H.-
I don't think this suits the "mainstream media" agenda. Laura Ingraham was talking about this last week on her radio show as well..
excerpted from hearings before the Joint House And Senate Select Intelligence Committee October 8, 2002
Interesting angle for the reired Senator to take. He seems to imply that Congress was asleep at the wheel. Imagine that.
RUDMAN: -snip- opening formalities
First, of course, chairing of PFIAB; second, chairing Hart- Rudman; and third, something that I want to talk about a bit this morning -- that Chairman Goss is very familiar with -- and that is the roles and other responsibilities of the intelligence community for the 21st century, which we prepared at the request of this Congress -- I think itâs Public Law 971. I wish more people had read it. And I want to talk a little bit about it this morning.
-snip-
The first question that you asked was did -- our national study the security group -- Hart-Rudman -- warned in 2001 that the United States was not prepared to deal with terrorist attacks in the U.S. homeland. Please summarize why you felt that to be true at the time, what steps were taken, if any, in response to our report and why we believe the important steps were not taken and what measures remain to be taken.
-snip- mandate to Hart-Rudman
And, to everyoneâs surprise, our lead recommendation dealt with homeland security and international terrorism. No one on that committee would have thought, at the time that we started, that that would have been our conclusion. We would have thought it might have been more in the area of DOD reorganization or intelligence reorganization or changing the State Department -- changing public diplomacy. It was not.
And you are all familiar with the report. I have discussed with many of you, personally. We said, in that report, quote, more or less, "Large numbers of Americans will die on American soil, victims of terrorism, in the coming century." It happened a bit sooner rather than later.
Why did we come to that conclusion? -snip- history of what went into this reasoning.
We made a number of recommendations. In late January 2001, we presented it to the new administration, to the national security adviser -- the vice president through the national security adviser and the president -- secretary of state -- secretary of defense. It was very well received. People were very interested in it. We brought it up here. We met with a number of you on this committee. To the credit of the Congress, a number of you immediately started moving towards a homeland security department, which has now, I understand, wound up in some controversy. But I expect eventually it will happen. (I think he is using dry humor in that statement.)
-Snip- background
The administrationâs attitude was this is an excellent report. We are giving it to an internal task force of the NSC and we will start to go through it. I find no fault in that. This is a brand new administration. It had much on its plate. It was February-March time frame, of 2001. And my understanding is that they were in the process of working on the recommendations. Now, DOD, in fact, had done some of the things that we had recommended.
So I would say that, although people might criticize and say that the administration should have acted more forthrightly, my sense is for a new administration receiving a voluminous report, including an implementation plan, they probably did about all that any administration would have done, under the circumstances.
And let me also say that had every recommendation that we had put into that plan been adopted the day after we gave it to the White House, I seriously doubt that that would have been sufficient to prevent 9/11 for many reasons, including some of the reasons that your staff director has talked about here, today. I believe that Richard Clark said the same.
Your second question -- we said that military consumers often drove intelligence collection and that given limited resources, the community was neglecting important regions and trends. How did this affect the ability of United States to understand the growth of capabilities and locations such as Afghanistan and Yemen? Would placing more of the intelligence community under the authority of the director of Central Intelligence prevent similar problems in the future?
The answer to your question is generally yes. Up until September 11, the bulk of U.S. intelligence efforts had been focused on states. That has been the historic role of United States intelligence community.
And I might add that our intelligence community, as well as most foreign ones that I have studied, are extraordinarily good at looking at structure, at capability and intent. They donât have a very good track record, even working against states, for determining what and when. And Iâm not sure that that will ever be totally solved, no matter how hard we try.
-snip-
RUDMAN: Do I believe or did our commission believe that making the director of the CIA -- giving him a stronger role -- we do. But we are not the first ones to say that. This has been recommended for many years. I mean, you have a director of Central Intelligence who is also the director of the CIA -- 85 percent of that budget is controlled by DOD. From what I read in the papers lately, they would like to get even more control of it. And I leave that to you. You were elected to solve problems like that.
I donât know what the answer is. We have tried to recommend a number of reasonable solutions in this report, of which a number of members of Congress have done. Nothing has happened except I do believe there is a stronger community coordination effort since this report than there was before. But youâve got a long way to go. Why is he talking to Congress as if they should take action? And, frankly, I think itâs the court of the Congress as much as it is the administration.
We call for the president, through the NSC, to set strategic intelligence priorities and update them regularly. Was this done? Is it being done today? Well, I can tell you that I am no longer chairman of the PFIAB, so I am no longer privy to those things. But my understanding is that, yes, there has been broad strategic intelligence directives -- PDDRs -- which have been adopted by this administration. I am sure they are available to this committee. And I would advocate that you check with them to get a more precise answer. Brutal
-Snip- And how could they take full advantage of each otherâs capabilities? What gaps existed in their cooperation prior to September 11? I believe that the joint terrorism centers, which these committees are very familiar with, have come a long way in cooperation. But we have got some very interesting issues here that have to do with law, civil rights, the rights of Americans. I was saying to Louis Freeh before we testified this morning that you go back and read the history of the 1946-â47 National Intelligence Act at it was very clear that the FBI was responsible for domestic counterintelligence -- and I would expect counterterrorism. And the CIA was responsible overseas. And the CIA had better not come close to putting its nose anywhere near domestic issues. It was a wonderful alliance of strange bedfellows Whatâs this about Hoover and strange bedfellows? Is he allowed to say that? J. Edgar Hoover and the American Civil Liberties Union -- they both had their precise reasons for feeling that way. But the result has been that we have not had the cooperation between these agencies that we should have. I think there ought to be major changes in the law. I have felt that way for a long time.
Let me add, just in response to one of the questions posed in one of the opening statements, to create a new MI5-type organization in this country we do not believe, in our commission, would be the solution. Youâve got enormous domestic collection capability in the FBI, assuming it is focused in the right direction. That is a tough issue and one this committee and the Judiciary Committee will have to work with.
How effective do you believe that law enforcement tools are for fighting terrorism? Were they relied upon excessively before September 11? The answer to that, I guess, is yes and no. Mary Jo White brought very successful prosecutions against a number of terrorist organizations in the Southern District of New York. On the other hand, President Bush says we are now at war. Well, if we are at war, then law enforcement tools will be used, but in a more minor way. And military tools will be used more effectively to deal with the capability of terrorism.
So, I guess, the answer to that question is both in the affirmative and in the negative. And, finally, any recommendations you may have for improving the intelligence communityâs performance in fighting terrorism?
I believe that the more jointness that you have between these agencies -- the more they work in joint counterterrorism centers -- the more their information databases become common -- a more there is constant daily -- hourly cooperation between them -- the more that the NSA is brought in, by statute if necessary, to subline (ph) the FBI with domestic counterterrorism information, then youâll do the improvement you need.
I do not believe we need new structures or new systems. We may need different kinds of people or we may -- different kinds of technology, but I donât think there is anything wrong with the systems. But I think there is a lot wrong with how they have been used over the last 10 years.
Finally, Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, I want to read to you from this report, which was submitted in 1996 to the Congress, at the Congressâ direction. As I said, Chairman Goss served on this and a number of other people that you all know. It was a very distinguished group -- entitled "Commission on Roles and Capabilities of United States Intelligence Community."
There is a lot of great recommendations in it. There is one here that is particularly interesting and itâs from the executive summary. And it is spelled out in detail, but Iâm not going to do that. Iâm just going to read you two paragraphs.
It is entitled "The Need for a Coordinated Response to Global Crime."
"Global criminal activity carried out by foreign groups -- terrorism, international drug trafficking, proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and international organized the crime is likely to pose increasing dangers to the American people in the years ahead, as perpetrators grow more sophisticated and take advantage of new technology.
Law enforcement agencies historically have taken the lead in responding to these threats. But where U.S. security is threatened, strategies which employ diplomatic, economic, military or intelligence measurers may be required instead of, or in collaboration with, law enforcement response. In the commissionâs view, it is essential that there be overall direction and coordination of U.S. response to global crime."
I will tell you that nobody, evidently, read it.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I donât think the 9/11 Commission is looking for that type of testimony.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
05/05/2004 1:58:28 AM ||
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#3
It amuses me that gullible college students in particular treat these biased, agenda-driven pronouncements as objective fact:
"According to a leading journalistic freedom group, the US and its allies rank below North Korea in blah, blah, blah."
This is the age of gullibility, and the media have managed to use the influence of pop culture to conceal this behind a laughably thin fascade of cynicism.
The conformist media-bot masses are taught to pride themselves on their skepticism, but the idea of applying this skepticism to the media/academic/activist culture literally never crosses their minds.
Fox TV's Conspiracy Theory:Did we go to the Moon?" (aka The Loathsome Moon Hoax Show) was a perfect example. I talked to one idiot after another who bought every word of it, on the grounds that they know to "question the word of the government."
Too bad it never occurred to them to question the word of Nash Entertainment, the show's producer.
#5
Atomic Conspiracy -- did you actually read the survey in question? What agenda do you believe that Freedom House is hiding, besides the one they openly proclaim -- namely helping the spread of freedom and democracy in the world? And why are you bringing anti-Americanism into this when US is consistently rated by Freedom House as being among the most free nations in the world?
And on the matter of scepticism, I think you chose the wrong target -- I've found Freedom House's surveys to be stuffed with facts and specific detailed explanations for their ratings, which are probably as objective as possible.
Actually, I did read the survey. What I failed to read was my own comment before I hit the "accept" button.
The first sentence should have been:
"It's good to see the US and its allies ranking near the top, in contrast to the usual run of highly publicized but factually dubious NGO ratings of national human rights performance."
#8
Berlusconi's status as a media kingpin is behind the drop in Italy's rating. I admire the man for his strong stand against terrorism, but I don't think it's healthy for a national leader to have quite this degree of control over sources of information.
This situation does not yet exist in the US but it very easily could in the future. It is something that needs to be watched carefully.
As for the US ranking below Denmark, this is probably based on the tighter control the US exercises over the content of broadcasting.
#9
AC - When my folks went to Europe in 1967, street vendors had porn in the open. I guess having kids see that on the street gives them those extra 5 points.
#10
I don't know about the rest of Europe but Athens atleast still has street vendors sell porn in the open, so that's probably not strictly a 1967 phenomenon. :-)
Then again a billboard ad showing two women kissing got taken down, and a TV station ended up getting fined after a series showed two guys doing likewise in prime time -- part of the reason Greece has been teetering for a while now on the Free/Partly Free boundary where Press Freedom is concerned.
Brutally EFL Remember, folks: this is the same organization that Kerry and many, many others, including Bush wish to take on a bigger role in Iraq, and whom Kerry wants to turn over the security of our troops and intelligence operations. Imagine, Kofiâs cousin getting $5 million in his banks account in exchange for security details on a US installation.
Can we start moving the UN somewhere else, please? I hear Paris in nice this time of year and I am equally certain Islamic terrorists in Eurostan would love to have a crack at Kofi and the gang.
In the letter to Saybolt, dated 12 days later, the message had become tougher and yet more detailed, telling the company that any requests for information not already public should be relayed to the U.N., including "the reason why it is being sought." The letter to Saybolt also made specific mention that if U.N. internal audit reports are asked for, "we would not agree to their release." These would be the same internal audits that the U.N. Secretariat--which administered the Oil for Food program--did not share with the Security Council and has refused to provide to Congress.
In other words, in the interval between March 19, when Mr. Annan finally conceded in the face of overwhelming evidence that the program might after all need investigating by independent experts, and April 21, when former Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker was appointed to head to the investigation, Mr. Annanâs office explicitly reminded these two crucial contractors, which worked for the Secretariatâs Oil for Food program checking the imports and exports involved in more than $100 billion worth of Saddamâs oil sales and relief imports, to keep quiet. Your leftist enablers/allies in the USA like to do the same thing when it appears they are about to get caught, Kofi. You both deserve one another
Mr. Annanâs reaction when confronted with the Saybolt letter was to explain that "we are protecting all the material for the investigation thatâs been handed over to the Volcker group," as well as to say he himself had no knowledge of the letter: "This is news to me." Mr. Annanâs office has since defended such letter-writing on grounds that "this is standard procedure" and "an institutional response." According to Mr. Annanâs spokesman, Fred Eckhard, "To protect our name and our documentation, we put in every contract with a supplier that documentation relating to UN business can only be released to the United Nations, unless otherwise authorized." To describe Kofiesque logic: we didnât do it and given the chance weâd do it again.
Posted by: badanov ||
05/05/2004 8:50:48 AM ||
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#1
Send in the NYPD to toss the joint. Be messy about it, and maybe accidentally shoot a couple of diplomats, just to let 'em know we're not happy.
#2
Screw that -- send the Cincinnati police. They're being blamed for shooting a that had a through-and-through head wound from a gun held against the skin, while the guy was sitting in a car alone with the doors closed and the windows up.
New York and Connecticut should have adequate supplies of summer-grade gasoline blended with ethanol, the US Energy Information Administration said Wednesday, noting its concerns about post-MTBE supply shortages have been "significantly reduced." The EIA, in its This Week in Petroleum report, said it was easing off concerns it had last fall about potential supply shortages occurring in the two states when the industry switched from winter to summer-grade gasoline. The agency said it revised its thinking after talking to major suppliers for New York and Connecticut over the past several months. "Our recent findings indicate that domestic suppliers (including suppliers from the Gulf Coast) will likely produce more reformulated gasoline blendstock for oxygenate blending (RBOB) for New York and Connecticut than previously estimated last fall," the agency said
Posted by: Mark Espinola ||
05/05/2004 7:27:26 PM ||
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Attention Lefty Lurkers!
These are ATHEISTS, the darlings of the ACLU and therefore exempt from PC censorship rules, so bug off.
(Imagine the reaction if, say, Jerry Falwell, referred to the Religion of PeaceTM as "Mohammedanism.")
Iâm just glad there is someone somewhere who can still tell the truth.
With the Mohammedans insisting on their right to insert their beliefs into the workplace, the public airways, and the community as a whole; the campaign by AAâs founder, the late Madalyn Murray OâHair, to abolish mandatory school prayer might be taking on a different cast.
You can bet your last dollar that if this were legal at all, students in California, Oregon, Massachusetts and other occupied areas would be bowing down to Mecca by now, in the interests of "diversity".
#1
"The minds of men bowing down to the ground might wander from thoughts of the singularity of Allah if their noses were merely inches away from the raised derrieres of women kneeling on prayer rugs in front of them."
What's more there to say. Hilarious.
Posted by: Rafael ||
05/05/2004 13:53 Comments ||
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#2
Wait till CAIR gets a hold of this..... ;P
I predict seething, with a high chance of foaming at the mouth.
I was at Bradley when they debated changing the team name, and even got interviewed by the school paper (1/16th Cherokee...). The only people concerned about the mascot were non-student "activists" and painty-wasted liberals with more free time than sense.
I can honestly say I've not been more proud of being a Bradley alumn than I am today. Hell, I might even chuck the school a little cash in appreciation of the entertainment they're providing.
(Naturally, any donation I make will include a promise of more PROVIDING THEY NEVER CHANGE THE TEAM'S NAME!!!)
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
05/05/2004 12:51 Comments ||
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#3
I am 1/32nd Native American.
My HS team was Rams. But I am not a member of PETA, and had Lamb last time I visited Outback Steakhouse.
My Jr. College team was the Vikings.
But White Euro-Ethnics are not a protected class, and I have no Norwegian blood that I know of.
My Univ. team was 49ers. But since I don't make a living prospecting for Gold, I can't complain.
Gee, I guess I am out of luck here.
But the folks at U of Ia ought to schedule surgery to have that cork removed from their anal cavity. It's getting unhealthy for them.
#4
As an alumnus of the University of Illinois (Urbana-Champaign), I was looking forward to a forfeits for years to come whenever Iowa was up on the schedule.
Their policy only applies to non-conference opponents. Ah well...
In this day and age the worst tragedy that can befall the individual is to be offended. Offense leads to Righteous Indignation. And that leads to all manner of fall-out: lawsuits, sit-ins, huffing, puffing...
#5
I am offended by the name Hawkeye. The last of the Mohecahns was anti-semetic. Also I don't like Alan Alda - he's too sensitive which abrades my personal sensitivities.
Posted by: Super Hose ||
05/05/2004 17:16 Comments ||
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(2004-05-05) -- Disney Corporation today announced that it would allow its Miramax subsidiary to release a movie by Oscar-winning documentarist Michael Moore after making some "stylistic changes."
The announcement follows previous news that Disney would prevent Miramax from releasing âFahreinheit 911â, reportedly due to its portrayal of President George Bush.
"Disney avoids highly-charged political movies," said an unnamed company spokesman. "But with a few tweaks, Mr. Mooreâs movie has been made to fit the Disney mold."
The newly-revised Michael Moore film is "an animated classic-- with the edginess of Mr. Mooreâs âRoger and Meâ and yet the whimsical style which has made Disney synonymous with family entertainment."
The new title for the movie is George and the Giant Peach.
Posted by: Steve from Relto ||
05/05/2004 10:12:14 AM ||
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EFL
Nicknamed Una, the 15-year-old girl has an aggressive form of cancer in her brain stem. In just three months, the disease has wracked her body and she struggles to move and even talk. And she needs help fast. "The local doctors advised me to take her home and wait," Unaâs father said. "There is nothing more they could do."
But Unaâs parents didnât give up. They got the Minister of Health involved, who got the attention of U.S.-led coalition officials, who turned to American doctors at the militaryâs combat hospital in Baghdad. Coalition doctors performed emergency surgery to relieve the pressure in Unaâs brain but it did nothing for the tumor, which if untreated, will kill the tenth grader in weeks. But with specialized surgery and radiation available in the United States, however, Una may get another 10 years of life or more. Here is why you will not see more coverage of this story...
Unaâs father said through a translator that he had never had any dealings with Americans before but that what he saw in the movies "was real. That Americans donât hesitate to do whatâs asked of them." One more reason to be proud to be an American. Read the entire article here.
Posted by: Dragon Fly ||
05/05/2004 8:10:56 AM ||
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#1
Helping an adolecent battle cancer won't help Kerry get elected.
#3
These types of stories need to be heard in Iraq and hopefully more are as the new Pentagon run station is up and running. One of the Iraqi bloggers had indicated at one time more and more Iraqis were listening to it instead of Al-Jazeera and the other Arab based stations.
Posted by: AF Lady ||
05/05/2004 20:58 Comments ||
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The Walt Disney Company is blocking its Miramax division from distributing a new documentary by Asshat Michael Moore that wrongly casts blame on harshly criticizes President Bush, executives at both Disney and Miramax said Tuesday. Looks like Mickey finally got a set of brass ...?
The film, "Fahrenheit 911," links Mr. Bush and prominent Saudis â including the family of Osama bin Laden â and criticizes Mr. Bushâs actions before and after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. But conveniently skips over the Clinton part...
Disney executives indicated that they would not budge from their position forbidding Miramax to be the distributor of the film in North America. Overseas rights have been sold to a number of companies, executives said because we never hesitate making a few bucks at the expense of casting a false image of America overseas to anti-American fanatics. Okay they are not exactly brass.
Posted by: Dragon Fly ||
05/05/2004 7:58:18 AM ||
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#1
Moore took their money, and now he's bitching because he sold them part of his film. If he didn't want others to interfere with his work, he shouldn't have sold them a share.
Posted by: Robert Crawford ||
05/05/2004 9:06 Comments ||
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#2
WAIT A MINUTE!! Moore makes money off of these films. I thought he was a working stiff. An everyman. Wow. The things you learn.
Posted by: Bill Nelson ||
05/05/2004 9:43 Comments ||
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#4
I really wonder about this story. Moore had to know Disney would balk at distributing his little hate Bush film. I think he saw how Al Franken ticked off Fox News and road the wave of free publicity and played defender of the 1st Amendment and he's trying to do it himself.
He'll get the publicity and then have someone buy out Disney's stake in the movie so that it can be released. After all Disney is a business and isn't going to throw away the investment to defend Bush's honor, they just don't want their name attached. It's all very clever if you ask me.
The only question with my theory is why would Mirimax go along. Are they untouchable, or are they trying to get free from beneath Disney's shadow.
#5
Miramax? Harvey Weinstein? Hillary and Bill's Weinstein? Puhleeeaze.
The best way to combat Moores' lies and hate is to get the "documentary" label removed. Bowling For Columbine was a pack of lies, yet retained the "documentary" label, which in average Joe's mind = nonfiction. In Moores' case this isn't true...obviously
Posted by: Frank G ||
05/05/2004 10:31 Comments ||
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#6
how come disney not making great movies like bambi anymore.
#8
Frank G, my point is that it was pretty obvious from day 1 that Disney would shy away from being connected to this film. That means a lot of lost money and increasingly bad relationship with Disney by funding the film.
We're talking about a movie that costs peanuts to make (compared to most hollywood movies) and which could find distribution through a number of indy channels in the US. Instead they went through Disney to ensure high visibility and lots of problems they didn't need.
I doubt even they would be willing to trash their careers to make a political point. So what did the Weinsteins hope to get out of the fracus? Independence from Disney again? Or perhaps to hurt Eisner and hope for a more compliant Disney CEO? Or did they truly think they were untouchable (at least with Eisner in the weak position he is/was in at the time the deals were made).
#9
I think it was one fatty (Weinstein) being a pal to another fatty (Moore). Think of the doughnut defecit with those two.
Posted by: remote man ||
05/05/2004 12:38 Comments ||
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#10
Disney approved project because Moore's work is cheap and makes money.Mirimax approved because Moore's work is cheap,makes money and attacks Bush,Republicans and all the left's favorite evils.Disney is having second thoughts because it looks like Bush will get re-elected and having a vindictive enemy in White House,while the FCC is going after broadcasters(Disney owns ABC),is not good business.There is also good chance that Moore has made such a truly vile film that Disney is afraid of public reaction,esp.boycotts of Disney Parks w/summer just around corner.
Posted by: Stephen ||
05/05/2004 13:11 Comments ||
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#11
Evidently Moore doesn't carry as much weight as he thought he did.
The fallout on this should be very funny indeed; with any luck it will be shown once and for all just what a fat, loudmouthed idiot Moore is.
Posted by: The Doctor ||
05/05/2004 13:37 Comments ||
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#12
Evidently Moore doesn't carry as much weight as he thought he did.
Doctor? - Do you have Mouthy Michael on a diet? Do you know something we don't?
#13
I don't hate Harvey Weinstein just for being a left-wing Democrat. I hate him for ruining my favorite movies :P
(Wasn't there a thread discussing the Chinese movie "HERO"? There was 20 minutes of extra footage that apparently made it less political, but that got snipped on Weinstein's orders, even though Quentin Tarantino fought to keep them.)
Posted by: Edward Yee ||
05/05/2004 13:58 Comments ||
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#14
Stephen I think you miss the big picture. The Walmartians of the US are Disney's bread & Butter. The boycotts over Dogma are nothing compared to what will happen if Disney is linked to an anti-Bush film. I'm amazed Eisner would get anywhere near this film if he had any idea who Mike Moore is.
NEW DELHI (AP) - India asked the United States for information Tuesday on reports that Indian nationals were being forced to work for contractors in Iraq with little rest and low pay and held "against their will."
The Ministry of External Affairs asked the U.S. Embassy for details on the number of Indians working in Iraq, a ministry spokesman said. The ministry "expressed its concern regarding the disturbing reports about the conditions in which some Indian nationals are being forced to work for contractors active in Iraq," a statement said. The embassy was asked about news reports "that Indians who wished to leave were unable to do so, and were being compelled to continue to remain in Iraq against their will," the statement said.
In Washington, a State Department official confirmed that Indian officials had been in contact with the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi. The official said the embassy was seeking additional information about the allegations by the Indian workers.
Indian newspapers reported that Indians in Jordan and Kuwait were recruited for jobs in U.S. military camps in Iraq as cooks, butchers, laundry workers and handymen. Four workers who said they had escaped from a camp in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul alleged they were made to labor for long hours with little rest and low pay, and were refused permission to leave, Press Trust of India news agency said.
Seems simple enough to check out.
The U.S. Embassy in New Delhi was investigating, Press Trust quoted an embassy official as saying.
Posted by: Steve White ||
05/05/2004 12:50:49 AM ||
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#1
Just wanted to note that the guy quoted in yesterday's report on this was a Moslem Indian.
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