Can We Question Your Patriotism Yet?

Geez, I have met Serbian war criminals who were more pro-American than this guy.

American presence in Iraq is more dangerous to world peace than nuclear threats from North Korea or Iran, U.S. Rep. John P. Murtha, a Pennsylvania Democrat, said yesterday to a crowd of more than 200 in North Miami.

Don't Let the Door Hit You On the Way Out

Goodbye cigar store Indian.

I have carefully reviewed the Report of the Investigative Committee, Professor Churchill’s responses to the Committee, and the Recommendations of the Standing Committee on Research Misconduct. I have met with and obtained the separate input of Provost Susan Avery and Todd Gleeson, the Dean of the College of Arts & Sciences. I met with Professor Churchill and his attorney, David Lane. After conducting the due diligence I felt was necessary, I have come to a decision regarding the recommendations of the Standing Committee on Research Misconduct pertaining to Professor Ward Churchill. Today, I issued to Professor Churchill a notice of intent to dismiss him from his faculty position at the University of Colorado, Boulder. My issuance of this notice now triggers a process that is governed by Regents Law, Article 5.C.1 and 2 and Regents Policy 5-I.

The NY Times' War Against America

This is really starting to piss me off. I guess every time we want to run some covert program to catch terrorists, we have to get the permission of the NY Times first. The National Review has a good roundup:

For the second time in seven months, the Times has exposed classified information about a program aimed at protecting the American people against a repeat of the September 11 attacks. On this occasion, it has company in the effort: The Los Angeles Times runs a similar, sensational story. Together, the newspapers disclose the fact that the United States has covertly developed a capability to monitor the nerve center of the international financial network in order to track the movement of
funds between terrorists and their facilitators.

LTC Bob Bowman "Scholar"

I have been covering the "Scholars" for 9/11 Truth, both here and on Screw Loose Change. One of the individuals I profiled was LTC Robert Bowman USAF (ret). He flew over 100 combat missions in Vietnam, and has a PhD from CalTech, so on the surface he appears quite an accomplished individual. I discovered, however, that he has some rather nutty historical beliefs.

Evidently he is running for Congress, so when I listened to this speech, given at a recent 9/11 conference, it sounded more like a stump speech for a political campaign, than one given by your typical conspiracy theorist. He started getting into economics, and I was struck by this rather bizarre claim, among others:

Real hourly wages, are now about a third of what they were during the 1950s.

This claim is reflected in some of the material on his website. I have no idea where he is getting this data. It is not only not true, it isn't even close. The readily available BLS data for inflation adjusted wages only goes back to 1964, but barring some unnoticed economic collapse in the late 1950s, I think we can say this makes the point.









If anything this understates current wages, with much of the evidence pointing to overstating of inflation. The Dallas Fed also has an interesting report detailing how long you have to work in order to purchase various consumer goods over the last century. One could argue over the details, but clearly this is an absurd assertion for him to make. What makes otherwise intelligent people become unhinged like this?

Violent Peaceniks

As Glenn Reynolds would say, "heh".

CLARK — The Rainbow Family peace gathering turned hostile Tuesday when a group of attendees began hurling rocks and sticks at law enforcement officers, U.S. Forest Service officials said.

The incident forced the officers to abandon a checkpoint they had established near the entrance to the Rainbow gathering campsite in North Routt County, Forest Service spokeswoman Diann Ritschard said. Officers had not returned to the checkpoint as of Tuesday afternoon.

Those Wacky "Scholars"

I am getting more and more annoyed at these academic frauds, called the "Scholars" for 9/11 Truth". Fortunately, their peers and the media seem to be picking them up and debunking them. Here is an article in Mcleans on them. And another that I posted over at Screw Loose Change.

Oh Those Lieutenants

I have been following this story on the LT from Ft. Lewis who has decided he doesn't want to play anymore. He is refusing to deploy with his unit to Iraq, because he feels the war is "illegal", despite the fact that he joined the Army, and went to OCS after it was apparent we were going to war in Iraq. OK, unlike fellow anti-war left hero Jesse MacBeth, he at least appears to actually be in the Army, but like Ranger Jesse's beret, he gets things backwards.
















Update: The Seattle Times was nice enough to block the photo so you can't tell. Something tells me if it were a Republican in the photo, it would have come out differently.

Idiot O' the Day

OK, I understood you lost your son and this must be hard to deal with and all, but you sir, are a freaking moron.

Michael Berg, a pacifist who is running for Delaware's lone House seat on the Green Party ticket, said al-Zarqawi's death is likely to foster anti-American resentment among al-Qaida members who feel they have nothing left to lose.

Berg said the blame for most deaths in Iraq should be placed on President Bush, who he said is "more of a terrorist than Zarqawi."

"Zarqawi felt my son's breath on his hand as held the knife against his throat. Zarqawi had to look in his eyes when he did it," Berg added, pausing to collect himself. "George Bush sits there glassy-eyed in his office with pieces of paper and condemns people to death. That to me is a real terrorist."

Gee, I would hate for Al Qaeda to not like us.

Airborne!

This is pretty cool.

Lookie Who Is On Top

Seattle most liberal congressman himself, Baghdad Jim McDermott.

WASHINGTON — Over the past five years, Seattle Rep. Jim McDermott has traveled to about a dozen countries and all over the United States, with private interests including think tanks, political-advocacy groups, universities and foreign-trade associations picking up the nearly $150,000 tab.

The total cost of McDermott's trips puts him in the top 20 Capitol Hill travelers, according to an analysis of privately sponsored trips taken by members of Congress and their staffs from Jan. 1, 2000, through June 30, 2005, compiled by Medill News Service, the Center for Public Integrity and American Public Media.

When McDermott staffers' trips are included, the totals rise to nearly 100 trips worth at least $280,000. That ranks his office No. 1 in privately funded travel among Washington's congressional delegation.

Thanks

I am in the middle of finals and looking for a summer internship, so as you can tell I haven't been posting much. What little posting time I have had has been over at Screw Loose Change.

I have drill this weekend. We spent all day today in the field at the firing range, and one of our lieutenants is leaving because her husband is transfering, so my CO decided we should go out to dinner at the Olive Garden to wish her well.

After a couple of hours of pasta and drinks the waitress brings us each our bill, so I get out my credit card. A few minutes later another waitress comes by and asks for our bill. I hand her the bill and my card and she hands back my card and tells me, "No, I just want your bill."

I didn't understand, so with a dumb look on my face, I held the card out towards her and explained that I didn't have any cash, this was the only way I could pay.

"You don't understand" the waitress continued. "You aren't paying. Someone else is paying. He said he wanted to pay for everyone here in uniform."

We asked repeatedly who it was, but the waitress kept his anonymity. Some unidentified man, we couldn't tell who in a crowded restaurant, just spent nearly $200 buying dinner for a group of tired and dirty National Guardsman.

We don't know who you are, and the odds of you reading this are slim to none, but thanks. Your gesture was very appreciated.