This Explains a Lot

Maybe when he was in Niger he consumed a little more than mint tea...

He said he hoped that the Iraqi constitution vote had failed, not because he wanted to see the administration fail but because he believed a negative vote would cause America and others to rethink their strategy and ``go back to the drawing board.''

``I fear what the administration will do is declare victory and move on,'' Wilson said. ``That will just institutionalize the violence in the country.''

Some in the audience urged him to run for political office. But Wilson said he'd been a true child of the 1960s and had ``too many wives and taken too many drugs. And, yes, I did inhale.''

Which War?

I saw a giant banner at the UW today proclaiming "November 2nd Walk Out against War" sponsored by an organization calling itself "Students Against Racism and War". I found it interesting that it was just "war" and not "the war". Are they really against war in general? For example are they going to be protesting against the war the Palestineans have launched against Israel? Or the ethnic cleansing being conducted by Muslims in the Sudan? Or the war in Chechnya? If I go to this event will I see a broad condemnation of war by all parties, or only a select few? If I can schedule it I might have to go with my digital camera to get some moonbat photos.

Watch this space.

And Now, the Rest of the Story

I was recently reading (or rather listening to my usual audio CD) Rick Atkinson's In the Company of Soldiers and was reminded of this story regarding General David Petraeus, one of the best officers in the Army, and currently in charge of training Iraqi troops.

Perhaps the most remarkable test of his luck and physical rigor came on Sept. 21, 1991. Shortly after taking command of a battalion in the 101st, Petraeus was watching an infantry squad practice assaulting a bunker with live grenades and ammunition. Forty yards away, a rifleman tripped and fell, hard. Petraeus never saw the muzzle flash. The M-16 round struck just above the "A" in his uniform name tag on the right side of his chest, and blew through his back. Had it hit above the "A" in "U.S. Army," on the left side over his heart, he would have been dead before he hit the ground.

He staggered back and collapsed. Standing next to him was Brig. Gen. Jack Keane, the assistant division commander, who by 2003 had become the Army's four-star vice chief of staff.

"Dave, you've been shot," Keane told him. "I want you to keep talking. You know what's going on here, David. I don't want you to go into shock."

Keane later described the day for me. "He was getting weaker, you could see that. He said, 'I'm gonna be okay. I'll stay with it.' We got him to the hospital at Campbell and they jammed a chest tube in. It's excruciating. Normally a guy screams and his body comes right off the table. All Petraeus did was grunt a little bit. His body didn't even move. The surgeon told me, 'That's the toughest guy I ever had my hands on.' "

A medevac helicopter flew Petraeus, with Keane at his side, to Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, 60 miles away. "It was a Saturday and I was afraid the top guys wouldn't be on duty. I had them call ahead to make sure their best thoracic surgeon was available," Keane recalled. "We got off the helicopter and there's this guy they'd called off the links, still in his golf outfit, pastel colors and everything."

And here is where it gets interesting.

It was Dr. Bill Frist, who a decade later would become majority leader of the U.S. Senate. More than five hours of surgery followed.

So in an amazing coincidence, Bill Frist, who has never served a day in the military, probably contributed more to the war in Iraq than any other senator.

And now you know... the rest of the story.

More Northwest Moonbats

I saw this on the Best of the Web. Olympia is the moonbat capital of the Northwest, it must be all that pot smoke wafting over the city from Evergreen Community College.

Martial law could follow plan to fight Asian bird flu
I read with trepidation the news article regarding Bush's plans to combat possible Asian bird flu by calling in the troops. His comments brought to mind 1930s Germany, with the Gestapo (Homeland Security) and storm troopers (Rumsfeld's Pentagon) in the wings.

I wonder, could a sitting president, twice elected, and supposedly the epitome of patriotic manhood, consider consolidating his ebbing power by bringing an epidemic to his own people?

Would he use this ploy to institute martial law?

If he would give funds to Halliburton to organize the hurricane recovery in the South -- the same Halliburton that scammed millions of dollars in Iraq -- then I suppose, with the enthusiastic support of his moneyed power base, he would.

The fact that Congress voted funds, not for public health but for Homeland Security, strengthens this suspicion.

This is a sad day for our United States of America.

Peg Davidson, Olympia

More Clueless Journalists

I was watching a CNBC report on Harriet Miers, in which the reporter, I didn't catch who, referred to Rowe v. Wade as the "1973 law making abortion legal". It wasn't a law!! Regardless of whether you are in support of the "decision" or not, it is not a law, it was an interpretation of various parts of the constitution, which for better or worse, could be interpreted differently in the future.

Nope, no Media Bias Here

The mainstream media is so desperate to report bad news on Iraq that even when a constitutional referendum passes they have to try and portray it in negative terms. Now what headline would you expect in a report on the Iraqi referendum passing? I would say something along the lines of this:

Iraqi Referendum Expected to Pass

But no, that simple recitation of fact would be too positive, so our friends at the Associated Press title it as such:

Sunnis Appear to Fall Short in Iraq Vote

As if the important thing was not that Iraq will probably have a constitution and a hope of a democratic government, but that the Sunnis, a minority who have mostly been trying to thwart representative rule through the use of violence and terror, have "failed" in their attempts. Maybe someone should get Saddam Hussein, and the AP, some Prozac, so they can make it through this difficult period?

What is with Judith Miller?

This has got to be one of the weirder stories of the year. This woman goes to jail to "protect" a source who was already outed as a source, and had already signed a release to let her talk about him, regarding a subject she had never even written about. Now Miller is saying that she doesn't even remember who told her Plame's name is! This is such an important matter than we have had a 2 year investigation into it and might send people to jail, yet the most prominent figure in it thought so little of the information that she didn't even bother to write a story on it, or even remember who told her about it. I am telling you, you couldn't make up this stuff.

Back to the Duration of Unemployment

Econopundit revisits this issue that I helped start. Meanwhile, I am still serving a lifetime ban from Brad DeLong's site...

Iraq is the New Vietnam

Well the left has been saying for years, now we hear it from the authority, a letter written by bin Laden's right hand man, Al Zawahiri. You can read the full letter here.

The aftermath of the collapse of American power in Vietnam - and how they ran and left their agents - is noteworthy. Because of that, we must be ready starting now, before events overtake us, and before we are surprised by the conspiracies of the Americans and the United Nations, and their plans to fill the void behind them.

Powerline has a good analysis of this. It is pretty sad when the NY Times is more optimistic about our enemies chances then our enemies our.

Hey Gerhard, Bite Me

Gerhard Schroeder steps down as fuhrer, having narrowly lost the election, or so I think, who the hell can understand this parliamentary system, and they make fun of the electoral college. Anyway... he then does what Germans always do when things go wrong, attack the foreigners.

He quickly composed himself, hitting his stride in a passionate defence of a strong German state and lashing out at "Anglo-Saxon" economic policies favoured in Britain and the United States, which he said had "no chance" in Europe.

In an apparent reference to Hurricane Katrina, Schroeder castigated Washington for liberal, hands-off policies that left it exposed in times of crisis. The Bush administration was widely criticised for its response to the devastating storm.

"I do not want to name any catastrophes where you can see what happens if organised state action is absent. I could name countries, but the position I still hold forbids it, but everyone knows I mean America," he said to loud applause.

Hmm, where was Herr Schroeder when 15,000 Frenchmen died in a heatwave and "organised state action" was absent? Ten times as many people died from a lack of air conditioning, compared to a category 5 hurricane. Sounds like much superior social system to me. Well at least the Germans can console themselves, that Schroeder is only the second worst Chancellor of all time.

The Smurfs Had It Coming

Reports that the UN issued several non-binding resolutions denouncing smurficide are unconfirmed. France immediately announced it was withdrawing its peacekeepers...

The people of Belgium have been left reeling by the first adult-only episode of the Smurfs, in which the blue-skinned cartoon characters' village is annihilated by warplanes.

The short but chilling film is the work of Unicef, the United Nations Children's Fund, and is to be broadcast on national television next week as a campaign advertisement.

The animation was approved by the family of the Smurfs' late creator, "Peyo".

Belgian television viewers were given a preview of the 25-second film earlier this week, when it was shown on the main evening news. The reactions ranged from approval to shock and, in the case of small children who saw the episode by accident, wailing terror.

Unicef and the family company, IMPS, which controls all rights to the Smurfs, have stipulated that it is not to be broadcast before the 9pm watershed.

The short film pulls no punches. It opens with the Smurfs dancing, hand-in-hand, around a campfire and singing the Smurf song. Bluebirds flutter past and rabbits gambol around their familiar village of mushroom- shaped houses until, without warning, bombs begin to rain from the sky.

Tiny Smurfs scatter and run in vain from the whistling bombs, before being felled by blast waves and fiery explosions. The final scene shows a scorched and tattered Baby Smurf sobbing inconsolably, surrounded by prone Smurfs.

The final frame bears the message: "Don't let war affect the lives of children."

H/T LGF

Sandy Berger?

I Tivo'ed 60 Minutes last night and was rather amused by Sandy Berger defending former FBI director Louis Freeh's criticism of Clinton's lack of seriousness regarding terrorism. Sandy Berger? After being caught stuffing classified documents in his underwear, does anyone really take this man seriously?

Party with the Police

After cracking down on the strip clubs, it looks like our men in blue are, ahem, up to other activities. I am glad they have taken care of all the murderers and drug dealers so they have time to use our tax dollars for some one-on-one service. Viewer discretion advised.

Lynnwood police concede they engaged in "rarely used" tactics during an undercover investigation into a suspected prostitution ring.

Those tactics, which included officers allowing prostitutes to masturbate them in exchange for cash, have raised questions among law-enforcement officials, legal experts and the Snohomish County Prosecutor's Office.

Lynnwood police Cmdr. Paul Watkins said he spent a great deal of time justifying the officers' actions to prosecutors to prove that the officers themselves weren't breaking the law. Snohomish County prosecutors on Monday filed a felony charge of promotion of prostitution against Myong Pang, 42, of University Place, Pierce County. On Sept. 30, they filed a misdemeanor prostitution charge against Myong Chow, 40, of Tacoma.

"The officers didn't cross that line of engaging in intercourse or oral sex," Watkins said. "I advised them no oral sex, no intercourse, that's not going to happen. That's the understood policy. There's no written policy regarding this."

But other law-enforcement officials who weren't involved in the investigation say allowing officers to engage in such acts, even in an undercover investigation, goes too far. The usual tactic, they say, calls for an arrest once someone agrees to perform a sexual act in exchange for money.

Jumbo Shrimp?

I was riding the bus to school the other day and I noticed a campaign sign for a candidate for the Seattle City Council from the "Freedom Socialist" party. You know, that seems like a huge oxymoron.

I am reminded of an old Soviet era Russian joke, which I will translate for you, to be nice.

Q: What is the difference between a democracy and a socialist democracy?

A: The same difference as between a chair and an electric chair.

I think that says it all.

You Gotta Love the French

I read this in the Wall Street Journal this morning, but I can't link to it. Apparently France can't defend Paris from the Germans, but they will fight to the death for their yogurt!

The French government is once again in trouble with the European Commission. Charlie McCreevy, the EC internal market chief, said he will block the French state's attempts to prevent foreign companies from taking over its "national champions."

The trouble has stemmed from the fact that France has actively worked to prevent foreign entities from acquiring French companies. For example, at the same time that France Telecom was purchasing Spain's third-largest mobile operator, Amena Movil, for E10.6 billion ($12.9 billion), French government ministers were publicly saying it would not permit any French "national champion" to be purchased by foreign companies. This was in response to moves by US-based PepsiCo Inc to purchase the French food company Groupe Danone SA.

More PC Nonsense in Academia

The University of Washington has now decided to scrap its admission policies in favor of a "holistic" method measuring such factors as extracurricular activities and socio-economic status. Great, little Johnny can't read or write, but he collects beanie babies and was born in a trailer park, that should get him into school. If this is such a great method for measuring your accomplishments then why do my teachers give me grades? I want to be evaluated on the fact that I am broke, and was able to stay up all night playing football on the X-Box, while arguing with my wife, not on some arbitrary method such as the number of correct answers I get on a test.

Beginning this year, the University of Washington will no longer automatically admit top students based on their high-school grades and test scores.

The university is ditching a statewide student-ranking system called the Admissions Index, which it relied on to admit about half its students. The university is also getting rid of an internal system called the "grid," which ranked remaining students on a combination of academic and personal factors.

Instead, university staffers plan to read and review every one of the 16,000 annual freshmen applications to come up with a "holistic" assessment of each candidate. Besides academic performance, they will consider factors such as whether a student has overcome personal or social adversity, their leadership skills and their extracurricular interests.

RUMINT in New Orleans

Why don't we hear about how racist the press is, for automatically believing all these rumors about how blacks are rampaging in the streets? CNN should get as much scrutiny as Bill Bennett.

Five weeks after Hurricane Katrina laid waste to New Orleans, some local, state and federal officials have come to believe that exaggerations of mayhem by officials and rumors repeated uncritically in the news media helped slow the response to the disaster and tarnish the image of many of its victims.

Claims of widespread looting, gunfire directed at helicopters and rescuers, homicides, and rapes, including those of "babies" at the Louisiana Superdome, frequently turned out to be overblown, if not completely untrue, officials now say.

The sensational accounts delayed rescue and evacuation efforts already hampered by poor planning and a lack of coordination among local, state and federal agencies. People rushing to the Gulf Coast to fly rescue helicopters or to distribute food, water and other aid steeled themselves for battle. In communities near and far, the seeds were planted that the victims of Katrina should be kept away, or at least handled with extreme caution.

"Rumor control was a beast for us," said Maj. Ed Bush of the Louisiana National Guard, who was stationed at the Superdome. "People would hear something on the radio and come and say that people were getting raped in the bathroom or someone had been murdered. I would say, 'Ma'am, where?' I would tell them if there were bodies, my guys would find it. Everybody heard, nobody saw. Logic was out the window because the situation was illogical."

Winston Smith, Call Your Office

James Taranto points out how the left is attacking Bill Bennett, not for what he said, but in an Orwellian way, "what he thought". Their point being that because he automatically associates a bad thing with blacks, he must be racist. If this is true, then all the members of the congressional black caucus who automatically associate poverty with blacks are also racist.

Yes, it is true, that most Americans, black and white, are likely to associate crime with blacks. This is not the fault of any one individual though. Harvard University has an interesting study (that you can participate in yourself) where they use pictures of people and words to test people's association (it is mentioned in the popular book Blink, by Malcolm Gladwell). This is an automatic ingrained association, present in all races, is it right, probably not, but it is a societal problem, it does not mean the person who scores poorly on that test is inherently racist.

Knyaz Harry u Bosne

I was rather amused to read the dramatic language in this story on Britain's Prince Harry possibly serving in Bosnia. Maybe it is just me, but the idea of a monarchy becomes even more absurd when the tabloids become breathless over "dangerous" service in a peacekeeping mission where nobody has died as a result of enemy fire in 9 years. I salute anyone who serves in the Army, but I felt more in danger when I was on leave in Paris then in my 8 months in Bosnia last year. And I didn't get mentioned in a single newspaper article! But hey, at least they have the page 3 girls...

PRINCE Harry has decided to be a frontline soldier in the tough Welsh Guards.

His first Army posting would be leading 30 squaddies on a tense peacekeeping mission in war-torn Bosnia.

The 21-year-old prince could be SHOT at from rival ethnic groups during the six-month NATO mission.

A senior military source said last night: “Harry sees a tough infantry unit as the best way to prove himself.

“It is about the most dangerous place you can be in the Army.”

Veni, Vidi, Vici

Congrats to Don Luskin, and the Krugman Truth Squad, myself included. After 3 pseudo corrections on Krugman's 2000 election story, the NY Times finally, not only issued an accurate correction but implemented a more stringent corrections policy. The story even got linked on the Drudgereport. It is pretty sad when issuing a simple correction becomes an excrutiatingly painful exercise, and speaks volumes to the integrity (or lack thereof) of its columnists.

CORRECTION

In describing the results of the ballot study by the group led by The Miami Herald in his column of Aug. 26, Paul Krugman relied on the Herald report, which listed only three hypothetical statewide recounts, two of which went to Al Gore. There was, however, a fourth recount, which would have gone to George W. Bush. In this case, the two stricter-standard recounts went to Mr. Bush. A later study, by a group that included The New York Times, used two methods to count ballots: relying on the judgment of a majority of those examining each ballot, or requiring unanimity. Mr. Gore lost one hypothetical recount on the unanimity basis.

One can't help but notice, but even after 4 separate corrections, the Times still can't bring itself to utter the words "President Bush" or "Bush won" and can only manage a weak "Mr. Bush" and "Mr. Gore lost one hypothetical recount...."