Professor Greyhawk's Got a Test for You
Be sure to go here at The Mudville Gazette and take a test from Greyhawk on your general knowledge of the Scandal of Abu Ghraib. It may be a real eye-opener for some of you shithooks.
For my money, the most important one to get right is No. 6:
The Army suppressed the story of Abu Ghraib until the 60 Minutes broadcast.
True or False
I'll help you out: it's false. But lots of anti-military Leftists are convinced it's true. Why's that? Because they've lost their minds.
Glug, Glug, Glurg...
Over at Balloon Juice, there's some trenchant analysis of why Ted Kennedy should never be the one to discuss water torture in public. As he said to Alberto Gonzales during yesterday's grandstanding (emphasis added):
KENNEDY: Well, just as an attorney, as a human being, I would have thought that if there were recommendations that were so blatantly and flagrantly over the line in terms of torture, that you might have recognized them. I mean, it certainly appears to me that water boarding, with all its descriptions about drowning someone to that kind of a point, would come awfully close to getting over the border, and that you'd be able to at least say today, There were some that were recommended or suggested on that, but I certainly wouldn't have had a part of that, as a human being.
To which our man adds:
Ted Kennedy's deep thoughts on simulated drowning- too bad Mary Jo Kopechne wasn't a suspected terrorist. With Teddy K's vice-like grip on morality, she would be enjoying her 64th year of life on this planet today. Of course, maybe he is learning- this is 'drowning someone to a point,' a sense of finesse that previously eluded Teddy Chappaquiddick.
Why don't these prick bastards understand that the Geneva Conventions don't apply to terrorists? If you were to actually take jihadis at their word, dying and suffering for the sake of Islam is a certain path to Paradise, so what do they care? If suffocating or burning these savages' nads off brings us closer to the information we need to end their terrorism, then so be it.
We are, as Gonzales had to remind South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham, "nothing like our enemies." If we sink to their level, we know ourselves well enough to find the way back up.
CORRECTION: Gonzales' actual words to Graham were: "I reject your suggestion that we are becoming like our enemy. We are nothing compared to our enemy."
We're Still Waiting, Courageous Dan
The guys at the Power Line completely bitch-slap Corey Pein of the Columbia Journalism Review over his ridiculous article defending Dan Rather and the "fake, but accurate" Killian Forgeries. Read theirs first.
And, just in case you forgot what a total load of horseshit Bill Burkett's story was, John Hinderaker sums it up nicely:
[...]Pein fails to address obvious problems in the 60 Minutes story. Astonishingly, he tries to shore up Bill Burkett's credibility, quoting someone who described Burkett as "honest and forthright." This might, I suppose, carry some weight with readers who don't know that Burkett never served in the Texas Air National Guard; doesn't know President Bush from Adam; has a longstanding grievance against the Texas National Guard (Army) because of medical benefits he was denied; has suffered a series of what he describes as mental breakdowns, and suffered another mental breakdown while being interviewed by USA Today after the Memogate scandal broke; told a bizarre and obviously false story about the origin of the CBS documents--he got a call from a mystery woman named Lucy Ramirez, who told him to go to the Texas Livestock Show; he went to the show, didn't see Ms. Ramirez, but was approached by a man whom he'd never seen before; the man handed him an envelope and walked away; in the envelope were the National Guard documents; he took them home, made copies, burned the originals--of course, what a natural thing to do--and then presented the copies to CBS.
Why is it that so many people can't bring themselves to acknowledge that Rather and CBS News lied to the American people? Lied. Not accidentally misled (because they were misled), but lied. I think it's probably attributable to the trust that CBS News has built up over the decades. They have authority, even now. But in the new world of getting your ass fact-checked in real time and worldwide, that authority has unquestionably been diminished.
Illegitimate
Courtesy of Real Clear Politics, here's a piece from yesterday's Seattle Post-Intelligencer by David E. Johnson on the stolen governorship in Washington state.
If you don't win the election on the first count -- demand a recount and litigate until you get the result you want (or the U.S. Supreme Court says enough of this foolishness).
That has become the Democrats new mantra as seen in the past week's certification of Christine Gregoire as governor of Washington following three counts of the ballot; two of which she lost.
The third, a manual recount with dubious ballots suddenly discovered in heavily Democratic King County that were not counted previously gave her the election. Now we must stop counting ballots or contesting irregularities, cry the Democrats because they might lose again.
I'm Not Gonna Say It Now Playing: "Winter" by Tori Amos
According to terrorism expert Rohan Gunaratna, the recent tsunami in Southeast Asia might have put the damper down on Islamist terrorism in that region. At least for a while.
Several hundred people were killed this past year in southern Thailand in the festering insurgency between Islamic separatists and the Thai military. And Aceh, the hardest hit area in Indonesia, is the home of GAM, a separatist group that has been waging a sporadic conflict with the Jakarta government.
It was precisely in these areas that the devastation was worst. Some of it, says Gunaratna, took a toll on the terrorist and insurgent movements, who lost both fighters and infrastructure when the waves crashed on shore.
"This is a golden opportunity for the United States," says Gunaratna.
Yes, well, we aim to please. Nothing like a massive natural disaster to bring people over to Uncle Sam's side.
Martian Chronicles
Be sure to tune in to your local PBS station tonight to watch NOVA's Welcome to Mars ---a documentary recounting the past year of the fantastic Mars rovers.
NASA's twin Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity have yielded volumes of new data about the red planet in the last year - the least of which involves the planet's history of water. But the rovers have also amazed their human handlers with their longevity, lasting nearly four times their initial 90-day mission despite some early glitches that popped up after landing.
Man-made robots rolling around on another planet. Does it get better than that?
Much Bollywood
One of my very favorite rituals when I lived in Los Angeles was to tune in on late Saturday mornings to one of the local channels there and watch Bollywood music videos. A great substitute, if you're looking for one, for psychedelic entertainment: outrageous colors and sounds and notions. I think what I was watching were actually clips from the very prolific Indian movie scene; it seems like most of the popular movies from the Subcontinent are little more than a series of musical or dance numbers on the way to some sort of sappy romantic finish.
Anyway, I was watching 60 Minutes tonight and Bob Simon was interviewing the one person whose face I could most definitely remember from my Saturday afternoon video-watching. Her name is Aishwarya Rai and she is absolutely stunning. They say she's the biggest thing in India ---and I have no doubt of it.
You know...Aishwarya's even prettier than SABINE EHRENFELD, THE HOT BABE FROM THE OVERSTOCK.COM ADS.
Clare Short, Cunt Mood: don't ask
Try this one on (emphasis added):
United States President George Bush was tonight accused of trying to undermine the United Nations by setting up a rival coalition to coordinate relief following the Asian tsunami disaster.
The president has announced that the US, Japan, India and Australia would coordinate the world's response.
But former International Development Secretary Clare Short said that role should be left to the UN.
Yes. Remember this woman? She's the British cabinet secretary who dramatically resigned over Blair's decision to go to war for Iraq. She believes more in the UN than in her own country, which makes her a traitor by any standard.
"I think this initiative from America to set up four countries claiming to coordinate sounds like yet another attempt to undermine the UN when it is the best system we have got and the one that needs building up," she said.
"Only really the UN can do that job," she told BBC Radio Four's PM programme.
"It is the only body that has the moral authority. But it can only do it well if it is backed up by the authority of the great powers."
What else to say but that Short is an ignorant cunt? The UN has "moral authority"? Get the fuck out of my life.
Jerry Orbach, RIP Mood: blue Now Playing: the theme from "Law & Order"
I just heard on MSNBC that Jerry Orbach has died. I am really going to miss him. Old timers who know more about the theater and cinema than me will remember Orbach for lots of things, but I just know him from his work as Lenny Briscoe on Law & Order ---one of the ultimate smart-ass cops in all of TV history. As far as I'm concerned, he was the heart of that show.
Osama's Tin Ear
Read this column by Juan Cole, professor of history at the University of Michigan (home of the soon-to-be-defeated Wolverines):
In declaring "infidels" all who vote under the "infidel" interim constitution negotiated by Iraqi politicians with US civil administrator Paul Bremer last winter, Bin Laden is seeking to counter the decree of grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani that Iraqis must vote in the upcoming elections or they will be consigned to hell. Bin Laden is arguing, according to the Aljazeera.net in Arabic, that the interim constitution that is the framework for elections is artificial and pagan ("jahili", pertaining to the Age of Ignorance before Islam) because it does not recognize Islam as the sole source of law.
Bin Laden's intervention in Iraq was hamfisted and clumsy, and will benefit the United States and the Shiites enormously. Most Iraqi Muslims, Sunni or Shiite, dislike the Wahhabi branch of Islam prevalent in Saudi Arabia, and with which Bin Laden is associated. Nationalistic Iraqis will object to a foreigner interfering in their national affairs.
It isn't going to matter to the anti-war Left, but the ties between international Islamofascist terrorism and the Saddamites are now unmistakable. Osama has cast his lot with Zarqawi ---a murderer who was in Iraq long before we showed up and who must have had at least Saddam's tacit approval to be there, being a major league Kurd-killer.
Osama's definitely off his game. He's antagonizing Sistani, giving support to the Zarqawiites, and is reduced to issuing pointless fatwas from a cave somewhere. It's going to be sweet when the sight of his rotten corpse is broadcast to the world.
A 150-member Israeli aid delegation canceled its mission to Sri Lanka yesterday after the government in Colombo refused to accept the Israeli team, Israel Defense Forces officials said.
The plane was due to touch down in Colombo for a few hours and return directly to Israel. The Sri Lankan government, however, declined the offer, saying it only needed humanitarian supplies at this time.
Yep. Pride goeth before another ten thousand bloated corpses.
No, no. That's not it. Not pride. Uh, what's it called again?
Ahh, yes: Jew-hatred.
UPDATE: I saw something about the Vatican's stupid remarks on the subject of Israel's offer of aid yesterday, but forgot to post on it.
The Vatican newspaper has denounced a decision by the Israeli army to deny emergency help to disaster victims in Sri Lanka.
Calling for "a radical and dramatic change of perspective" among people "too often preoccupied with making war," L'Osservatore Romano singled out Israeli military leaders for declining a request for emergency medical help. The Vatican paper observed that in what "should be a time for unconditional solidarity," some world leaders seem incapable of escaping a "small-minded approach that restricts their horizons."
What a bunch of ill-informed shitheads. Don't wait for an apology, though. As Ed at the Captain's Quarters said:
Oops! I guess the Vatican doesn't take its mission to provide the Truth to the world too seriously these days. The blogosphere had the Sri Lanka/Israel story hours ago, another short-sighted and pointless example of Islamic anti-Semitism that hurts themselves more than it could ever hurt the Jews bearing the aid the Sri Lankans need. Instead of spending a few minutes getting their story straight, the Vatican mouthpiece wasted little time jumping to a conclusion that has to force Catholics around the world to question the Vatican's true attitude towards Israel and Jews.
The Flavors of Barbasol Now Playing: "Marvelous Things" by Eisley
There's a Barbasol shaving cream ad on the TV lately that refers to their seven different flavors. What are they talking about ---flavors? Is that some sort of advertising trick to annoy people into wondering why shaving cream comes in flavors, thereby keeping the brand fixed in our minds?
Shaving cream's a scam, anyhow. I haven't used anything but Ivory soap for probably 15 years now.
"The Long Tail" Mood: a-ok
Thanks to Professor Reynolds, here's a very interesting article by Chris Anderson, the editor-in-chief of Wired, on the economic concept of the "long tail."
Freed from the restrictions of physical retail space and seemingly limited appeal in any one geographical location, there's a lot of success to be had in the volume of aggregation and in serving niche interests.
To get a sense of our true taste, unfiltered by the economics of scarcity, look at Rhapsody, a subscription-based streaming music service (owned by RealNetworks) that currently offers more than 735,000 tracks.
Chart Rhapsody's monthly statistics and you get a "power law" demand curve that looks much like any record store's, with huge appeal for the top tracks, tailing off quickly for less popular ones. But a really interesting thing happens once you dig below the top 40,000 tracks, which is about the amount of the fluid inventory (the albums carried that will eventually be sold) of the average real-world record store. Here, the Wal-Marts of the world go to zero - either they don't carry any more CDs, or the few potential local takers for such fringy fare never find it or never even enter the store.
The Rhapsody demand, however, keeps going. Not only is every one of Rhapsody's top 100,000 tracks streamed at least once each month, the same is true for its top 200,000, top 300,000, and top 400,000. As fast as Rhapsody adds tracks to its library, those songs find an audience, even if it's just a few people a month, somewhere in the country.
This is the Long Tail.
Read the whole thing. And then apply it, as Reynolds does, to democratic phenomena like the blogosphere where there is at least as much profit to be made ---intellectual or commercial or otherwise--- in frequenting small-time venues as there is in simply going with the big names and the "all hits, all the time" mode of information consumption.
Sacrificial
Do you suppose it's true that Osama has endorsed Zarqawi, like he was handing over the family business to Michael? I don't know if this latest tape that's said to be his is legit or not, but if it is, what does that say? To me, it says that these Islamofascist nutjobs have wholly embraced the idea of attacking us at our strongest point, which is our military. An excellent choice ---for us. We are attacked there and haven't been attacked here for more than three years. Which tells me that our men and women in uniform are protecting us in every sense and that we should be grateful for their sacrifices.
But these al-Qaedists are doing their damnedest to make Iraq into a nightmare for our military and for the majority of the Iraqi people themselves ---and it is incredibly discouraging to see what damage they cause. Are they that afraid of a democratized Iraq ---or are they just that eager to murder our soldiers and Marines? It must be both because, even if a democratized Iraq, per se, is not so great a threat to their Islamofascist beliefs ---although I think it is--- it's what comes next that almost certainly does disturb these bastards to their core: the whole Muslim Middle East turned inside out and set ---forcefully--- on a path to secularization and popular self-rule. Women on the streets and in the workplaces and in control of their own destinies throughout Arabia and the Maghreb and old Persia. A massive shifting away from the old Mohammedan bullshit and into the alien glare of consumerism and instant telecommunications and instant gratification.
We'll infect them yet ---and laugh in the end. Because wherever we Westerners and capitalists have left our mark, those who fought us before will come to trade with us after.
Osama says that any Iraqi who participates in next month's election is an infidel. How right he is. Say goodbye to your medieval world, jackass. It is coming to an end.
Traffic Cop (The Sabine Ehrenfeld Effect)
Get a load of this: over the past several days, my blog traffic has more than doubled on acount of my having tossed off (as it were) a single reference to the Goddess of All Ambiguous Accents and Divinely Tanned Skin and Satin Robes, one Sabine Ehrenfeld (the lady from the Overstock.com ads on the TV). Isn't that insane? And, more importantly, isn't that an absolute indictment of the quality of this blog? I mean, for Christ's sake, I crank out many dozens of quality blog entries per month, and all it takes is a single reference to SABINE EHRENFELD, THE HOT BABE FROM THE OVERSTOCK.COM ADS, to bump my traffic up that much?
Remember the classic Simpsons episode where Homer is trying to think of some way to increase the business at the bowling alley where he works? After a quick montage descent into the depths of his ignorance of marketing, we find Homer standing outside the bowling alley firing a shotgun into the air as he implores passersby to come and bowl.
Well, after the sanctity of these high holidays has passed, expect me to immediately begin posting nothing but 16 year-old wet cheerleader snizz. Interspersed, of course, with my political views.
L Is for Loser Mood: suave
Did you hear that New York's 31 Electoral College votes were cast for "John L. Kerry"? That's about as stupid as the anonymous Elector in Minnesota who cast a vote to make John Edwards the President. I mean, if that's supposed to be some sort of a protest vote against Kerry, it certainly doesn't make a lot of sense to lay such an honor at the feet of one of Kerry's biggest mistakes.
Katie Couric's Gams Mood: don't ask Now Playing: "Dance, Little Sister" by the Rolling Stones
As NRO's Jim Geraghty is reporting:
A little birdie familiar with discussions at CBS News tells me that the network suits will announce Dan Rather's replacement the day they release the report into the fake memos.
I guess that's as smart a way to play it as any other, but don't forget, folks: Dan Rather is still going to be around at CBS News and he's still going to be contributing to the 60 Minutes brand ---despite the fact that he tried to influence a Presidential election by using his clout to knowingly shove a bunch of phony documents down our throats.
I think what I was watching were actually clips from the very prolific Indian movie scene; it seems like most of the popular movies from the Subcontinent are little more than a series of musical or dance numbers on the way to some sort of sappy romantic finish.
celebratory
don't ask
blue
a-ok
suave