[Blunderov] Feeling chatsome I am. So this is a kind of anything goes thread. Feel free to be wildly tangential.
A couple of things which have caught my recent flibberterjibbert attentions.
The brilliant Israeli propaganda coup which that extravagantly lopsided 'prisoner' swap which took place recently most certainly was. How does one say, politically correctly, that one of ours (even a dead one) is worth hundreds of yours? That's how. How does one generate, completely undeservedly, a sympathetic response to the notion of Zion in an environment where the tide of public opinion seems to have turned (rightly) agin' it? That's how. ISTM that Israel may well have recovered substantial ground following their recent calamity at the hands of Hezbollah. Very skilful memetic engineering. What a pity it is that it is so wasted in the service of an entirely specious concept. Sooner or later Israel must founder on the shoals of its own ridiculousness. Not today though.
Who woulda thunk it possible that an even more retarded hillbilly than the present incumbent would ever have a shot a the White House? Ladies and gentlemen, give it up for John McCain. A man with no apparent redeeming features even in the extremely forgiving context of the modern day Rome that is Washington.
He takes Barrack (Sweetie) Obama to task for not learning the lesson of 'The Surge'. To whit, the solution to the gathering debacle in Afghanistan is to send more troops there. Apparently he is incapable of even rudimentary arithmetic, let alone strategic thinking. All the troops are in Iraq. Even McCain's prodigious ignorance of almost everything in the world does not extend this far. Yet he seems to imagine that more troops can simply be created out of thin air. Oh, and don't forget to bomb Iran on the way. What a complete cracker this man is. It's hard not to conclude that he is nothing more than a stooge; a sop to the mythical democratic process about about which we hear so much from so many persons who manifestly have no possible self interest in actually engaging in such an exercise ie the American oligarchical collective.
A nasty piece of work he is too. Following up on Hilary Clinton's open hint to the racists of America that the time was long overdue for a judicious political assassination in the good ol' USA, McCain has wasted no time in broadcasting to the resistance that Barrack Obama is likely to be in Iraq 'this weekend'. Very cunning. Taunt you opponent into visiting one of the most dangerous places on earth and then give time and date of arrival. Had anyone done the same to Bush or Cheney I wonder what would have happened? Still, perhaps McCain can make up for it by volunteering to accompany Obama wherever he goes in Iraq. Pigs might fly too.
Reuters reports that McCain shared details of Obama's trip to Iraq at a fundraiser:
Republican presidential candidate John McCain said on Friday that his Democratic opponent, Barack Obama, is likely to be in Iraq over the weekend.
The Obama campaign has tried to cloak the Illinois senator's trip in some measure of secrecy for security reasons. The White House, State Department and Pentagon do not announce senior officials' visits to Iraq in advance.
"I believe that either today or tomorrow -- and I'm not privy to his schedule -- Sen. Obama will be landing in Iraq with some other senators" who make up a congressional delegation, McCain told a campaign fund-raising luncheon.
Josh Marshall points out that there's something very wrong with this:
The Reuters piece hints at it. But if Obama is going to be in Iraq this weekend, this is a major breach on McCain's part. As a knowledgeable insider notes ...
"If it is true that Obama is going to Iraq this weekend, it is a very serious mistake for McCain to have disclosed it publicly. Even for run-of-the-mill CODELs the military gives guidance like, "Please strongly discourage Congressional offices from issuing press releases prior to their trips which mention their intent to travel to the AOR and/or the dates of that travel or their scheduled meetings. Such releases are a serious compromise to OPSEC." If Obama is going to Iraq this weekend, I can not begin to imagine how much this is complicating the security planning for the trip."
It's known that Obama is leaving on his foreign trip this weekend and the Journal OpEd page this morning said that Obama could arrive in Iraq "as early as this weekend." And with a slew of reporters in tow, it's not exactly highly classified information. But there is a reason definite information about these sorts of trips aren't released in advance.
Hypothetically, maybe McCain was just guessing. But even so it would still be a serious lapse of judgment on his part.
In fact, McCain was furious when the press reported on his son serving in Iraq -- he feared the coverage would make him a target.
<snip> There are only 10 types of people in the world; those who understand binary and those who don't. </snip>
*Observations and inanities by a second-shift assistant supervisor in the Puppy-Grinding division of the Evil Atheist Conspiracy® (our motto: "Sure it's cruel, but think of the jobs!"), your host, Brent Rasmussen.
Re:En Passant
« Reply #2 on: 2008-07-21 12:41:38 »
[Blunderov] Our man McCain. Just what the world needs now - another boy general. One who claims to be "able to win wars" which seems a rather startling claim from one who is clearly unable to read or understand maps. I shall watch his career with interest.
McCain Warns Of ‘Hard Struggle’ On The ‘Iraq-Pakistan Border’»
Today on Good Morning America, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) refused to call the situation in Afghanistan “precarious and urgent,” but admitted that “We have a lot of work to do.” He warned of a “very hard struggle, particularly given the situation on the Iraq-Pakistan border.” Watch it:
Of course, Iraq is nowhere near Pakistan. In fact, Baghdad — the capital of Iraq — is over 1,500 miles from Pakistan’s capital of Islamabad:
Before McCain repeats his claim to know how to win wars,” he should probably look at a map.
[Blunderov] Our man McCain. Just what the world needs now - another boy general. One who claims to be "able to win wars" which seems a rather startling claim from one who is clearly unable to read or understand maps. I shall watch his career with interest.
McCain Warns Of ‘Hard Struggle’ On The ‘Iraq-Pakistan Border’»
Today on Good Morning America, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) refused to call the situation in Afghanistan “precarious and urgent,” but admitted that “We have a lot of work to do.” He warned of a “very hard struggle, particularly given the situation on the Iraq-Pakistan border.” Watch it:
Of course, Iraq is nowhere near Pakistan. In fact, Baghdad — the capital of Iraq — is over 1,500 miles from Pakistan’s capital of Islamabad:
Before McCain repeats his claim to know how to win wars,” he should probably look at a map.
I share your pain and anxiety Blunderov.
After McCain figures out that hard geography stuff, he will have more time to hone his computer skills. He recently stated "I am learning to get online myself, and I will have that down fairly soon, getting on myself." He continued: "I have been learning to do a Google."
Keeerist.
It's George W. Bush all over again, with the added attributes of advanced age, senility and years of torture and psychological abuse as a POW.
After McCain figures out that hard geography stuff, he will have more time to hone his computer skills. He recently stated "I am learning to get online myself, and I will have that down fairly soon, getting on myself." He continued: "I have been learning to do a Google."
Keeerist.
It's George W. Bush all over again, with the added attributes of advanced age, senility and years of torture and psychological abuse as a POW.
Walter
[Blunderov] Buzzflash has dubbed him "Daffy Duck" McCain. A meme which I hope will gain currency.
My current favourite Daffy Duckism is "...I'm not sure people understand that 'surge' is part of a counterinsurgency". Do you know, I never thought of it that way before? Could it be that McCain has a previously unsuspected talent for analytical philosophy? Does he take his cue from Ludwig Wittgenstein; "Knowledge is in the end based on acknowledgement"?
John McCain's Crack-up. It Can Only Get Worse by November.
Submitted by pmcarpenter on Thu, 07/24/2008 - 7:19am.
These days, is there any other political parlor game that can possibly compete with 'What's the Matter with John McCain?'
It's easy, it's fun, it's wholesome entertainment for the whole family. It's bipartisan. It's sweeping the nation. And its popularity derives from the simple formulation that there are not, really, any wrong answers, since no one really knows for sure just what in the hell is wrong with the man.
Pick a card, any card: inept improvisation, ordinary incompetence, chaos theory in action, revealed ignorance, message confusion, deliberate bedazzlement, random error, clinical depression and paranoid frustration, just plain senility, or perhaps some combination of a few or all. Who knows? And you can write up your own explanatory card, too, because we're all equals in punditland.
There is, of course, strong yet inconclusive evidence for the senility argument, which began in earnest when McCain persisted in his geometric confusions over Sunnis, Shiites, Iranians and al Qaeda. Those, truly, were Who's-on-first? moments we'll never forget, although John may have by now. Since then, Mr. McCain has repeatedly reconstructed the quondam nation of Czechoslovakia, installed Vladimir Putin on Germany's throne, and magically redrawn Pakistan's border.
In defense of her boss' fundamental coherence, communications director Jill Hazelbaker begins convincingly but ends rather weakly: "When you engage with reporters from 8:30 a.m. till 8 at night, you're bound to make a gaffe," she told reporters in what should have been her alpha-to-omega argument. But, unfortunately, she went on. "I'd encourage anyone who has concerns about John McCain's age to join him on the campaign trail. He keeps an exhausting schedule -- often visiting two or three states a day -- answering dozens of questions from voters and the media along the way."
Sure, everybody makes gaffes. We get that. But the problem with her follow-up explanation was its implicit admission that even this job is a tad too much for the old boy. If we think it's bad now, Ms. Hazelbaker was saying, in effect, just wait till McCain is facing the even more rigorous pressures of the presidency.
Still, what worries far more is the non-gaffiness of the McCain campaign -- that increasing welter of conspicuous non sequiturs and downright laughable, incoherent contentions which are almost surely premeditated.
Just yesterday, for instance, McCain (one is bound to presume) seriously suggested that the recent $10 drop in oil prices was the result of George Bush's reversal of the long-standing offshore drilling ban. Presto. Bam. Just like that. No world-market complications, no speculative contortions: just John offering a solution, George wisely following up, and within days we're on our way back to 1971. That's beyond demagoguery. That's derangement.
Which came right on the heels of the Anbar/Sunni/Surge flap. Here, there is no question that when Mr. McCain said that "the surge ... began the Anbar awakening," he really believed it. In his mind, it wasn't hype, but history.
When the proper chronology was pointed out to McCain, his studied riposte was that "a surge is really a counterinsurgency made up of a number of components.... I'm not sure people understand that 'surge' is part of a counterinsurgency." I'm still trying to wrap my brain around that one -- and again, that was his studied response -- nevertheless any initial confusion was only ours, my friends. So now that, as they say, is his story and he's sticking to it, no matter how insultingly.
And let's not forget that earlier this week McCain seemed to nullify virtually his entire campaign's raison d'etre. When asked at the Bush family compound in Maine if "American troops could be fully withdrawn ... from Iraq by the end of 2010," McCain casually answered, "Oh, I think they could be largely withdrawn, as I’ve said."
As he has said? Well, as the NY Times said, "Previously, he had envisioned that in a McCain administration, most troops would be out of Iraq by 2013" -- and before that "vision," perhaps 2113.
Here was yet another puzzler, same day: "Mr. McCain dismissed the notion that Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki of Iraq, who in recent days suggested he agreed with Mr. Obama on the idea of withdrawing most American troops by 2010, had undercut Mr. McCain’s opposition to a withdrawal timetable.
"But," as the Times continued in what is now merely a cut-and-paste formulation, "Mr. McCain did not explain precisely why he thought he had not been undercut."
As if given a chance, he could, or would.
But back to our parlor game and my choice for 'What's the Matter with John McCain?' I'd have to go with creeping emotional meltdown, which, if we get really lucky in this game, will, before November, itself transmogrify into an unprecedented, monumental campaign crack-up.
In short, we ain't seen nothin' yet. That's my guess.
Please respond to P.M.'s commentary by leaving comments below and sharing them with the BuzzFlash community. For personal questions or comments you can contact him at fifthcolumnistmail@gmail.com
Re:En Passant
« Reply #8 on: 2008-08-15 02:15:25 »
[Blunderov] I thought we'd just move straight along to the religious material. Can I get a hallelujah? I thought so! Some motivational posters and reflections on da struggle.
[Bl.] And this , my personal favourite, as a gift to my dear friend WalterW. (This one is a print!)
At $2 million apiece, the craft poke out only a foot above water and can carry 12 tons of drugs.
By Gordon Lubold | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor from the August 25, 2008 edition
Washington - Drug cartels have turned to a new and effective vehicle to smuggle their goods, using small, homemade "semi-submersibles" that are hard to detect and yet effective at carrying millions of dollars worth of cocaine and other illicit drugs that end up in the United States.
Military officials who oversee Latin and South America have grown alarmed by the increased use of these boats, which poke out above the water only a foot or so but carry more than 12 tons of cargo. The military's ability to interdict the craft is hampered in part because its attention has been focused on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and on border security.
"We're in a holding pattern," says Rear Adm. Joseph Nimmich, who heads a military joint task force in the Florida Keys overseeing the drug fight. "We are maintaining our own but not making huge progress."
The semi-subs, known as "self-propelled semi-submersibles," also represent a serious national security threat: Today it's drugs, but tomorrow's cargo could be heavy weaponry, senior defense officials warn.
Interdictions set to double from 2006
Military officials, working in conjunction with the US Coast Guard and law-enforcement agencies, say they apprehended about 25 of the hard-to-find semi-subs a couple of years ago but this year are on track to find as many as 60. Another military official says that number could be as high as 100 by the end of the year.
Meanwhile, the semi-subs have an estimated success rate – actual delivery of cargo – of about 80 percent, Admiral Nimmich says, adding that he is confident the US can tackle the problem given more focus and resources.
Most of the boats have been intercepted in the eastern Pacific between South and Central America. In the last two years, the vessels have emerged as an increasingly viable way to transport large quantities of drugs that ultimately make their way into the US.
Built of a combination of fiberglass and wood and now steel, the 40- to 80-foot long semi-subs can travel as far as 2,000 miles, carrying a payload that represents, according to Nimmich, "10 hits of cocaine for every senior high school student in the US."
Costing an average of $2 million per ship, the semi-subs are typically built under cover of the jungle canopy in South and Central America and can take a year to construct.
Drug cartels are using them increasingly, military officials say, because the US Southern Command and other government agencies have successfully foiled other methods, including so-called Go Fast boats, high-performance craft that have been used to smuggle drugs for years.
Lack of consensus in how to respond
But the US is challenged in responding to a constantly adapting enemy.
That's due in part to the focus on the wars overseas; in part to a lack of consensus about how to approach the problem, drug and defense experts say.
For example: even before 9/11, then Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld had discouraged actively battling drug cartels. Today's antidrug effort continues to be divided over questions about whether to emphasize reducing the supply or the demand for drugs.
American drug policy needs a rethinking of strategy on both the demand and supply sides, says Peter Hakim, president of Inter-American Dialogue, a Washington-based policy group. "US drug policy is something of a disaster in terms of any concrete results or progress." [Editor's note: The original version misstated Mr. Hakim’s view on US drug policy.]
The wars have weakened the effort even more.
"Given Iraq, Afghanistan, and the war on terror, they completely walked away from Latin American policy," says Barry McCaffrey, a retired Army four-star general who also served as the so-called drug czar in the White House under Presidents Clinton and George W. Bush.
Although US Southern Command, headed by Adm. James Stavridis, has not received as much attention support as its sister commands, particularly US Central Command, which oversees the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, it has quietly focused on the drug fight, interdicting about 200 metric tons of cocaine last year.
To make more headway, General McCaffrey says, the American government as a whole needs a broader strategic policy in Latin America that would help address the growth in effectiveness of drug cartels.
If semi-subs represent one way in which narcotics traffickers have adapted, the growing use of tunnels on the US-Mexico border represent another.
"These narcotics traffickers, much like terrorists in other parts of the world, are learning adversaries," said Gen. Victor "Gene" Renuart, head of US Northern Command, on C-SPAN's "Newsmakers" program on Sunday. "As you close one loop, they will open another."
General Renuart, who among other things focuses on border-security issues, said: "If we believe we have solved the problem, we are almost guaranteeing it will come back. You can't take your eye off the ball in this kind of situation."
Re:En Passant
« Reply #11 on: 2008-08-30 21:17:40 »
Quote:
[Blunderov] Marvelous picture! Thanks. But like I said...
I will certainly wade more carefully into murky waters.
The preamble for the video below notes that this unique presentation of the Bundeswehr's marching band in Red Square in Moscow last year; demonstrates Germany's contribution the the Russian Military traditions.
This seemed to me to sequence and merge history with the Amphibious Attack Tiger of today.
And the Modern Fascists ([Mo] I didn't say neocon) just didn't know how to put on a good show and the Russians and the Germans still got it
Re:En Passant
« Reply #12 on: 2008-09-08 02:19:50 »
[Blunderov] The case of an Ohio rapist/murderer who claimed, unsuccessfully, that he is too obese to be executed humanely has invoked considerable incredulity especially, but not exclusively, in pro death penalty circles.
Cooey argues that his execution would prove cruel and unusual punishment due to his morbid obesity.
COLUMBUS — The state parole board has recommended against mercy for Richard Wade Cooey II, the death row inmate who had argued that he was too fat to be executed next month.
The board forwarded its clemency position to Gov. Ted Strickland Tuesday; Cooey was sentenced to death for the brutal rape and murder of two University of Akron students in the mid-1980s.</snip>
[Bl.] I had thought that Cooey was simply trying to buy himself a few more days before "walking Spanish down the hall"*, but it seems that his argument was not such an outrageously long shot as might have first been supposed!
<snip>The Army drop table turned out to be inadequate for Mitchell Rupe**, a Washington inmate who was supposed to hang in 1994. On death row, Rupe refused all exercise and ate junk food nonstop. By the time of his execution he'd reached 409 pounds, well above the table's maximum listed weight. According to Army regulations, anyone heavier than 220 pounds would get a 5-foot drop. The Washington authorities made an exception and cut Rupe's planned drop to 3.5 feet. Rupe appealed his case, and a federal judge ruled that the risk of decapitation was still too high. Rupe died in a prison hospital this past February.
He's got himself a homemade special You know his glass is full of sand And it feels just like a jaybird The way it fits into his hand He rolled a blade up in his trick towel They slap their hands against the wall You never trip, you never stumble He's walking Spanish down the hall
Slip him a picture of our Jesus Or give him a spoon to dig a hole What all he done ain't no one's business But he'll need blankets for the cold They dim the lights over on Broadway Even the king has bowed his head Every face looks right up at Mason He's walking Spanish down the hall
Latella's screeching for a blind pig Punk Sander's carved it out of wood He never sang when he got hoodwinked They tried it all but he never would Tomorrow morning there'll be laundry But he'll be somewhere else to hear the call Don't say goodbye he's just leaving early He's walking Spanish down the hall
All St. Bartholomew said was whispered Into the ear of Blind Jack Dawes All Baker told the machine Was that he never broke the law Go on and tip your hat up to the Pilate Take off your watch, your rings and all Even Jesus wanted just a little more time He's walking Spanish down the hall
**http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitchell_Rupe
Mitchell Rupe From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mitchell Rupe (1955–February 8, 2006) was a convicted murderer who died of liver disease in the Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla, Washington. Rupe was convicted for aggravated murder for fatally shooting two bank tellers in Olympia, Washington during a bank robbery in 1981. His death sentence was overturned twice, the second time being in 1994 when United States federal judge Thomas S. Zilly ruled that Rupe was too heavy to hang. Rupe was over 425 pounds at the time (as high as the scale went) and the judge was concerned that execution by hanging could cause Rupe to be decapitated, which would constitute cruel and unusual punishment.
Rupe was re-sentenced a third time in 2000 by a new jury. After a two week sentencing hearing, Rupe escape a new death sentence when the jury deadlocked by an 11-1 vote in favor of the death penalty, falling short of the unanimous verdict required by Washington law for imposition of a death sentence.
Re:En Passant
« Reply #13 on: 2008-09-08 22:41:52 »
Quote:
[Hermit]<snip>so long and thanks for all the fish.
[Fritz]...and memories of 'A long Hard Tea Time of the Soul' ... eventually googling me to this piece and it all seems to link: to fat to die, amphibious tigers, Dolphins giving up on humans and leaving, and Thor running through Heathrow Airport with a coke machine on his back ... bless Douglas Adams ... and how it seems we've missed the boat
SciAm's Mind Matters blog has a completely fascinating post on the common assumption that humans have the the most complex brain of all the animals. Compared to a whale, however, our brain is smaller and has even less cortical folds. Does that mean they're smarter?
The article is by neuroscientist R. Douglas Fields and takes a comparative look at brain size, relation to body size, and function across the species.
It turns out, we're perhaps not quite so special as we like to believe. Even on the ratio of brain to body size, humans are beaten by the humble tree shrew.
We humans pride ourselves on our big brains. We never seem to tire of bragging about how our supreme intelligence empowers us to lord over all other animals on the planet. Yet the biological facts don't quite square with Homo sapiens' arrogance. The fact is, people do not have the largest brains on the planet, either in absolute size or in proportion to body size. Whales, not people, have the biggest brains of any animal on earth.
Just how smart are whales? Why do they have such big brains? Bigger is not always better; maybe the inflated whale brain is not very sophisticated on a cellular level. We're closer to answering such questions now, for a couple of recent papers address them squarely. What they find is helping separate fact from fiction.
It turns out that while whales have bigger brains, humans have more neurons. Nevertheless, whales have more glial cells.
Glial cells were traditionally thought to do nothing more than support and insulate the neurons, but it's becoming increasingly clear that they're actually part of the brain's processing system (although they're exact role is far from clear).
So maybe there's a lot more to the whale brain that it first appears.
...and memories of 'A long Hard Tea Time of the Soul' ...
[Blunderov] I think that it is actually "The Long DARK Teatime of the Soul"*. Let me hasten to add that this seeming pedantry on my part is only because this is possibly my favourite book title of all time. "Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency"** runs it a close second though. (Third place goes to Carson McCullers "The Member of the Wedding".)***
"Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency is a novel by Douglas Adams. It is described on its cover as a "thumping good detective-ghost-horror-who dunnit-time travel-romantic-musical-comedy-epic"."
"The Member of the Wedding is a 1946 novel by Southern writer Carson McCullers. It took McCullers five years to complete -- though she interrupted the work for a few months to write the short novel The Ballad of the Sad Cafe."
[Bl.] The Hermit's salutation intrigues me. He seems to have a plan of escape. Do you suppose he has been building an inter-galactic star cruiser in his backyard? He's been pretty quiet lately.
Tom Waits Mule Variations (1999) What's He Building?
What's he building in there? What the hell is he building In there? He has subscriptions to those Magazines... He never Waves when he goes by He's hiding something from The rest of us... He's all To himself... I think I know Why... He took down the Tire swing from the Peppertree He has no children of his Own you see... He has no dog And he has no friends and His lawn is dying... and What about all those packages He sends. What's he building in there? With that hook light On the stairs. What's he building In there... I'll tell you one thing He's not building a playhouse for The children what's he building In there?
Now what's that sound from under the door? He's pounding nails into a Hardwood floor... and I Swear to god I heard someone Moaning low... and I keep Seeing the blue light of a T.V. show... He has a router And a table saw... and you Won't believe what Mr. Sticha saw There's poison underneath the sink Of course... But there's also Enough formaldehyde to choke A horse... What's he building In there. What the hell is he Building in there? I heard he Has an ex-wife in some place Called Mayors Income, Tennessee And he used to have a consulting business in Indonesia... but what is he building in there? What the hell is building in there?
He has no friends But he gets a lot of mail I'll bet he spent a little Time in jail... I heard he was up on the Roof last night Signaling with a flashlight And what's that tune he's Always whistling... What's he building in there? What's he building in there?
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