Rant

I have been extremely busy lately but have arrived at a short break, so I thought I would release my frustration about the current lies that are being “catapulted” by the Shrubbery. [Molly called him Shrub, but she went to high school with him for a time, so she was entitled to the familiarity.]

When they talk about a surge of 21,500 troops they forgot to include the support units, which the Congressional Budget Office estimates could more than double the actual number of people involved, and the cost of the operation.

The White House says [my paraphrase] that the extra troops won’t need food, water, ammunition, fuel, medical services, pay, housing, or any of the other “frills” that are lavished on troops in the field.

I read somewhere that a wingnut thought “beverage, powdered, coffee” was a designer drink. I’ve heard the olive drab packets called a lot of things, but I don’t remember “designer” being used by anyone making it in a canteen cup. We also made coffee by putting ground coffee from “the world” in a sock and steeping in boiling water – caffeine and “clean” socks, an unbeatable combination.

There may be basis for their attitude because four years later the Pentagon is still unable to supply the troops. There are continuing shortages for the troops already deployed, so the members of the “surge” can’t expect to receive much of anything.

The new National Intelligence Estimate on Iraq is leaking out and in the unclassified 9 page version of the new NIE on Iraq intel says Iran and Syria are not a significant problem. Their influence is very limited for good or evil.

Intel describes the situation as a civil war plus, but the technical military term is CF. There is a Shi’ia-Sunni civil war; the Kurds are ethnic cleansing in the north; the Shi’ia are having a power struggle in the south; Ba’athists, al Qaeda in Iraq, et al. are operating in an anti-American insurgency in Anbar; criminal gangs are running rampant – yep, it’s definitely a Charley Foxtrot.

In the middle of this mess the Shrubbery is not planning to attack Iran in exactly the same way they didn’t plan to attack Iraq. It should be obvious that these incompetents don’t plan anything, they just generate a lot of PowerPoint presentations that boil down to attack, declared victory, and hold a parade – and include an aircraft carrier for a photo op.

Having claimed repeatedly that Iran is aiding the militias, it has been discovered that the US military is training and equipping the Mahdi Army, as the militias have infiltrated the Iraqi security forces. I wouldn’t be surprised to find out that the “Iranian weapons” are entering the country through Chalabi’s relative who won the contract to supply arms to the Iraqi security forces. It will be hard to prove because we haven’t been tracking these weapons in any meaningful way.

And now for something completely different: I never liked the LiteBrite. I thought it was a rip-off: that much money for some translucent plastic pegs, a piece of plastic pegboard, and a light bulb. I had a friend who bought one to make a display for a local computer show. I wanted to zip by Radio Shack and pick up some LEDs, some circuit board, and few chips and build a real electronic background. Show some geek cred, you know. But he was right, and it got the attention he wanted because people stopped by to see how he achieved the colors, assuming he had built it with LEDs. [At the time LEDs only came in red, yellow, and green.]

That being said, I think the Boston PD over reacted blowing them up. I mean, I know they’re annoying, but guys, a measured response. Bratz I could understand, but LiteBrite?