Category — Uncategorized

You have to admit Osama is the product of his class, i.e. sons of wealthy families who never held a real job and embrace religion after years of hell-raising. He knows how to appeal to the class, as Sharon Weinberger of Danger Room points out in her post Read Osama’s Lips: No Taxes, Ever.

I thought is was satire, but sure enough if you read the SITE Intelligence Group transcript [PDF] on page 7 you find:

There are no taxes in Islam, only a limited Zakaat (alms) totaling 2.5 percent.

Wow, a 2.5% flat tax! Grover Norquist and Steve Forbes must be conflicted.

So Dave Johnson at Seeing The Forest found out that he was on a list, and enters TSA purgatory when he tries to fly.  Mary at Pacific Views notes that 60 Minutes did a piece on Flight Risks, talking to a number of people named Robert Johnson, another name on the list.

CBS found out that the “Robert Johnson” on the list is actually a known alias of a whacko convicted of plotting to blow up a Hindu temple in Canada, which makes the list worthless.

[Read more →]

Via Susie, CNBC report on the Job Losses for August. You need at least 150,000 new jobs to take care of new people entering the job market, but there was a net loss of 4,000 jobs in August and June was revised down to 69,000, and July to 68,000.

[Read more →]

She writes about Leaving Home….

She and her family are in Syria, safe for the moment. She couldn’t stay in Iraq because of the mess the Hedgemony has created.

General Petraeus is first and foremost an active duty, serving officer of the United States Army. He is not going to contradict the President of the United States, and the President has already pronounced the “surge” a success. Anyone harboring the delusion that General Petraeus is going to provide Congress or the American people will the unvarnished truth, had better get their meds adjusted.

The General saw his first combat in 2003 with the invasion of Iraq as he graduated from West Point in 1974.

No one is going to know what the man really thinks until he retires. That’s the way the system works, get used to it.

CBS News correspondent Lara Logan reports on Iraq’s New Danger: Armor-Piercing Grenades

(CBS) An al Qaeda propaganda video dated Aug. 15, 2006, shows a brazen attack on U.S. soldiers with a hand grenade that’s more deadly than any other. The explosion is huge, as three armor-piercing bombs find their target.

It’s not a new weapon on the Iraqi battlefield, but CBS News has learned it’s being used more now than ever. And for the first time, the Army has admitted this weapon is killing its soldiers.

[Read more →]

According to this wire service report: Nepal airline sacrifices goats to appease sky god

KATHMANDU (Reuters) – Officials at Nepal’s state-run airline have sacrificed two goats to appease Akash Bhairab, the Hindu sky god, following technical problems with one of its Boeing 757 aircraft, the carrier said on Tuesday.

I wonder what Akash Bhairab would do for Northwest or Delta if they sacrificed their CEOs?

The Associated Press reports: Moderate Wins Powerful Post In Iran

(AP) Former President Hashemi Rafsanjani was picked Tuesday as head of a powerful clerical body empowered with choosing or dismissing Iran’s supreme leader, state-run television reported.

Rafsanjani received 41 votes to become head of the Assembly of Experts, a body of 86 senior clerics charged with monitoring Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and choosing his successor.

The former president, who is considered more moderate than current hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, defeated Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, an extremist within the hard-line camp. Jannati received 30 votes, state TV said. [Read more →]

Since annoying the people caught in his quagmire wasn’t enough: Bush attends APEC summit after brief Iraq visit. The city of Sydney, Australia is in full lock-down for three days for the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation [APEC] forum.

Bush also is scheduled to meet with leaders from Japan, China, Russia and South Korea. Some have dubbed this year’s APEC the “China summit,” a reference to Beijing’s rising influence.

“Is this a China summit? The answer is absolutely not,” Bush said.

Yeah, right. Via Watertiger and Best of Both Worlds we find the press release from the office of the Governor-General of Australia, the Queen’s representative and ceremonial head of government, noting:

On Tuesday, 4 September 2007, at Defence Establishment Fairbairn, ACT, Their Excellencies the Governor-General Major General Michael Jeffery AC CVO MC and Mrs Marlena Jeffery attended the Ceremonial Arrival of the President of the People’s Republic of China, His Excellency Hu Jintao.
[Read more →]

So we had a minor deluge while I was outside filling cat dishes and I ducked into the carport to wait it out, as they usually don’t last more than 15 minutes. I looked up and saw a large spider in an amazing gold colored web. The spider turned out to be a Golden Silk Orbweaver [Nephila clavipes] and the female I saw was the color of old ivory with black fuzz around the joints of its legs. From the tip of a rear leg to the tip of a front leg was about 4 inches. Even in the rain the web was golden yellow against the white of the carport ceiling.

The male of the species, who I first thought was a juvenile, was a ways off and not nearly as interesting. They eat a lot of flying insects, which is fine by me.

Springing into action: Bush, Democrats square off on mortgage plans

…Some two million homeowners with adjustable mortgages will face higher rates — and payments — over the next year. Shifting market conditions have left many of them with more debt than they can carry — but they are unable to refinance or sell their homes without taking a big financial hit due to falling home prices and steep prepayment penalties.
…

Bush stopped short of offering direct aid to mortgage borrowers facing default or foreclosures. Instead, Bush proposed that creditworthy borrowers — some of whom are now stuck in loans that are re-setting to higher monthly payments they can’t afford — be allowed to refinance with an FHA-backed loan.

The White House estimates that roughly 80,000 homeowners fall into that category — a relatively small portion of borrowers who are having trouble paying their loans.

So the Shrubbery proposes a 4% solution, a plan that might help 4% of the people in trouble because the others deserve what they got for listening to Alan Greenspan and getting an ARM [adjustable rate mortgage]. He had a plan so the recession isn’t his fault. Another 16 months and he can go back to full-time bike riding and brush clearing.

Actually, the headline is: Ret. U.K. Army Head Slams U.S. Iraq Policy

(CBS/AP) The head of the British army during the Iraq invasion described former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld’s approach as “intellectually bankrupt,” according to comments published Saturday.

Gen. Sir Mike Jackson, who retired in August 2006 as chief of the general staff, said Rumsfeld was “one of those most responsible for the current situation in Iraq,” in excerpts from an autobiography, “Soldier,” that were published by The Daily Telegraph.

He writes that Rumsfeld refused to deploy enough troops following the collapse of Saddam Hussein’s regime to maintain law and order, and rejected the State Department’s plans for post-invasion administration of the country. Jackson is also critical of President Bush for handing control of post-invasion Iraq to the Pentagon. “All the planning carried out by the State Department went to waste,” he writes.

General Sir Michael “Mike” Jackson, GCB, CBE, DSO is such a lovable, peaceable man that he has been called “Macho Jacko”, “Darth Vader”, and “Prince of Darkness” by the tabloids and his troops. He was a very “by the book” officer who started out in Intel and moved on to the Parachute Regiment.

NPR has a major round-up of stories, Katrina, Two Years Later, with one of the more important being Much Long-Term Katrina Recovery Aid Unspent.

The Shrubbery keeps talking about the $100+ billion that was allocated, but it doesn’t mean anything until it shows up in people’s hands so they can start rebuilding their lives.

Of course, there are more stories from Scout at First Draft on New Orleans and Ana Maria at A.M. in the Morning! on Mississippi.

Obviously the mortgage meltdown is just going to add more problems to the effort.

I like Noz’s suggestion that what we really need is a reenactment of the bathroom scene with bunnies.

Jack is proud that a Senator from his state of birth has closed the ‘Seamy Republican Bigwig’ gap of the Intermountain West, although I think we can all agree with Badtux that Louisiana still leads the nation with its combination of numbers of corrupt politicians and variety of activities.

A lot of people seem to be missing the point that what the Senator admitted to doing has less to do with the action or intent, but where it took place – in a public area. The fact that this took place in a public bathroom is what made it a crime. If he had done it in a bar he might have gotten spurned or scored, but he wouldn’t have gotten arrested.

A word of advice to public officials who get arrested – don’t try to impress the arresting officer with who you are. When you do that the officer has to spend a lot of extra time with a copy of the penal law to ensure you get charged with every possible offense. Instead of a misdemeanor appearance ticket, you are apt to end up with a dozen charges and major bail.