Category — Uncategorized

In 1968 the Democrats had a problem with an unpopular war and the Republicans won by promising peace. Tricky Dick “had a plan.” In 1972 Nixon still had a plan, and everyone wanted the war over. Nixon was talking about ending the draft and the draw down of troops.

The two elections are tied together, as many felt that Nixon had made some progress and just needed more time.

If we re-run the 1968 election today, it’s the Republicans in power, and they take the hit.

I was there and I voted in those elections. It’s the Republicans who are in trouble if we revisit 1968.  I expect we’ll hear a lot about that election because there are Republicans who understand who’s in trouble, but will try to bury the reality, as always.

WE ARE ALL GOING TO DIE!!! according to the Shrubbery…

While the nation remains at the

alert level, flights to the United Kingdom are raised to the

alert level, and flights from the United Kingdom ARE RAISED TO

[Read more →]

Juan Cole on the Connecticut primary: Lieberman’s Defeat

Finally, it is important because whether or not the liberal blogosphere played a significant role in dumping him, many will say that it did. Being perceived as powerful is almost as good as being powerful.

For those who live on another planet, Lieberman is not exactly a champion for the First Amendment or women’s rights, and aligns with Perle, Feith, et al. on foreign policy.

Anne Garrels [one of the best foreign correspondents ever] mentioned this earlier on All Things Considered and now the Houston Chronicle has the AP story: New Israeli general oversees Lebanon.

The last time the Israelis did this was when the Egyptians were given the IDF problems in the Yom Kippur War. Sending in Major General Moshe Kaplinski to “assist” Major General Udi Adam, the current commander of the northern front, is not a good sign.

Back in mid July Juan Cole provided me with the epiphany that produced Of Course.

My thoughts are reinforced and [backed up with a lot of maps] by the News Hounds with the article, You Can’t Drink Mud and Salt.

It really points out what the Golan Heights and Shebaa Farms are really about, as well as my thoughts on the West Bank and southern Lebanon.

Phinky reminds us of the very old wisdom nosce hostem: know your enemy.

The Wikipedia entry on Hassan Nasrallah is brief and probably balanced, but it leaves out controversy.

It is wise to see what his enemies say, and the Middle East Intelligence Bulletin can reasonably be considered an enemy. A review of the masthead –

Editor: Gary C. Gambill
Publishers: Ziad K. Abdelnour & Daniel Pipes
Editorial Board: Thomas Patrick Carroll, Michael Rubin & Youssef Haddad

leaves little doubt as to the circumambient atmosphere of the journal.

[Read more →]

For all of you political consultants who want to build a campaign web site I offer this reason for using my host, NearlyFreeSpeech.Net: Frequently Asked Questions:

What happens if I get slashdotted?

A “major slashdotting” of a site hosted on our service will cost you (on average) about $10, one time. The best part about that is that as soon as it’s over, your costs go back to normal. There’s no higher-tier pricing to get permanently pushed into, and we won’t cancel you for having something to say that people actually want to hear.

This happens to one of our members about once a week, so you can bet we know how to handle it. Or rather, our systems do. Our load-adaptive clustering technology is at its best when handling demand surges, and our pricing is at its best when you’d prefer not to be billed like that the rest of the time.

And if you’re quick, you can make this experience even cheaper than our standard $1 / 1GB rate: We also offer the option of purchasing a discounted quantity of bandwidth, called a “Bandwidth Bucket,” which could be useful if you find out about the traffic surge in time. This option can be exercised for as little as $5 and last as little as a day or as long as a year, and can save you anywhere from 10 to 75% of the cost of bandwidth for the selected time period.

On lefty blogs being “slashdotted” means getting a link from Atrios or another major A-list blog.

Most hosts put limits on your bandwidth usage, and if you exceed it, they shut you down, which is not a good thing just before election day.

Update: Sorry, this is the problem I’m referencing.

So, I decided to renew my memories on something I last studies about forty years ago and put U-238 into Google. This appeared on the right:

Sponsored Links
U 238
Whatever you’re looking for
you can get it on eBay.
www.eBay.com

Adam Felber reads From the Book of Lieberman

Chapter xxi

1. And it came to pass that Joe walked among the people of Conn, as was his custom in the eighth month of the sixth year. 2. And the people there made ready for the Time of the Voting, and they held mighty feasts for their Chosen, and Joe saw the feasts and was glad….

Go, read, enjoy [if your name isn’t Lieberman].

Just posted on CBS: 38,000 Vets’ Data Missing

VA Secretary Jim Nicholson said that Unisys Corp., a subcontractor hired to assist in insurance collections for VA medical centers in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, reported the missing computer last Thursday. The computer was being used in Unisys offices in Reston, Va.

It is not yet known what happened to the computer, Nicholson said, adding that local and federal authorities are investigating.

The computer is believed to contain names, addresses, Social Security numbers, dates of birth, insurance carriers and claims data including medical information for veterans who received care at the hospitals in Philadelphia and Pittsburgh during the past four years.

Why are they still putting records on laptops in an unencrypted format? What does it take to convince these people to introduce some security for the records of the people they are supposed to be serving?

This is another example of the total lack of awareness by Republicans for the need to actually provide security. This is why outsourcing and privatizing government functions is not always a good idea.

If you have been to the facilities in Pennsylvania in the last four years, you have something more to worry about, because the Republicans obviously don’t care.

From the Wikipedia page on the conflict:

Israel
Civilians: 38 killed
Military: 58 killed

Lebanon
Civilians: 497-828 killed
Lebanese army: 34 killed
Hezbollah militia: 83 killed
Amal militia: 8 killed
PFLP militia: 1 killed

[Israel claims 400+ Hezbollah militia killed and 16 captured]

Israel claims that they are targeting Hezbollah and Hezbollah is targeting Israeli civilians. Both have an accuracy problem as 60% of those killed in Israel are military, while, using the lowest number of civilian deaths for Lebanon and the Israel claim for Hezbollah deaths, 55% of those killed in Lebanon are civilians.

More coverage from Pierre, Retaliation’s Mutual Injustice, and Juan Cole, One Ring To Rule Them Wholesale.

My comments are at the end, below the fold.

From CNN:

Former President Carter, who helped broker the historic Camp David peace accord, said President Bush has pursued an “erroneous policy” that has fostered violence in the Middle East.

Carter said the United States should work for an immediate cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah and the world community should concentrate on a long-term solution, but he is uncertain whether Bush can accomplish a cease-fire.

“It depends on whether world opinion is strong enough to get the administration to change its erroneous policy, which has been to encourage the continuation of attacks on both sides,” Carter, a Democrat, told The Grand Rapids Press in an interview Friday.

[Read more →]

Via Keith at Invisible Library I was led to the column of Terry Jones [ex Monty Python], Nice one, George, thanking the Shrubbery for advancing the time table of Armageddon.

You should read the column in its entirety, but the comments are well worth a look and I have “nicked” most of the comment of MrPikeBishop for below the fold:

[Read more →]

Both Sam’s photographer and Steve were born on this day.

Stop by and extend greetings.