Mark Steyn sees right through it.
"Obama has lived on "the promise of the future" all his life – Most Promising Columbia Grad of 1983, Most Promising Community Organizer of 1988, Most Promising Fake Memoirist of 1995, Most Promising Presidential Candidate of 2008 ... The rest of us, alas, have to live in the present that he has made, which is noticeably short of promise. The Chinese Politburo get it, Czar Putin in the Kremlin gets it, and even the nutters doing the "Death to the Great Satan!" dance on the streets of Cairo and Lahore get it. On Nov. 6, we will find out whether the American people do."
Is Steyn's keyboard covered by the First or the Second Amendment?
ReplyDeleteI had not even heard about the Harriers.
Obama must be voted out of office in November. What is up with those polls? Are people lying because they are afraid of tipping their hands because they would find NBP members "protecting" the polling place?
Damn, I wish things were a little more boring.\
6 USMC Harriers were destroyed, and 2 more wrecked enough for overhaul, by a 15 man incursion at Bastian AB, also the location of USMC Camp Leatherneck. The US Marines were able to turn the insurgents back, but not before the damage was done. It is noteworthy that the medial staff at that base, Army, Air force and navy Corpsmen & women, regularly off duty jog along that same perimeter line next to the runway...in the evening when it is cooler. That incursion was 2 weeks ago. No...very little was reported.
DeleteThere apparently was no perimeter security sufficient to notice a dozen + guys with wire cutters, RPGs, and AK's at the fence around 2200 hours. In other words, all the security provided on the perimeter fencing at engineering school Fort AP Hill in Virgina is apparently determined enough for a combat zone in Afghanistan.
It gets worse....RUMOR is now that ISAF forces are no longer to patrol aggressively other than to protect Highway 1. Further, the Rumor is that all use of aircraft delivered air to ground weapons and fire is now prohibited by agreement between ISAF and Afghan Government & Karzi. In other words, no combat air patrol cover for infantry or armor.
I emphasized RUMOR because I haven't managed to get all the way through messages and publications on the subject of updated ROE's. Here are a few of them:
ROE Summary
Small Unit Ops HB
Summary Afghan article
Joint ISAF-Afghan Handbook
Maybe someone else can figure out if the rumors are true. One source of them is Michael Yon's website, which normally should be taken with grains of salt...not so much for the facts as for the interpretation given them. AFW/GotS can explain it better.
It appears only the "summary" links will connect...although the linked "pdf's" will work for most domains...e.g., you can download them. No surprise that security for "FOUO" materials isn't air tight. You should be able to down load the handbooks if you choose to (I did)....I don't think any gray suits will appear at your door :D
DeleteIf the ROE Handbook (in the first link as a download)and the Small Unit Handbook (second link) won't download for any of you, email me and I'll send you a copy as a *pdf* attachment. They are both well worth the time to read...the first one especially will surprise you in its question/answer format.
DeleteMy email, for those who don't already have it, is in my Blogger Profile.
I hadn't heard about the Harriers either. I wonder if any of the Big sites had it?
ReplyDeleteI saw it a couple of days ago on one of the British news sites.
DeleteOf course, there has been nothing about it in the US media, for fear of showing, even more, the incompetence in foreign policy of the current admin, just as the media has essentially simply shut up about the Benghazi murders (except NPR, who are still trying to paint it as a demonstration gone overboard).
Of course, they are trying to do the same with domestic troubles, with considerably less success, as even the most brain-dead can see what is going on here.
And yeah, Matt, 'interesting times' indeed.
The first I heard about the Harriers was this column.
ReplyDeleteI've been wondering about the polls. Are people who are fed up with the media hanging up on the pollsters? I have. I think these polls are a crock, and indicative of absolutely NOTHING.
I'm nervous about this election though. Very nervous.
That may very well be. With caller ID, many people do not answer calls from unfamiliar numbers.
DeleteI won't discuss Yon in a public forum. I value my privacy and mental health.
ReplyDeleteOne of the things that drives me batty where I currently live (other than the total lack of Fall, which I miss desperately) is what I call the "It is well known" phenomenon. That is, people just say shit, and then underscore it in an argument by using the statement "It is well known."
For instance, "It is well known that all Americans carry around guns and threaten each other at the slightest provocation" (this would be funny if it weren't an example I actually encountered).
I see a lot of the "it is well known" going on back in the US among the supposed intellectual elite. It is well known that people will like us more because President Obama was elected. And if that is well known, then things running counter to what is well known must be wrong, due to something else, misreported, or unimportant because they don't fit the prevailing narrative.
Other It is Well Knowns common in the US:
* pit bulls are inherently vicious
* poor people are noble because of their lack of money
* children are naturally good and bad conduct is due to bad parenting
* the first world is holding the third world down (you don't want to hear my rant on this one. You don't)
*Obesity is not a personal choice, but something to be regulated
GotS said: the first world is holding the third world down (you don't want to hear my rant on this one. You don't)
ReplyDeleteOh, but yes I do, I DO! Your rants are so colorful :D
GotS...
ReplyDeleteIt bugs you, and bugs me worse, but it cannot be avoided today, as everybody knows. :D
Argumentum ad populum, or the argument of popular appeal is a genetic fallacy based upon irrelevance in actual evidence. Lacking evidence, assert popularity. Another term is the Bandwagon Fallacy ...e.g., you don't want to be left out,do you? Yada yada.
I'm not sure when the phrase became so popular in all of it various forms, but it did. In my college days in the Late Jurassic Period (1960-68 ... my daughter says everyone knows that)if anyone ever assert that formally in a thesis or informally in a serious conversation, the laughter wouldn't die down for an hour.
Today, almost de rigueur it is.
I'd seen news about the Harrier squadron - I think some pieces were linked on Instapundit, which is a daily read for me.
ReplyDeleteI don't trust the polls. I've looked hard at Intrade and pace Aridog but I think Intrade is exactly what it purports to be - a very good approximation of the betting line, with lots of liquidity, a narrow bid/ask spread, and lots of money on the line.
Good news is that in the last 3 days I've watched Romney's chances improve by about 2% a day. Maybe some momentum. Bad news is that his odds are only slightly better than 1 in 4.
Intrade may not reflect the true odds but I don't believe it's blatantly rigged. (I'd put the odds at less than 1 in 10... ;) )
"Pace" Aridog...:D
DeleteI think everyone should trust implicitly a betting operation where speculators bet on speculators on non-tangible outcomes that is based in Dublin, Ireland. ;)
I may start my own up, called "Blarney Stone Trading LTD.", that is if the "Travelers" will let me in on their turf. My horse days inform me that betting lines are imaginary most of the time and any matching of results to the line is coincidental. I've never bet even $2 at the ticket window on a horse race ever, and never will. I know too many race horse owners.
That said, Intrade's prediction via bet lines may turn out true...their chances are as good as those for the next asteroid impact on earth.
The betting line is what it is.
DeleteWhatever it is, Obama's odds just clocked down another 3% today.
That Obama betting line is going down fast, but still favors the boy sissy king. Intrade also has Harvard Law Prof Liz (not quite Indian or even licensed attorney) Warren ahead in Massachusetts by a similar margin. Then again they have Mike Huckabee still viable at 1/10th of 1% odds....a real long shot ??
Delete