Category: music

opportunity cost

The Atlantic Online | October 2004 | Bush’s Lost Year | James Fallows:

Bush’s Lost Year

By deciding to invade Iraq, the Bush Administration decided not to do many other things: not to reconstruct Afghanistan, not to deal with the threats posed by North Korea and Iran, and not to wage an effective war on terror. An inventory of opportunities lost

A lengthy excerpt is here, if you’re not a subscriber.

Some snippets:

* Because of outlays for Iraq, the United States cannot spend $150 billion for other defensive purposes….

* “Are we better off in basic security than before we invaded Iraq?” asks Jeffrey Record, a professor of strategy at the Air War College and the author of the recent Dark Victory, a book about the Iraq War. “The answer is no. An unnecessary war has consumed American Army and other ground resources, to the point where we have nothing left in the cupboard for another contingency—for instance, should the North Koreans decide that with the Americans completely absorbed in Iraq, now is the time to do something.”…

* “We’re really in dire straits with resourcing,” [an army officer] said. “There’s not enough armor for Humvees. There’s not enough fifty-caliber machine guns for the Hundred and First Airborne or the Tenth Mountain Division. A country that can’t field heavy machine guns for its army—there’s something wrong with the way we’re doing business.”…

* To govern is to choose, and the choices made in 2002 were fateful. The United States began that year… with tremendous strategic advantages…. World opinion was strongly sympathetic. Longtime allies were eager to help; longtime antagonists were silent. The federal budget was nearly in balance, making ambitious projects feasible. The U.S. military was superbly equipped, trained, and prepared. An immediate foe was evident—and vulnerable—in Afghanistan. For the longer-term effort against Islamic extremism the Administration could draw on a mature school of thought from academics, regional specialists, and its own intelligence agencies. All that was required was to think broadly about the threats to the country, and creatively about the responses. . . . . . The Bush Administration chose another path. Implicitly at the beginning of 2002, and as a matter of formal policy by the end, it placed all other considerations second to regime change in Iraq. It hampered the campaign in Afghanistan before fighting began and wound it down prematurely, along the way losing the chance to capture Osama bin Laden. It turned a blind eye to misdeeds in Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, and to WMD threats from North Korea and Iran far more serious than any posed by Saddam Hussein, all in the name of moving toward a showdown with Iraq. It overused and wore out its army in invading Iraq—without committing enough troops for a successful occupation. It saddled the United States with ongoing costs that dwarf its spending for domestic security. And by every available measure it only worsened the risk of future terrorism. In every sense 2002 was a lost year.

Another of Kerry’s brothers in arms speaks out

Rood, who commanded one of three swift boats during the Feb. 281969 mission, acknowledged in his first-person account that there could always be errors in recollection, especially with the passage of more than three decades. His Bronze Star citation, he said, misidentifies the river where the main action occurred. That mistake, he said, is a “cautionary note for those trying to piece it all together. There’s no final authority on something that happened so long ago—not the documents and not even the strained recollections of those of us who were there…. “While they mean to hurt Kerry, what they’re saying impugns others who are not in the public eye.”

Rood, who commanded one of three swift boats during the Feb. 28, 1969 mission, acknowledged in his first-person account that there could always be errors in recollection, especially with the passage of more than three decades. His Bronze Star citation, he said, misidentifies the river where the main action occurred.

That mistake, he said, is a “cautionary note for those trying to piece it all together. There’s no final authority on something that happened so long ago—not the documents and not even the strained recollections of those of us who were there.

“But I know that what some people are saying now is wrong,” Rood wrote. “While they mean to hurt Kerry, what they’re saying impugns others who are not in the public eye.”

My father-in-law earned three Purple Hearts in the Pacific: I have nothing but contempt for anyone who challenges the validity of combat decorations or citations.

So where are Bush’s messmates? Who flew with him? Who serviced his jet? Who trained him?

guilt by association?

[Media Matters for America]: “On August 11, on CNN’s Wolf Blitzer Reports, when Blitzer asked O’Neill if he would like to “disassociate” himself from Corsi’s comments “which appear to be anti-Muslim, anti-Jewish, anti-Catholic,” O’Neill quickly responded, “Oh, absolutely” — but then O’Neill proceeded again to downplay Corsi’s role…. He simply helped us in editing the book,” O’Neill said. When Blitzer returned, asking, “All right, but he’s listed as the co-author of the book, isn’t he?” O’Neill admitted that Corsi was listed as the book’s co-author but again claimed that he performed only “a function in editing, in — particularly in the second half of the book, in historical research, because he had done a great deal of research on the anti-war movement, the Vietnam Veterans Against the War, but not in the Vietnam section of the book.”… ] Contrary to O’Neill’s assertion that Corsi only edited “particularly” “the second half of the book …


Unfit book materials show Corsi more than just … [Media Matters for America]:

“On August 11, on CNN’s Wolf Blitzer Reports, when Blitzer asked O’Neill if he would like to “disassociate” himself from Corsi’s comments “which appear to be anti-Muslim, anti-Jewish, anti-Catholic,” O’Neill quickly responded, “Oh, absolutely” — but then O’Neill proceeded again to downplay Corsi’s role. “Corsi acted as sort of an editor of our book. … He simply helped us in editing the book,” O’Neill said. When Blitzer returned, asking, “All right, but he’s listed as the co-author of the book, isn’t he?” O’Neill admitted that Corsi was listed as the book’s co-author but again claimed that he performed only “a function in editing, in — particularly in the second half of the book, in historical research, because he had done a great deal of research on the anti-war movement, the Vietnam Veterans Against the War, but not in the Vietnam section of the book.”
[ . . . ]
Contrary to O’Neill’s assertion that Corsi only edited “particularly” “the second half of the book … but not in the Vietnam section of the book,” according to the book jacket (as well as Unfit’s “BOOK DETAILS,” which are posted on the Regnery website), O’Neill and “his coauthor” Corsi “interviewed dozens of veterans” and “meticulously documented” Kerry’s record[.]

So first, we have this O’Neill character, recruited by the Nixon administration to undermine the anti-war movement and its articulate spokesman, but no one questions his ties to the only president ever resign his office. And now he seeks to disassociate himself from his co-author for his hate-filled views. And this is the party of honor and integrity?

Is anyone else getting the “Nixon as Voldemort — he who must not be named” vibe from all this?

Ronald Reagan (the younger) on why GW Bush is not the heir to Ronald Reagan (the elder)

If you are dead center on the earning scale in real-world twenty-first-century America, you make a bit less than $32,000 a year, and $32,000 is not a sum that Mr. Bush has ever associated with getting by in his world. Bush, who has always managed to fail upwards in his various careers, has never had a job the way you have a job—where not showing up one morning gets you fired, costing you your health benefits. He may find it difficult to relate personally to any of the nearly two million citizens who’ve lost their jobs under his administration, the first administration since Herbert Hoover’s to post a net loss of jobs. Mr. Bush has never had to worry that he couldn’t afford the best available health care for his children. For him, forty-three million people without health insurance may be no more than a politically inconvenient abstraction.

A scorching screed from local resident Ronald Reagan on the incumbent. I don’t think he missed anything.

And chances are your America and George W. Bush’s America are not the same place. If you are dead center on the earning scale in real-world twenty-first-century America, you make a bit less than $32,000 a year, and $32,000 is not a sum that Mr. Bush has ever associated with getting by in his world. Bush, who has always managed to fail upwards in his various careers, has never had a job the way you have a job—where not showing up one morning gets you fired, costing you your health benefits. He may find it difficult to relate personally to any of the nearly two million citizens who’ve lost their jobs under his administration, the first administration since Herbert Hoover’s to post a net loss of jobs. Mr. Bush has never had to worry that he couldn’t afford the best available health care for his children. For him, forty-three million people without health insurance may be no more than a politically inconvenient abstraction. When Mr. Bush talks about the economy, he is not talking about your economy. His economy is filled with pals called Kenny-boy who fly around in their own airplanes. In Bush’s economy, his world, friends relocate offshore to avoid paying taxes. Taxes are for chumps like you. You are not a friend. You’re the help. When the party Mr. Bush is hosting in his world ends, you’ll be left picking shrimp toast out of the carpet.

sometimes you just want stuff that works

ongoing: Stupid Broken Wintel: Sometimes I hate computers.

ongoing: Stupid Broken Wintel:

Sometimes I hate computers.

Tim finds that just because you can connect things together doesn’t mean they actually work.

As for his comment that his wife loathes trackpads, I think it would be fairly easy for someone to make a replacement keyboard with some alternate pointer (that little eraser tip deal that ThinkPads use would be fine) for *Books. I’d like one.

Anyone think they could make this? Would anyone else like something similar?

The Times posts a more detailed mea culpa

The New York Times > Opinion > A Pause for Hindsight: Saddam Hussein was indisputably a violent and vicious tyrant, but an unprovoked attack that antagonized the Muslim world and fractured the international community of peaceful nations was not the solution…. Saddam Hussein and his rotting army were not a threat even to the region, never mind to the United States. Now that we are in Iraq, we must do everything possible to see that the country is stabilized before American forces are withdrawn…. Congress would never have given President Bush a blank check for military action if it had known that there was no real evidence that Iraq was likely to provide aid to terrorists or was capable of inflicting grave damage on our country or our allies…. And even though this page came down against the invasion, we regret now that we didn’t do more to challenge the president’s assumptions.

The New York Times > Opinion > A Pause for Hindsight:

Saddam Hussein was indisputably a violent and vicious tyrant, but an unprovoked attack that antagonized the Muslim world and fractured the international community of peaceful nations was not the solution. There were, and are, equally brutal and potentially more dangerous dictators in power elsewhere. Saddam Hussein and his rotting army were not a threat even to the region, never mind to the United States.

This and the increasing pile of evidence that Iran was the real threat — and the source of the information that led to the coup — makes me wonder how the incumbent regime can survive. But if the toothless media don’t report it, they just might.

what man-made event killed 25,000 Europeans in 2003?

Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Melting ice: the threat to London’s future: “He said the heatwave of last summer in which 25,000 Europeans died had killed more people than terrorism, yet had not been given anything like the same level of attention.”

25,000 people on one continent as a result of a man-made activity.

What was it?
Continue reading “what man-made event killed 25,000 Europeans in 2003?”

I think it’s a joke, but I’m not certain.

REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE CONVENTION SCHEDULE New York, NY 6:00 PM Opening Prayer led by the Reverend Jerry Falwell 6:30 PM Pledge of Allegiance 6:35 PM Burning of Bill of Rights (excluding 2nd Amendment) 6:45 PM Salute to the Coalition of the Willing 6:46 PM Seminar #1: “Getting Your Kid a Military Deferment” 7:30 PM First Presidential Beer Bong 7:35 PM Freedom Fries served 7:40 PM EPA Address #1: “Mercury: It’s What’s for Dinner” 8:00 PM Vote on which country to invade next 8:10 PM Call EMTs to revive Rush Limbaugh 8:15 PM John Ashcroft Lecture: “The Homos Are After Your Children” 8:30 PM Round table discussion on reproductive rights (men only) 8:50 PM Seminar #2: ” Corporations: The Government of the Future” 9:00 PM Condi Rice sings “Can’t Help Lovin’ Dat Man” 9:05 PM Second Presidential Beer Bong 9:10 PM EPA Address #2: “Trees: The Real Cause of Forest Fires” 9:30 PM Break for secret meetings 10:00 PM Second Prayer led by Cal Thomas 10:15 PM Karl Rove Lecture: “Doublespeak Made Simple” 10:30 PM Rumsfeld Lecture/Demonstration: “How to Squint and Talk Macho Even when You Feel Squishy Inside” 10:35 PM Bush demonstration of trademark “deer in headlights” stare 10:40 PM John Ashcroft Demonstration: “New Mandatory Kevlar Chastity Belt” 10:45 PM Clarence Thomas reads list of black Republicans 10:46 PM Third Presidential Beer Bong 10:50 PM Seminar #3: “Education: A Drain on Our Nation’s Economy” 11:10 PM Hillary Clinton Pinata 11:20 PM John Ashcroft Lecture: “Evolutionists: A Dangerous New Cult” 11:30 PM Call EMTs to revive Rush Limbaugh again 11:35 PM Blame Clinton 11:40 PM Laura serves milk and cookies 11:50 PM Closing Prayer led by Jesus Himself 12:00 PM Nomination of George W.

REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE
CONVENTION SCHEDULE
New York, NY

6:00 PM Opening Prayer led by the Reverend Jerry Falwell
6:30 PM Pledge of Allegiance
6:35 PM Burning of Bill of Rights (excluding 2nd Amendment)
6:45 PM Salute to the Coalition of the Willing
6:46 PM Seminar #1: ”Getting Your Kid a Military Deferment”

7:30 PM First Presidential Beer Bong
7:35 PM Freedom Fries served
7:40 PM EPA Address #1: “Mercury: It’s What’s for Dinner”

8:00 PM Vote on which country to invade next
8:10 PM Call EMTs to revive Rush Limbaugh
8:15 PM John Ashcroft Lecture: ”The Homos Are After Your Children”
8:30 PM Round table discussion on reproductive rights (men only)
8:50 PM Seminar #2: ” Corporations: The Government of the Future”

9:00 PM Condi Rice sings “Can’t Help Lovin’ Dat Man”
9:05 PM Second Presidential Beer Bong
9:10 PM EPA Address #2: ”Trees: The Real Cause of Forest Fires”
9:30 PM Break for secret meetings

10:00 PM Second Prayer led by Cal Thomas
10:15 PM Karl Rove Lecture: “Doublespeak Made Simple”
10:30 PM Rumsfeld Lecture/Demonstration: “How to Squint and Talk Macho Even when You Feel Squishy Inside”
10:35 PM Bush demonstration of trademark “deer in headlights” stare
10:40 PM John Ashcroft Demonstration: ”New Mandatory Kevlar Chastity Belt”
10:45 PM Clarence Thomas reads list of black Republicans
10:46 PM Third Presidential Beer Bong
10:50 PM Seminar #3: ”Education:  A Drain on Our Nation’s Economy”

11:10 PM Hillary Clinton Pinata
11:20 PM John Ashcroft Lecture: ”Evolutionists: A Dangerous New Cult”
11:30 PM Call EMTs to revive Rush Limbaugh again
11:35 PM Blame Clinton
11:40 PM Laura serves milk and cookies
11:50 PM Closing Prayer led by Jesus Himself
12:00 PM Nomination of George W. Bush as Holy Supreme Planetary Overlord

The times booked for each event are a giggle.
[via World O’Crap]

what journalists (used to) do

ongoing · Malice and Incompetence: A Student of the World That’s what I’d like to be, into my grave. I’d like to be more than a student, I’d like to be a scholar. A scholar is defined as one who reads the primary sources and does not make arguments without quoting the evidence. If you’re a journalist or a commentator or a politician and you’re getting paid for making comments in public on the war and the intelligence failure, and you haven’t read all 521 pages of this report, you’re not a scholar and you’re not a student, you’re a whore.

ongoing · Malice and Incompetence:

If you’re a journalist or a commentator or a politician and you’re getting paid for making comments in public on the war and the intelligence failure, and you haven’t read all 521 pages of this report, you’re not a scholar and you’re not a student, you’re a whore.

I haven’t read it yet. But the only intelligence failure I’m really concerned with has nothing to do with the CIA and everything to do with the trumped-up case for invading the house of cards formerly run by Saddam Hussein.

Continue reading “what journalists (used to) do”