A million tiny items
posted by hedgehog in Pot-pourri |Fortunately, more like 3.
- The Conservative Party in the U.K. is promoting an Al Gore-style carbon tax as a centrepiece (not centerpiece) of its bid to reclaim power, while the EU is calling for region-wide uniform carbon taxes.
- An article about NBC’s decision to call the Iraq civil war a “civil war” includes this line from the Bushites: “What you do have is sectarian violence that seems to be less aimed at gaining full control over an area than expressing differences, and also trying to destabilize a democracy — which is different than a civil war…” Now we know how we are supposed to “express differences.” Wasn’t the Nicaraguan civil war more about “destabilizing a democracy” than “gaining full control over an area”?
- Newt Gingrich, asshole, says the U.S. in Iraq should revive George Washington’s old slogan: “Victory or death.” It would seem that the decision has been made.
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this paragraph by newt is so wonderful:
There was a very successful 23-day campaign to drive Saddam out of power. It used America’s strengths, and it worked. The second campaign has been an abject failure. We and our Iraqi allies do not have control of Iraq. We cannot guarantee security. There is not enough economic activity to keep young males employed. If the Baker-Hamilton Commission cannot bring itself to recognize a defeat as a defeat, then it cannot recommend the scale of change that is needed to develop a potentially successful third campaign.
the third campaign being the one where we actually try giving control of the country to the locals. he’s too polite to say the heist is blown, or to remind people that of course he’s speaking hypothetically.
it’s confusing, though, when you’re the cops, doing the robbing, and you bungle it. who writes the warrant? who gets to be witness, defendant, jury and judge? do you draw straws?
another question for his list:
when will the baker-hamilton-not-me dweebs show they’ve learned the lessons of proper explosives disposal?
we have to start by admitting that detonating improperly stored dynamite while it’s still in the basement of the other person’s house is not effective or safe. unless we put fresh dynamite in what used to be the basement and remove it properly, according to best practice protocols, the neighbors will think we don’t know what we’re doing.
Posted by hibiscus