Perks At Club Gitmo

Here's a question: Who do you American voters want to see on the evening news getting the vaccine first: Gitmo detainees or pregnant women?

Steve Hayes writes:

"Frustration and anger have been building but there had not been an obvious target for those feelings. That may have changed late Friday afternoon with the news that the Pentagon has offered to give swine flu shots to detainees at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba."

Major Diana Haynie, a spokesman for the Joint Task Force at Gitmo, explained the decision this way:

"Detainees at JTF Guantanamo are considered to be at higher risk and therefore they will be offered the H1N1 vaccination."

Really?

Higher risk than whom?

Pregnant women are six times more likely than others to have a fatal bout of swine flu — and yet some of them have been unable to get a shot.

The shortage is so severe that state and local health officials have been forced to cancel and reschedule vaccination clinics, and to adjust their strategies about who gets a shot and when.

Once again, our government at work protecting its citizens.

Another Example Of Job Creation

Shouldn't the White House just go all out and put a giant scoreboard/clock thingy above the Rose Garden like those national debt clocks?

You know, a running odometer of "jobs saved or created"?

It's all such b.s. anyway, why not commit whole hog?

Dancing With The Czars

A big thank you to South Florida 912 for putting this together.

OBAMA'S "CZARS"

Richard Holbrooke: Afghanistan Czar. Ultra-liberal anti-gun former Gov. of New Mexico. Pro Abortion and legal drug use.

Ed Montgomery: Auto recovery Czar. Black radical anti-business activist. Affirmative Action and Job Preference for blacks. Univ of Maryland Business School Dean who teaches US business has caused world poverty. ACORN board member. Communist DuBois Club member.

Jeffrey Crowley: AIDS Czar. Homosexual. A Gay-Rights activist. Believes in Gay Marriage and Special Status, including free health care for gays.

Alan Bersin: Border Czar. former failed superintendent of San Diego. Ultra-liberal friend of Hilary Clinton. Served as Border Czar under Janet Reno – to keep borders open to illegals.

David J. Hayes: California Water Czar. Sr. Fellow of radical environmentalist group, “Progress Policy”. No training or experience in water management.

Ron Bloom: Car Czar. Auto Union worker. Anti business & anti nuclear. Has worked hard to force US auto makers out of business. Sits on the Board of Chrysler which is now Auto Union owned.

Dennis Ross: Central Region Czar. Believes US policy has caused Mid East wars. Obama apologist to the world. Anti gun and pro abortion.

Lynn Rosenthal: Domestic Violence Czar. Director of the National Network to End Domestic Violence. Vicious anti-male feminist. Supported male castration.

Gil Kerlikowske: Drug Czar. Devoted lobbyist for every restrictive gun law proposal, Former Chief of Police in Liberal Seattle. Believes no American should own a firearm. Supports legalization of drugs.

Carol Brower: Energy and Environment Czar. Political Radical Former head of EPA - known for anti-business activism. Strong anti-gun ownership. SOCIALIST on Commission for a Sustainable World Society, which calls for "global governance" and says rich countries must shrink their economies to address climate change.

Joshua DuBois: Faith Based Czar. Political Black activist Degree in Black Nationalism. Seeks a separate black nation. Anti gun-ownership lobbyist.

Cameron Davis: Great Lakes Czar. Chicago radical anti-business environmentalist. Blames George Bush for “Poisoning the water that minorities have to drink.” No experience or training in water management. Former ACORN Board member.

Van Jones: Green Jobs Czar (since resigned). Black activist Member of American communist Party and San Francisco Communist Party who said George W. Bush caused the 911 attack and wanted Bush investigated by the World Court for war crimes. MARXIST, said whites are poisoning blacks. Said transformation from “suicidal gray capitalism to econ-capitalism to the complete redistribution of wealth.” Black activist with strong anti-white views.

Daniel Fried: Guantanamo Closure Czar. Rights activist for foreign terrorists. Believes America has caused the war on terrorism.

Nancy-Ann DeParle: Health Czar. Former head of Medicare/Medicaid. Strong health care rationing proponent. She is married to a reporter for The New York Times.

Vivek Kundra: Information Czar. Born in New Delhi, India. Controls all public information including labels and news releases. Monitors all private Internet emails.

Todd Stern: International Climate Czar. Anti-business former White House chief of Staff. Strong supporter of the Kyoto Accord. Pushing hard for Cap and Trade. Blames US business for "global warming."

Dennis Blair: Intelligence Czar. Stopped US guided missile program. Opined it was too “provocative”. Chair of ultra-liberal “Council on Foreign Relations” which blames American organizations for regional wars.

George Mitchell: Mideast Peace Czar. Former Sen. from Maine left-wing radical. Has said Israel should be split up into “2 or 3" smaller more manageable plots”. Anti-nuclear anti-gun & pro homosexual.

Kenneth Feinberg: Pay Czar. Chief of Staff to TED KENNEDY. Lawyer who got rich off the 911 victims payoffs.

Cass Sunstein: Regulatory Czar. Liberal activist judge believes free speech needs to be limited for the “common good”. Rules against personal freedoms many times –like private gun ownership. Says animals should be able to sue people. Anti-hunting.

John Holdren: Science Czar. Fierce ideological environmentalist, Sierra Club, anti- business activist. Claims US business has caused world poverty. No Science training. Thinks TREES should be able to sue humans.

Earl Devaney: Stimulus Accountability Czar. Spent career trying to take guns away from American citizens. Believes in Open Borders with Mexico. Author of a statement blaming US gun stores for drug war in Mexico.

J. Scott Gration: Sudan Czar. Native of Democratic Republic of Congo. Believes US does little to help Third World countries. Council on foreign relations, asking for higher US taxes to support the United Nations.

Herb Allison: TARP Czar. Fannie May CEO responsible for the US recession by using real estate mortgages to back up the US stock market. Caused millions of people to lose their life savings.

John Brennan: Terrorism Czar. Anti CIA activist. No training in diplomatic or govenrmental affairs. Believes open borders with Mexico and a dialog with terrorists and has suggested Obama disband US military.

Aneesh Chopra: Technology Czar. No Technology training. Worked for the Advisory Board Company, a health care think tank for hospitals. Anti-doctor activist. Supports Obama health care rationing and salaried doctors working exclusively for the governmental health-care plan.

Adolfo Carrion Jr.: Urban Affairs Czar. Puerto Rican. Anti-American activist and leftist group member in Latin America. Millionaire “slum lord” of the Bronx, NY. Owns many lavish homes and condos which he got from “sweetheart” deals with labor unions. Wants higher taxes to pay for minority housing and health care.

Ashton Carter: Weapons Czar. Leftist. Wants all private weapons in US destroyed. Supports UN ban on firearms ownership in America.

Gary Samore: WMD Policy Czar. Former US Communist. Wants US to destroy all WMD unilaterally as a show of good faith. Has no other “policy”.


Kevin Jennings: Safe School Czar. As a teacher when a 15-year old said he was having sex with an older man, instead of turning in the man (required by law) he asked how it was going and suggested they use condoms. Held a conference with the MAXIMUM age of 18 to teach homosexual issues like “fisting.” Wrote the intro to the book, “Queering Elementary Education.” Has repeatedly praised and claims to be inspired by Harry Hay, early supporter of NAMBLA, (North American Man Boy Love Association.)


[h/t Ruthie]

Let me see if I understand all this...

IF YOU CROSS THE NORTH KOREAN BORDER ILLEGALLY YOU GET 12 YEARS HARD LABOR.

IF YOU CROSS THE IRANIAN BORDER ILLEGALLY YOU ARE DETAINED INDEFINITELY.

IF YOU CROSS THE AFGHAN BORDER ILLEGALLY, YOU GET SHOT.

IF YOU CROSS THE SAUDI ARABIAN BORDER ILLEGALLY YOU WILL BE JAILED.

IF YOU CROSS THE CHINESE BORDER ILLEGALLY YOU MAY NEVER BE HEARD FROM AGAIN.

IF YOU CROSS THE VENEZUELAN BORDER ILLEGALLY YOU WILL BE BRANDED A SPY AND YOUR FATE WILL BE SEALED.

IF YOU CROSS THE CUBAN BORDER ILLEGALLY YOU WILL BE THROWN INTO POLITICAL PRISON TO ROT.

IF YOU CROSS THE U.S. BORDER ILLEGALLY YOU GET A JOB, A DRIVERS LICENSE, SOCIAL SECURITY CARD, WELFARE, FOOD STAMPS, CREDIT CARDS, SUBSIDIZED RENT OR A LOAN TO BUY A HOUSE, FREE EDUCATION, FREE HEALTH CARE, A LOBBYIST IN WASHINGTON AND IN MANY INSTANCES YOU CAN VOTE.

[h/t Ben Anthony]

Presidential Poll Numbers

I think the president could improve his poll ratings markedly if he simply took all the things he has said about Limbaugh, Hannity, Fox News, the town-hallers, and his domestic critics and instead applied that invective to Iran, radical Islam, Russia, and Venezuela, and, in turn, took all the outreach things he's said to the latter and applied them to the former.

Tax You Very Much

Tyler Cowen has a good piece on insurance mandates in today's NYT.

Cowen notes an argument against mandates that's been largely overlooked: A subtler problem is what economists call “implicit marginal tax rates.”

The fiscal reality is that not all income groups can receive equal subsidies; as a family earns more, its subsidy would probably decrease, eventually falling to zero.

But then we are taking money away from the poor as they climb into higher income categories.

This is a disincentive to earn more, and the strength of the disincentive increases with our initial generosity.

For many people, the health insurance aid would phase out when food stamps, housing vouchers and the earned income tax credit also end and the personal income tax kicks in.

Discuss.

"Ideological-Americans" v. Americans?

At one time or another, Obama and his supporters have, rather scurrilously, insulted doctors, insurers, the police, tea-partiers and town-hallers, opponents of his health-care plan, non-compliant members of the media, and a host of other groups as either greedy, dishonest, treasonous, unpatriotic, mob-like, racist, or, in general, worthy of disrespect.

Fewer and fewer Americans now believe that Obama — after just nine months of governance — is a uniter.

In Obama’s world, doctors carve out children’s tonsils for profit, racist morons rant at legislators about losing their private health care, and trillions in borrowed money must be paid back by the greedy rich whose capital was unearned in the first place.

When his base supporters lambaste him for softness, they are lamenting his inability to become an effective partisan — not a lack of partisanship in general.

In surreal fashion, liberals demand that the ideologue Obama become more ideological precisely at the time his ideologically driven agenda is souring millions of non-ideological Americans.

The Pledge To Our Country

We're Doomed!

Courtesy of P.M. Gordon Brown, who says we only have 50 days left to save the planet:

The UK faces a "catastrophe" of floods, droughts and killer heatwaves if world leaders fail to agree on a deal on climate change, the prime minister has warned.

Gordon Brown said negotiators had 50 days to save the world from global warming and break the "impasse."

He told the Major Economies Forum in London, which brings together 17 of the world's biggest greenhouse gas-emitting countries, there was "no plan B."

World delegations meet in Copenhagen in December for talks on a new treaty.

Anyone?. . . Anyone?. . . Bueller?. . .

As you know now, the deficit for FY2009 has reached $1.4 trillion, or 9.9 percent of the GDP. It's the biggest deficit since the end of World War II.

In Washington, a common explanation is that the recession produced the deficit. As if that makes it okay.

To be sure, the recession caused substantially lower tax revenue — $419 billion lower.

But the bulk of the deficit is made of spending. A lot of spending since it amounts to $1 trillion: $459 billion of the deficit came from spending decisions made in the years preceding 2009; $245 billion is due to the financial bailout and $347 billion is mainly stimulus spending.

Why does this matter?

Because we have no idea what such big deficits, sustained over so many years, will do to our economy.

Remember that for each of Obama’s years in office, the deficit is projected to be larger than any year during Bush’s terms. That's unprecedented.

For years, the main academic debate over deficit spending was whether it raised long-term interest rates and therefore reduced economic growth. Economists couldn't really find any correlation.

But will that be true now?

It is possible that the reason we haven’t seen a correlation between budget deficits, which were usually around 3 or 4 percent, and interest rates so far is that foreign investment in American assets has increased over the years, dulling the impact of fiscal policy.

The real question — and the real threat — is what will happen if that investment stops, or even if it merely slows down.

And what about when foreign investors stop trusting us? What about when the deficit reaches 10 percent of GDP? 20 percent?

Economic debates aside, deficits certainly do matter if you care about shrinking the size of the state. Budget gaps are a Ponzi scheme. There is always a moment where the government can't get a hold of enough of our cash to maintain appearances.

The Fox Guarding The Hen House

Jacob Weisberg is vexed and righteous in his hatred of Fox News. It's a "propaganda" machine pretending to be a news outlet.

Blah blah blah. You know the argument. What's new is that he thinks liberal journalists shouldn't appear on the network either. That'll show 'em!

What is hilarious is that Weisberg wrote this for Newsweek, which has relaunched itself, in the words of Andrew Ferguson, as a "liberal opinion magazine written by liberals who don't want to admit they're liberals."

The new Newsweek is everything Weisberg accuses Fox of being, just far more smug and dishonest about it (the old Newsweek was no great shakes, either).

But I don't think there's any need to call for a boycott of it; consumers are doing exactly that already.

Meow, Mao, Meow, Mao, Meow & c.

I am not a big fan of saying that officials should resign for stupid remarks.

But interim White House communications director Anita Dunn's praise of Mao Zedong as a "political philosopher" is so unhinged and morally repugnant, that she should hang it up, pronto.

Mao killed anywhere from 50 million to 70 million innocents in the initial cleansing of Nationalists, the scouring of the countryside, the failed Great Leap Forward and Cultural Revolution, Tibet, and the internal Chinese gulag.

Dunn's praise of a genocidal monster was no inadvertent slip: She was reading from a written text and went into great detail to give the full context of the remark.

Moreover, her comments were not some student outburst from 30 years ago; they were delivered on June 5, 2009.

Her praise of Mao's insight and courage in defeating the Nationalists was offered long after the full extent of Mao's mass-murdering had been well documented. Mao killed more people than any other single mass killer in the history of civilization.

So where do all these people, so intimate with our president (Dunn is the wife of his personal lawyer), come from?

A right-wing attack machine could not make up such statements as those tossed off by a Dunn or a Van Jones. There seems to be neither a moral compass nor even a casual knowledge of history in this administration.

And now we have the avatars of the "new politics" claiming it's okay to praise Mao's political and philosophical insight and his supposed determination ("You fight your war, and I'll fight mine") because Lee Atwater supposedly once evoked Mao too.

Ms. Dunn should simply duck out of her D.C. suburb and ask any Tibetan or Chinese immigrant in his 70s and 80s what life was really like in Mao's China.

Miss Him Yet?

Europe was said to have hated George W. Bush.

But in President Bush’s second term, friendly governments in Britain, France, Germany, and Italy could count on American support in any crisis that might threaten the wealthy but defenseless European Union.

Now, with Obama’s real interests unclear, these countries are, like spurned teenage lovers, acting out their worries in neurotic fashion. Sometimes lovestruck Europe gets sassy and slights its indifferent heartthrob.

Obama flew into Copenhagen for an hour, thought he could charm the infatuated Europeans who dominate the International Olympic Committee to give Chicago the 2016 Games, and then blithely jetted out — only to learn on his way home that his hometown bid had been rejected.

At other times, as with the Nobel Peace Prize, a gushing and desperate Europe gives him almost anything to gain his affection and attention.

Now that Obama has been granted the award, the Norwegians are babbling about “vision” and “hope,” rather than real achievement, as the basis for their decision.

Perhaps the tiny country hopes that if it gives Obama an award for utopian pacifism, then he most surely will have to act like a European utopian pacifist rather than commander-in-chief of the most powerful nation in history.

The Bum's Rush

Clearly, liberals would prefer the Rams be bought by someone they can wholeheartedly support, like Roman Polanski.

Rush Limbaugh can't be a minority owner in a football team because he called NBA players who go into a fight with fans "thugs."

If that's the bar, I wonder what action NBC will take over Jay Leno's NBA joke?

From the "Top of the Ticket" Twitter feed:

Leno: Congress now discussing giving $500 to everyone who has a baby. Great! Lets make these NBA players even richer.

No Jews Allowed

The British paper The Guardian – which one would just dismiss as an irrelevant left-wing rag, except that it is the overwhelming paper of choice for British teachers and for news staff at the BBC, the world’s largest broadcasting network, who are “inspired” by Guardian stories on a daily basis in their broadcasts – is no friend of Israel and the Jews, as has been noted before.

But now it has wiped Israel off the Nobel Prize map, much as Iranian despot Mahmoud Ahmadinejad would like to wipe Israel off the real map.

To accompany their story about Barack Obama winning the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize, The Guardian posted on their website what they claimed was “every peace prize winner ever,” stating that the information came from the website Nobelprize.org.

But guess whose names The Guardian took off the list, KGB-style, hoping no-one would notice?

All three Israelis who have won the peace prize: Menachem Begin, Yitzhak Rabin and Shimon Peres.

Following outrage in Britain, including online articles on the websites of the conservative-leaning Daily Telegraph and Spectator (why are most anti-Semites on the Left these days?), The Guardian slipped the Israeli names back on to their list.

The Guardian had no trouble keeping FW De Klerk, the last president of Apartheid South Africa, on their original list.

It is only the Jews – and their achievements – which they tried to wipe off the map. And this from a paper whose motto is “Facts are sacred”.

Of course The Guardian – like several other prominent European papers – misleads readers about Israel on a regular basis by omitting crucial information that portrays Israelis in a positive light.

This time it was caught red-handed, as the (London) Jewish Chronicle and the Harry’s Place blog managed to upload The Guardian’s Israel-free Nobel list before The Guardian slipped the names back in.


Below, The Guardian omitted Israeli political leaders Shimon Peres and Yitzhak Rabin, who won the peace prize jointly with Yasser Arafat in 1994. (Incidentally The Guardian forgot to remove the word “Israel” when removing the names of the Israeli winners):

Menachem Begin and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat were jointly awarded the 1978 peace prize for signing an Israeli-Egyptian peace treaty. Only Sadat was listed by The Guardian.

Something We Should Know

http://www.aboutisrael.co.il/heb/freepage.php?id=997
[h/t Ruthie]

Stars & Stripes

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ETrr-XHBjE

[h/t Sheila Verdi]

Sesame Street Smackdown

Nobel Peace Prize Winner: Barack Hussein Obama

Does it seem like a joke? Yes, yes it does. Does Obama deserve this award? Hell no! A President as divisive in his own country as Barack Hussein Obama who uses Race when needed certainly does not deserve such a prize that is clearly losing esteem or any real meaning. Granted, it doesn't always go to right people. Oh, I know he pretends to be the man who brings people together for the Beer Summits, but the reality is far different.

One thing Barack Obama has proven he's good at, is making issues about himself. If America is wrong, he had nothing do with it. Even when America is in the right it's wrong. He likes to use the word "I" alot, never "we." Under his leadership all should be forgiven because he's in charge now. Our country has never looked so weak. If weak makes for a leader of Peace, then perhaps he deserves it. God knows he will relish the award as it is all about him every day while he is in the Office of The President Of The United States. This award is strictly for one person and in that, good for him.

"I do not view it as a recognition of my own accomplishments. But rather as an affirmation of American leadership. ... I will accept this award as a call to action." The same leadership you constantly berate, degrade and denounce every chance you get abroad?

"This award is not simply about my administration," he said. It "must be shared" with everyone who strives for "justice and dignity." Here we are with the public face and the use of the "my"s and "I"s. We know what you really mean.

I just wonder how such an organization could give such an award based on everything Obama represents and has associated with all his life. Well, we know the answer to that. It's about liberalism and a weak America and those in favor of this new reality will push for it every chance they get.

Now about that little war and helping those troops you promised you'd help protect during your campaign.

A Peace Of The Football Prize

After a number of years, the NFL renamed its Super Bowl trophy after its most fitting recipient — it's now called the Vince Lombardi Trophy.

I'd like to see the Nobel Foundation follow suit.

If today's headlines said, "Barack Obama Wins Yasser Arafat Prize," that would be perfect.

Two Trillion Tons by The Ghost Of Tennessee Ernie Ford

This really speaks for itself. Listen and weep.

Yo-Ho, Yo-Ho, A Pirate's Life For Me

Somali pirates attack French military flagship


Wed Oct 7, 11:10 am ET

NAIROBI (AFP) – Somali pirates attempted to storm the French navy's 18,000 tonne flagship in the Indian Ocean after mistaking it for a cargo vessel, the French military said on Wednesday.

The crew of La Somme, a 160-metre (525-foot) command vessel and fuel tanker, easily saw off the brazen night-time assault by lightly armed fighters on two lightweight skiffs and captured five pirates, a spokesman said.

"The pirates, who because of the darkness took the French ship for a commercial vessel, were on board two vessels and opened fire with Kalashnikovs," Admiral Christophe Prazuck said in Paris.

La Somme is the French command vessel in the Indian Ocean, overseeing French air, sea and land forces fighting Somali pirates and hunting terrorists under the banner of the US-led Operation Enduring Freedom.

Officers on the ship have directed commando operations to free French hostages in the hands of Somali pirates.

The pirates tried to flee when they realised their mistake but were pursued by French forces who, after an hour-long chase, caught one of the skiffs, Prazuck said.

On it they found five men but no weapons, water or food as the pirates had apparently thrown all of the boat's contents overboard, the spokesman said.

A Western official at sea in the area, speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity, said that there had been an exchange of fire between the warship and the pirate launches.

"One of the skiffs managed to get away in the night because La Somme was busy with the first pirate boat," he said.

"Despite the arrival of other vessels, they haven't yet managed to find the second boat," he said, adding that many warships in the area were busy hunting another group which attacked a cargo ship off the Seychelles on Sunday.

The world's naval powers have deployed dozens of warships to the lawless waters off Somalia over the past year to curb attacks by pirates in one of the world's busiest maritime trade routes.

La Somme was operating 250 nautical miles (460 kilometres) off the Somali coast, on its way to resupply fuel to frigates patrolling shipping lanes as part of the European Union's Operation Atalanta anti-piracy mission.

This was not the first time that Somali pirates have mistakenly attacked a French naval vessel.

Several pirates were captured in May when they attempted to board a frigate in the area.

Somalia has had no proper government since it plunged into lawlessness after President Mohamed Siad Barre was overthrown in 1991.

The country is riven by factional fighting and pirate gangs operate freely from several ports along its Indian Ocean and Gulf of Aden coasts.

According to the environmental watchdog Ecoterra International, at least 163 attacks have been carried out by Somali pirates since the start of 2009 alone, 47 of them successful hijackings.

Last year, more than 130 merchant ships were attacked, an increase of more than 200 percent on 2007, according to the International Maritime Bureau's Piracy Reporting Centre in Kuala Lumpur.

Pirates have in recent weeks resumed attacks with the end of the monsoon season. Last week Somali gunmen captured Spanish fishing boat The Alakrana with 36 crew members in the Indian Ocean.

The US Maritime Administration warned last month that the end of the monsoon season was likely to bring an increase in piracy off Somalia and urged shipping companies to be vigilant.

Calmer waters allow pirates, who often operate in small fibreglass skiffs towed out to sea by captured fishing vessels, to hijack freighters, trawlers and private yachts.

Quilt Me An Afghan

Afghanistan is a messy war, but so far it has been conducted with a minimum loss of American life while achieving some important goals.

We can argue about current strategies, fault what’s been done in the past, deplore the length of the war, lament its cost, or blame each other for its inconclusiveness, but the facts remain that we removed the Taliban, weakened al-Qaeda in the region, fostered a consensual government in the most unlikely of places, and helped to prevent another catastrophic attack on our nation originating from that part of the world — and did all this with a degree of skill that is reflected in losses that by historical standards are quite moderate.

After the initial invasion, the Afghan front was largely inactive for years.

U.S. annual fatalities from 2001 through 2007 (12, 49, 48, 52, 99, 98, 117) averaged about 68.

By comparison, the murder total in Chicago for 2007 was 509. Some parts of Chicago were far more dangerous than the Hindu Kush.

The decisive first three months of the war (October to December 2001) accounted for a little over one percent of American military deaths that year, one in which there were no other major combat operations.

Indeed, in 2002 Afghanistan accounted for about four percent of all military personnel lost while on duty.

For the first two years of the war, an American soldier was far more likely to die of illness while stationed outside of Afghanistan than to be killed inside Afghanistan.

By 2006, the fatality rate in Afghanistan was six percent of all military deaths, including those lost to accidents, illnesses, and the war in Iraq.

We are rightly alarmed about the spike in fatalities over the last few months, but even at these highest monthly death rates of the entire war, we have lost 153 over roughly the last 100 days of combat — an average of about 1.5 per day.

For much of the 1990s, we lost well over three American soldiers per day to accidents, illnesses, and suicides, a military fatality rate far higher than the rate of combat losses in both Iraq and Afghanistan during the last three months. (In comparison, Iraq’s fatalities over those same 100 days were 27 American deaths, or less than one loss every three days).

Afghanistan is a tough, nasty war, but so far, by the standard of past American “police actions,” its monthly toll is light.

In some 97 consecutive months of warring, we have lost 869 dead, or not quite nine a month.

By comparison, 909 Americans were killed on average each month in Korea over 37 months, and 469 Americans were killed on average each month in Vietnam over 101 months of conflict.

So far, Afghanistan is costing about a hundredth of the monthly fatalities in Korea, and a fiftieth of those in Vietnam.

The key is to remain flexible and adaptable.

What worked in 2001 to rout the Taliban with a minimum of human and material losses may not work in 2009 to keep insurgents from attacking the fragile democracy. Often counterinsurgency is not at odds with, but complementary to, ongoing counterterrorism operations.

And despite the demagoguery, our efforts in Iraq may not have been antithetical to those in Afghanistan but oddly synergistic, as thousands of jihadists flocked to the “main theater,” where it was much easier for the American military to deal with them — as the enormous jihadist losses in Iraq, and the relative quiet there now, attest.

So now Afghanistan is flaring up, perhaps because Islamists, like U.S. forces, have turned their attention to the original focus after the decision in Iraq.

It seems that al-Qaeda’s leaders, Ayman al-Zawahiri and Osama bin Laden, suddenly are no longer calling for the devout to travel to Anbar to kill the infidel, but instead to come to Waziristan and help the Taliban with the real struggle.

And why not, after suffering thousands killed and failing to stop Nouri al-Maliki’s constitutional effort in Iraq?

How odd that America and its allies, the winning side in Iraq, would be demoralized by their progress, while the losing side would be reenergized to try its luck again in Afghanistan?

By historical standards (c/f. McClellan, MacArthur, the 1949 “revolt of the admirals,” or the 2006 “revolt of the generals”), General McChrystal’s remarks have been relatively mild.

In short, our generalship, our combat operations, and our efforts to create some sort of civil society were not misplaced or misguided, however great the current partisan hysteria.

By past American military standards, the mission in Afghanistan is singularly difficult and ambitious, but the way we have fought it has been unusually economical in lives lost.

Gays, Muslims & c.

There'll be a lot more of this in the future:

French Gay Soccer Team Snubbed By Muslim Team

The gay team has accused the Muslims of homophobia. But isn't accusing Muslims of homophobia a bit Islamophobic?

The Party's Over

Government intervention into our daily lives always ends up costing us more for often less-efficient services or goods.

This new Reason TV video, narrated by Nick Gillespie, is more evidence of that fact.

After banning smoking in bars and restaurants and going after our favorite foods, the U.S. government is following the steps of the European Union in banning light bulbs.

Poor Mr. Edison and poorer us.

Who Can Make The Sun Shine?

The president is considering more stimulus spending.

According to Bloomberg News:

President Barack Obama is considering a mix of spending programs and tax cuts to respond to widening job losses that would amount to an additional economic stimulus without carrying that label.

The discussion of the initiatives, including a boost in transportation spending and an extension of an expiring tax credit for first-time homebuyers, comes as the White House is balancing rising concern about unemployment and a budget deficit the Congressional Budget Office estimates will total $1.6 trillion for 2009, and $1.4 trillion in 2010.

The New York Times claims that these new initiatives do not amount to another stimulus.

I agree — it won't stimulate the economy. It never does. But one thing is certain: It amounts to more spending.

For instance, the White House is considering giving employers a $3,000 tax credit for each new hire, or extending the always popular $8,000 tax credit for first-time homebuyers that was included in the $787 billion stimulus law because as we know, we need another housing bubble and more people buying houses they won't be able to afford.

When Beck Beckons

Went to meet Glenn Beck Saturday night in Providence. What a surprise, a pleasant surprise, at the turnout. People of all flavors yet of equal thought. Certainly not in a bad way; rather the American way.

Met our Governor and his lovely wife. Sort of reminded me of Barbara Bush. Is that an insult? Not at all. Like Glenn Beck she carried herself gracefully with confidence and dignity.

Outside, the 11 token protesters. The chant went thusly, "Don and Glenn, Go Away! Racist, sexist, anti-gay!"

Really.

Is this the best they could do?

To prove that God exists, the protestant bullhorn went dead and had been granted Extreme Unction about five minutes before the barker became aware of his situation.

Hilarity for free.

Met a group of high-school Conservatives. Great people, great time.

The Unruly Mob was anything but. Police estimates put the crowd at 800. As the tea-party attendees fully understand that number was low. At least 1,000. Likely more.

American Hero: Ed Freeman

You're a 19-year-old kid.

You're critically wounded and dying in the jungle in the Ia Drang Valley, on 11-14-1965, LZ X-ray, Vietnam.

Your infantry unit is outnumbered 8 - 1 and the enemy fire is so intense, from 100 or 200 yards away, that your own Infantry Commander has ordered the MediVac helicopters
to stop coming in.

You're lying there, listening to the enemy machine guns and you know you're not getting out.

Your family is 1/2 way around the world, 12,000 miles away and you'll never see them again.

As the world starts to fade in and out, you know this is the day.

Then - over the machine gun noise - you faintly hear that sound of a helicopter.

You look up to see an unarmed Huey but it doesn't seem real because there are no visible Medivac markings.

Ed Freeman is coming for you.

He's not MediVac so it's not his job, but he's flying his Huey down into the machine-gun fire anyway. Even after the MediVacs were ordered not to come.

He's coming anyway and he drops it in and sits there in the machine-gun fire, as they load 2 or 3 of you on board.

Then he flies you up and out through the gunfire to the Doctors and Nurses.

He kept coming back. 13 times.

He took about 30 of you and your buddies out who would never have gotten out.

Medal of Honor Recipient, Ed Freeman, died recently at the age of 80, in Boise, ID.

May God Rest His Soul.

I bet you didn't hear about this hero's passing, but we've sure seen a breathless reckoning about the death of Michael Jackson.

Medal of Honor Winner Ed Freeman: Shame on the American media.

[h/t Charlie Gifford]

Beck 1,000; Protesters 11

Who made the evening news? More tomorrow.

The International Joke Rides On

Obama's consistent.

No Olympics for Chicago.
No additional soldiers for the soldiers.
No common sense.
No ethics.
No clue.

The lack of leadership continues, while his perception as a major international joke to our enemies and friends abroad continues to soar. Those people adore him abroad because their hatred for America and their efforts to knock our country down will be embraced. Those in the media and Hollywood who love him hate traditional America and will continue to deride those who have made the country great.

Next stop. Who knows?

Olympic Decisions: Chicago Style

It didn't work.

This picture is priceless.

[h/t Fernando Faria]

"The Ego Has Landed." -Rush Limbaugh

Blame it on Rio!

Obama’s brand is trans-nationalism and an “America is not exceptional” multiculturalism.

According to his worldview, it makes sense that a South America — especially a powerful, ascendant country such as Brazil — should at last have its turn at hosting the Olympics. It did not seem consistent that a politician who had reached out to the Castros, Chavez, Morales, and Ortega, in parochial fashion, would lobby for his own hometown over a “yes, we can” Latin American initiative, especially one involving an exciting city such as Rio.

He Said It First

Nancy Pelosi, just under two weeks ago:

"We are a free country, and this balance between freedom and safety is one that we have to carefully balance," Pelosi began. She then became emotional as she recalled the events, startling the reporters gathered for the weekly news conference.

"I saw this, myself, in the late '70s in San Francisco," she said. "This kind of rhetoric was very frightening and it created a climate in which violence took place."

Regaining control, she expressed a wish that "we would all, again, curb our enthusiasm in some of the statements that are made" and "take responsibility" for what is said.

Nancy Pelosi, yesterday:

"Apparently Republicans hold Democrats to a higher standard than they hold members of their own party," Pelosi told reporters at her weekly press conference on Thursday.

"There's no reason for Mr. Grayson to apologize. If anyone should apologize, everyone should apologize."

The Endless Bush-Bashing, America-Bashing Tour Continues

President Barack Hussein Obama, with wife Michelle, took time away from his busy schedule to continue his assault on America's image abroad. He continues to bad mouth the previous administration to prop himself up in the world's eyes.

Obama used both his stature as a statesman and his personal life story for impact. He held out the prospect of a Chicago games helping reconnect the United States with the world after the presidency of his predecessor, George W. Bush.

He pledged that the "full force of the White House" would be applied so "visitors from all around the world feel welcome and will come away with a sense of the incredible diversity of the American people."

"Over the last several years, sometimes that fundamental truth about the United States has been lost," Obama said.

What I fail to understand is why Obama doesn't understand how this kind of talk only damages our nation externally and more importantly internally. He weakens the office. He cheapens his stature. He lessens American security each time he opens his mouth. He is a national disgrace. Whether you like George Bush or not, to put the former President Of The United States on stage and hang him in figurative effigy to be battered and bloodied for his personal ambitions is simply unAmerican and harmful to our nation.

While the AP writer's Obama cheer leading is no less embarrassing, the President's words continue to do us harm. Obama, you should be ashamed. Enough is enough! Stop the nonsense and stand on your own two feet! It's interesting that George Bush has never said a negative word about you publicly while you certainly deserve it.

The Good, The Mad & The Ugly

From up north, David Warren ponders Obama's America and concludes that he and Gorbachev have one thing in common:

...and that is the belief that, regardless of what the ruler does, the polity he rules must necessarily continue. This is perhaps the most essential, if seldom acknowledged, insight of the post-modern "liberal" mind: that if you take the pillars away, the roof will continue to hover in the air...

A variant of this is the frequently expressed denial of the law of unintended consequences: the belief that, if the effect you intend is good, the actual effect must be similarly happy.

Very small children, the mad, and certain extinct primitive tribes, have shared in this belief system, but only the fully college-educated liberal has the vocabulary to make it sound plausible.

With an incredible rapidity, America's status as the world's pre-eminent superpower is now passing away...