Iraq

Staff Sergeant Alexander died today

Beau Monday — Tue, 25 Oct 2005 20:44:00 GMT

Staff Sergeant George Alexander, of Killeen Texas, died today, of wounds received during his tour of duty in Iraq.

You'll know Sgt Alexander better by his media moniker, “Death #2000”.

The liberal media has been in a frenzy, waiting for Death #2000. Plans have been carefully laid. Protests planned. Cindy Sheehan plans to return to Washington DC and chain herself to the front gate at the White House to protest Death #2000. They can't fucking wait for Soldier #2000 to die.

I wonder if, when news came across the wire that Sgt Alexander had succumbed to his wounds, if there was a big cheer in liberal back offices? I can't help but think there was.

I guess the rest of us have a different view of the deaths in Iraq. I scanned the blogs today, and I think JD at Faces from the Front put it best:

Number 2,000 was a national treasure, just as number 1,435 was and number 2,038 will be. For what is the value of a man who will fight a war for others who despise him?

A-fucking-men. National treasures, every single one of you soldiers. God bless you all.

War Without End

Beau Monday — Wed, 12 Oct 2005 08:04:00 GMT

Bob Parks over at Black and Right has a great post about the war on terrorism, on this the 5th anniversary of the USS Cole bombing where 17 US sailors were murdered by Al Qaeda terrorists.

I found about a billion passages I wanted to quote, but I'll tease you with just this one:

Liberal mouthpieces are doing more for terrorist morale than setting off a dirty nuke in Atlanta.

Read the whole thing.

Gasoline prices hit another record high today... or did they?

Beau Monday — Mon, 08 Aug 2005 21:35:00 GMT

Can't watch the news these days without some idiot breathlessly telling us how gas prices are at an all-time high, and only getting worse. I blame Canada, err, I mean, the Saudis!

The thing is, our gas prices aren't at an all-time high, unless you ignore a little thing called “inflation“. And doing that would be dishonest and manipulative. And since I've never been to actual journalism school, I haven't taken those classes. I'm stuck presenting the facts. Sorry.

So here:

I just LOVE graphs, don't you? They make talking about gasoline prices downright SEXY!

As you can see, adjusted for inflation, current (record high!) gas prices are down about 25% from the actual non-made-up record high from 1981.

Someone should clue journalists in on something called “The Internets“.

(Thanks Chart of the Day, I think I love you.)

US dependent on Saudi Arabia now more than EVER?

Beau Monday — Sun, 07 Aug 2005 03:37:00 GMT

The NY Times recently published a “news” article leading with the headline “Why the US is more dependent than ever on Saudi Arabia”. The story drones on and on about how the US is at an all-time high in reliance on Saudi oil.

The NY Times isn't beyond just making shit up, as we've seen before, and this is just another example.

If you look at the percentage of US oil imports coming from Saudi Arabia since 1991, the graph looks a little something like this:

Yeah, that's right. From a whopping 24% of US imports in 1991 to barely 11% in 2004. But we're “more reliant than ever!“ The NY Times never was one to let facts get in the way of a good story, especially if it makes the administration look bad and further the “it's about the oil“ meme.

The biggest supplier of US oil, if anyone cares about the actual facts instead of the made-up ones, is Canada. And #2 is Mexico. Saudi Arabia is BARELY hanging on at #3, with Venezuela nipping at their heels. Damn, we got a lot of invading to do.

Thanks EU Rota for the graph and details.

Iraqi Elections

Beau Monday — Mon, 31 Jan 2005 15:54:00 GMT

I haven't posted a thing about the elections in Iraq, mostly because I'm not close enough to the subject to offer any value over what dozens other blogs are already saying.

With that said, I would ask that you read the story of an anti-Bush American who went to talk to some of the Iraqi ex-pats at a polling location in America.

Money quote:

You may think that you have felt dumb before, but let me tell you something: until you have stood in front of a man who knows real pain and told him that you are against your country's alleviation of his country's state-sponsored murderous suffering, you have not felt truly, deeply, like a total fucking moron.

I still am no Bush fan, and I know that America got lied to. I know we shouldn't have gone, and I think Rove is as evil as they come. But through all this deception and lying, through all this dismemberment and pain, America has wrought a beautiful, fantastic side effect: joy, freedom and a hope for peace. Does it take lies and misdirection to do this?? Is this what the other side of justice is? I feel like such a whiner and I don't know what to think anymore. Ultimately, in total defiance of my mother and grandmother’s teachings, two wrongs have made a right and my moral compass is tired and busted.

Read the whole thing.

Sending Care packages to American Forces in Harm's Way

Beau Monday — Fri, 07 Jan 2005 01:09:00 GMT

I've closed the comments on a couple old posts regarding sending gifts to American forces in harm's way. The comments have degenerated into little more than a dating service, and the useful information was being buried in the noise.

These two posts received a ton of traffic over the past 12 months, including over 35,000 referrals from other web sites. This was primarily due to the fact that one of them became the top result for people searching Google for “sending gifts to soldiers in Iraq“. Google loves blogs, what can I say.

If you want to send gifts to soldiers in Iraq, Afghanistan, or anywhere else overseas, please go to www.anysoldier.com where you can find out how to contact nearly 43,000 soldiers who are not receiving regular care packages from home.

Halliburton Redux

Beau Monday — Wed, 06 Oct 2004 07:49:00 GMT

The post I wrote last February entitled Halliburton's “Sweetheart” Deals in Iraq is getting a lot of hits this morning as a result of last night's debate. Seems it was a surprise for many to learn that it was former president Clinton who had a penchant for granting work to Halliburton outside the scope of LOGCAP.

Let's talk about the draft for a second

Beau Monday — Wed, 29 Sep 2004 01:39:00 GMT

Wow, I just got done watching another brilliant piece of “journalism” produced by CBS and served up by Dan Rather. You'd think Danny Boy would lay low after having his ass handed to him by a bunch of pajama-wearing couch surfers over MemoGate, but apparently we have yet to reach the limits of what CBS and Rather will do to get their man Kerry into the White House.

According to this video segment from CBS News, this nice Republican lady is scared witless about her 2 boys being drafted next year after Bush gets re-elected. The segment does mention that Bush and Kerry both say a draft is not needed, but point out that this Republican is ready to jump to the other side if she sees anything fishy from Mr. Bush on the issue.

There are a few problems with the whole draft meme, and with this story. Let's debunk the story first, shall we?

The document briefly displayed all blurry-like in the background is an image of an email recently distributed on the Internet in June and July, which has since been debunked all to hell by people such as the non-partisan FactCheck.Org. Dan Rather using YET ANOTHER false document in a “news“ story? It's like 2 weeks ago, all over again.
Mrs. Cocco, the woman featured in the “news“ segment, is not in fact a Republican “on the fence“. She's the head of an advocacy group called People Against the Draft. The organization claims to be for a peaceful rational foreign policy, and in favor of an immediate withdrawal of our troops from Iraq.
The domain for People Against the Draft, nodraft.info, is registered to one Jacob Levich, who in 2001 compared the Bush administration to the government from George Orwell's 1984. Coincidence?
One of the remaining 3 chapters of PAD is headed by Anita Dutt, the leader of a Green Party group called Bronx Action for Justice and Peace, a very decidedly liberal organization whose members are quick to point out that there isn't a Republican among them.
The story fails to mention that the 2 bills currently languishing in committee are, in fact, DEAD. They were sent to committee, where they were promptly tagged “bullshit”, and never heard from again. That's what happens to bad legislation, see (OK, I can't back up that “bullshit“ part). Oh, and both bills were drafted by Democrats. But we'll get to that in a second.

Let's talk about how this whole draft issue came up anyway.

Back in 2003, the honorable Charles Rangel (DEMOCRAT) and 14 of his closest DEMOCRAT friends drafted a bill calling for reinstatement of the draft. It's HR 163, if you want to look it up. This thing was DOA, having absolutely no support from the Republican Congress. It was relegated for Death by Committee a mere 20 days later. Even Rangel himself said he's not pushing the thing, claiming “It's up to the president to come to me when he needs it.“ Uhh, don't hold your breath there, sir.

Senate bill S89 (look it up) was another Democratic fabrication that died as soon as it was birthed, not even having a single sponsor besides the sole Democrat that drafted it. It also was quickly sent to a subcommittee and never heard from again, a death that awaits most pieces of garbage legislation.

But the real fear mongering started in earnest with an anonymous email that was widely circulated, claiming that the US was quietly ramping up the Selective Service organization in preparation for a draft.

There are more than a few things wrong with this email, as (non-partisan) FactCheck.org recently noted:

The email claims the budget for the Selective Service organization is going up $28M in 2004. That's simply not true. If you look at the actual budget for 2004, you will note that the budget is unchanged from 2003. And further, President Bush has recommended keeping it at the very same level for 2005 in his latest budget proposal. Don't take my word for it, look for yourself.
The Office of Management and Budget estimates that head count in the organization will actually decline, from 161 people to 156. Doesn't seem like a ramp-up to me.
Military experts say drafts don't make sense, including retired Lt Col Leonard Wong, research professor at the US Army War College at Carlisle Barracks. “We have a high quality army because people want to be in it,“ the colonel says. “You can't draft people into a profession.“
We have 38 Brigades of National Guard personnel already trained and equipped. Only 3 have been deployed, and another 4 were currently mobilizing at the time FactCheck was investigating this issue back in July. That leaves 31 Brigades of combat-trained National Guard left to draw upon.
The email claims that the Pentagon has quietly begun filling vacancies in local Selective Service boards. That's kinda true. If you throw out the Pentagon part, since they have nothing to do with the Selective Service program. However, the Selective Service has been looking for volunteers to fill vacant board positions since as far back as 1999, when many of the original board members started hitting the 20-year term limits (the current board system was formed in 1979).
The email does get one other thing pseudo-right. College students wouldn't get an exemption from having to serve, like was possible back in the Vietnam days. Their obligation would only get deferred until they graduated. However, this change was made 30 years ago, when the Vietnam-era draft was winding down. It's kinda hard to peg this one on those mean old Republicans in today's White House, I think.

By the way, the President doesn't have the authority to reinstate the draft. It would take an act of Congress. That's been conveniently left out of most discussions on this topic.

Also, do me a favor, and look up HR 487, a bill that proposed to abolish the Selective Service organization permanently, and make a note of who proposed it. A Republican. Now how come that never made the news?

As a parting shot, I'd also like to point out that volunteers for America's armed forces is at an all-time high. Retention of current soldiers is at an all-time high. In fact, the Air Force has said they are going to be laying off some people, and offering others early retirement, because their soaring retention numbers have put them beyond their congressionally allowed head count. The Navy has also been complaining about record retention rates, and plans to have to cut 25,000 sailors by 2007. Even the Army National Guard is seeing retention rates “going through the roof”.

I wonder what Dan Rather will try to convince us of next. George Bush eats kittens and small children for breakfast! Film at 11!

(Thanks RatherBiased.com and FactCheck.org for doing the bulk of the research for this post.)

Good News From Iraq, Part 11

Beau Monday — Mon, 27 Sep 2004 23:20:00 GMT

While the worldwide press plays up terrorism's increasingly-desperate efforts as we approach US and Iraqi elections, people like Arthur Chrenkoff continue to quietly compile and report good news from Iraq.

Kerry, "The Consensus Builder"?

Beau Monday — Mon, 27 Sep 2004 23:07:00 GMT

I frankly was stunned after watching John Kerry's first news conference in nearly 2 months last week. If you've never heard Kerry (or any one of his people) field questions from the Press, you'll quickly pick up that the answer to any question is almost always a variant of “I have a plan for that, and I've talked about it. The *real* question is what is President Bush's plan?”. Uhh, no Mr. Kerry, with all due respect, we know what Mr. Bush's plans are, because he doesn't dance around like Michael-fucking-Flatley when he's pressed to take a stand on an issue.

But what really gets my goat is that he slams Bush for missing an opportunity to “build international cooperation”, yet he's got his cronies going to Australia to convince them that being an ally to America makes them less safe. Then one of his senior advisors calls the current head of the Iraqi government a puppet of George Bush (“you could almost see the hand moving under his shirt“).

This is the man that is going to forge grand alliances with these same people 4 months from now, should he actually win? I'm glad I'm no the only one who thinks Kerry's recent behavior is disgraceful and shameless.

It's not just his foreign policy that is spearheaded by fear-mongering either. He's increasingly fond of suggesting that Bush has “secret plans“ to hurt in some way whoever he's currently talking to. For instance, he told a bunch of dairy farmers today that Bush has a secret plan to nix the Milk Income Loss Contract, but he will wait until after the election to avoid losing the “dairy vote“. And then there's the “draft“ meme that the Democrats actually proposed and (quite effectively) blamed Bush for, convincing young people they were going to get drafted and sent to Iraq just as soon as Bush gets re-elected.

Is there no cost too great, Mr. Kerry? Will you unabashedly sell out every ounce of pride and sense of national honor in order to win this election?