Damn it, the Bible was right all along! (PZ Myers via C&L.)
P.S. I'll be voting for the GOP from now on!
5.30.2006
5.29.2006
5.27.2006
Pat Robertson Takes on Jack La Lanne
Pat Robertson claims to leg-press 1000 lbs. (Thanks, Abbytaylor.)
He's supposedly leg-pressed 2000*.
P.S. 1000, maybe. But 2000? Come on. We're sure it has nothing to do with him pushing his "age-defying" protein shake....
BONUS: Jack La Lanne's site is here.
*Previously, this figure read "20000." That was a typo.
He's supposedly leg-pressed 2000*.
P.S. 1000, maybe. But 2000? Come on. We're sure it has nothing to do with him pushing his "age-defying" protein shake....
BONUS: Jack La Lanne's site is here.
*Previously, this figure read "20000." That was a typo.
5.16.2006
Pentagon "Releases" 9/11 Video
And it tells us nothing new. So no end to speculation that an airliner didn't hit the Pentagon, and even if the video had settled that, no end to the overwhelming reasons to believe that our intelligence-security services were deeply involved in the operation (cached).
5.15.2006
Iran, Plane Crashes
I've been procrastinating about this for a couple of months. Given our rapid movement toward war with Iran, it's hardly germane, but I want to post it before we "do something" about that country. Sad to say, but I'm the only one who (to my knowledge) noticed the following. I'm sure there were plenty who did, in various intelligence circles, but I'm the only one who's bothered to mention it in public [pats self on back].
Early this year, a year after Seymour Hersh reported that the US was messing around in Iran (again) and many months after the unacknowledged Joshua Kurlantzick reported that the US was supporting the now oft-reported crazy MEK in conducting covert operations in Iran, three planes "crashed" in Iran. No big deal. Except that the crashes were timed close together (again, no big deal) and two of them killed a number of the sort of people you'd want to kill if you were aiming to topple the government (okay, well, pretty convenient).
It's late and I have a job, so here's the homework:
http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/meast/12/06/tehran.crash/index.html
http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/01/09/iran.crash/
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/02/19/world/main541219.shtml
Two of the crashes were within a month of each other, early Jan. 2006 and Dec. 2005. The other one was in 2003. In the most recent two cases, the plane was transporting the "elite" Revolutionary Guard. Given that we're messing around inside Iran with Rummy having a near blank-check to take covert action, this is highly suspicious.
As the CBS piece notes, in the December 2005 crash, "All aboard — 18 crew and 284 passengers — were members of the Revolutionary Guards, an elite group under the direct control of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The guards protect Iran's borders and defend ruling hard-liners in this ultraconservative society." It also notes that several of the victims were "high-ranking officers of the Guard."
That's who we're trying to get rid of--the ruling hard-liners.
In the latest crash, in early February, 11 high-ranking Revolutionary Guard officials were killed. Iran's news service, IRNA, reported that "the guard's Commander of Ground Forces, Ahmad Kazemi, along with the commander of the 27th Rassoulollah Army Division and the chief of intelligence, died in the accident."
The chief of intelligence died. Pretty convenient. Now I don't know what's going on or who did this (it could be coincidence, but it stinks of something else), but I would be amazed if we weren't involved, either directly or through a third party, say, the Iranian crazies that are buddy-buddy with the neocon establishment (you know, the MEK):
http://www.wetdogdesign.net/realitique/iran-kurlantzick.htm.
Put this in the context of the recent reports of serious planning for attacks on Iran and the outed-agent Valerie Plame was working on Iran, and the Plame leak begins to look suspicious (I'm not saying it wasn't more than a political maneuver, which everyone outside of Power Line acknowledges, but there may be something else at work).
Rob
DISCLAIMER: Yes, I think the first, earliest crash was just an accident. It's the latter two that look suspicious. But hearing about the first one raised my suspicions about the ones that followed. As usual, for something this (ahem) important, I get no comments whatsoever.
Early this year, a year after Seymour Hersh reported that the US was messing around in Iran (again) and many months after the unacknowledged Joshua Kurlantzick reported that the US was supporting the now oft-reported crazy MEK in conducting covert operations in Iran, three planes "crashed" in Iran. No big deal. Except that the crashes were timed close together (again, no big deal) and two of them killed a number of the sort of people you'd want to kill if you were aiming to topple the government (okay, well, pretty convenient).
It's late and I have a job, so here's the homework:
http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/meast/12/06/tehran.crash/index.html
http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/01/09/iran.crash/
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/02/19/world/main541219.shtml
Two of the crashes were within a month of each other, early Jan. 2006 and Dec. 2005. The other one was in 2003. In the most recent two cases, the plane was transporting the "elite" Revolutionary Guard. Given that we're messing around inside Iran with Rummy having a near blank-check to take covert action, this is highly suspicious.
As the CBS piece notes, in the December 2005 crash, "All aboard — 18 crew and 284 passengers — were members of the Revolutionary Guards, an elite group under the direct control of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The guards protect Iran's borders and defend ruling hard-liners in this ultraconservative society." It also notes that several of the victims were "high-ranking officers of the Guard."
That's who we're trying to get rid of--the ruling hard-liners.
In the latest crash, in early February, 11 high-ranking Revolutionary Guard officials were killed. Iran's news service, IRNA, reported that "the guard's Commander of Ground Forces, Ahmad Kazemi, along with the commander of the 27th Rassoulollah Army Division and the chief of intelligence, died in the accident."
The chief of intelligence died. Pretty convenient. Now I don't know what's going on or who did this (it could be coincidence, but it stinks of something else), but I would be amazed if we weren't involved, either directly or through a third party, say, the Iranian crazies that are buddy-buddy with the neocon establishment (you know, the MEK):
http://www.wetdogdesign.net/realitique/iran-kurlantzick.htm.
Put this in the context of the recent reports of serious planning for attacks on Iran and the outed-agent Valerie Plame was working on Iran, and the Plame leak begins to look suspicious (I'm not saying it wasn't more than a political maneuver, which everyone outside of Power Line acknowledges, but there may be something else at work).
Rob
DISCLAIMER: Yes, I think the first, earliest crash was just an accident. It's the latter two that look suspicious. But hearing about the first one raised my suspicions about the ones that followed. As usual, for something this (ahem) important, I get no comments whatsoever.
Data Strip-Mining
Greg Palast, the BBC reporter who proved that the 2000 election was stolen and unearthed not one, but two US plans for Iraqi oil, has the skinny on the latest domestic warrantless wiretapping record-collecting move by the unrepentent monarchists in the White House. Think it's bad? Oh, yes, it's bad. But (as usual) it's much, much worse. Read. Weep.
5.13.2006
5.12.2006
The (Last) Mayoral Debate
Last night's run-off mayoral debate between candidates Landrieu and Nagin was striking. All of them were, I suppose, since the moderaters routinely asked pointed questions and were clearly engaged in the answers given--unlike, say, Bill Schieffer. But last night, John Snell acted like a wife who'd been cheated on and was addressing her husband who'd just come home to pick up a few things for another night in a hotel. "Did you think about me when you were fucking her? huh?" he may as well have asked. He brought up the past--Nagin's Bring Back New Orleans Commission plan, which he called "pure fantasy," the undisclosed budget and the fiscal health of city hall. And yet, unlike the wife in my example, he was fair. He grilled Landrieu too (but Landrieu isn't running N.O. right now and doesn't have to answer for un-picked-up debris). It was beautiful. Because anyone running for an important office should be grilled. The rest of us are grilled in important job interviews, but politicians rarely are. Dare I hope that one day we could have presidential debates like that?
5.09.2006
Lein Shory Irate Savant Leaves the Closet
My friend Lein Shory has been through more than his fair share recently, and unfortunately that means his blog Irate Savant is at an end. We salute it, we'll miss it and we hope to see it in some other form (such as an epistolary novel, say, with pen-and-ink drawings). But to hell with all that. What we care about is Lein's son, Logan, and his health. If you have any spare change, if or when Lein puts up a paypal button, please give the bastard some loot. God knows, he needs it.
P.S. Lein was the best writer in our class at LSU. His blog proves it. I know no publishers or agents read this rag, but in case one shows up, give him a chance, people.
P.P.S. Those readers who remember occasional commenter and blogger LNS should know that LNS was Lein--in his normal, non-fictive voice.
BONUS: Lein's new, non-fiction blog dealing with his current crisis with his son is Ad-Hoc Existence. Unlike friends and cousins, I didn't lose my house in Katrina, but given the state of things in New Orleans, I can't help but relate to Lein's situation. He's going through what New Orleans itself is going through.
SUPER BONUS: Okay, maybe not. But anyway. Lein was a big reason I started this blog. I'd wanted to start one in the winter of 2002 but opted instead for talking to myself about how we needed "regime change" in Washington. I kept reserving my rants for my beleaguered (but otherwise well-treated) girlfriends until Lein gave in and started Irate Savant. That was the kick in the ass I needed. So I started ranting in public. Next I plan to quit my job and start handing out tracts on Bourbon Street.
P.S. Lein was the best writer in our class at LSU. His blog proves it. I know no publishers or agents read this rag, but in case one shows up, give him a chance, people.
P.P.S. Those readers who remember occasional commenter and blogger LNS should know that LNS was Lein--in his normal, non-fictive voice.
BONUS: Lein's new, non-fiction blog dealing with his current crisis with his son is Ad-Hoc Existence. Unlike friends and cousins, I didn't lose my house in Katrina, but given the state of things in New Orleans, I can't help but relate to Lein's situation. He's going through what New Orleans itself is going through.
SUPER BONUS: Okay, maybe not. But anyway. Lein was a big reason I started this blog. I'd wanted to start one in the winter of 2002 but opted instead for talking to myself about how we needed "regime change" in Washington. I kept reserving my rants for my beleaguered (but otherwise well-treated) girlfriends until Lein gave in and started Irate Savant. That was the kick in the ass I needed. So I started ranting in public. Next I plan to quit my job and start handing out tracts on Bourbon Street.
5.01.2006
Hold the Corps Accountable
The Times-Picayune reports (again) that the Corpse of Engineers built New Orleans levees using obsolete data. Where's the prosecution? A few people in that organization need to be tried for negligent homicide, don'tcha think?
NOTE: Since the man who made the disastrous decision is dead, maybe not. But the article doesn't addresses neither the porous-soil issue that was central to the 17th St. breach nor the issues with most of the breaches, which weren't due to overtopping. Using outdated storm data was unconscionable but how that may have affected issues like sheet-pile too short for the soil is a big question. The half-assed guess that the Vicksburg office signed off on was made by someone for some reason. Who? What? I imagine the T-P will tell us eventually.
NOTE: Since the man who made the disastrous decision is dead, maybe not. But the article doesn't addresses neither the porous-soil issue that was central to the 17th St. breach nor the issues with most of the breaches, which weren't due to overtopping. Using outdated storm data was unconscionable but how that may have affected issues like sheet-pile too short for the soil is a big question. The half-assed guess that the Vicksburg office signed off on was made by someone for some reason. Who? What? I imagine the T-P will tell us eventually.
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