Just sending in Jack Bauer to single-handedly dismantle the Iranian nuclear program would be the safest bet. We just saw him defuse a suitcase nuke by hand, and so we'd just have to make sure that the satellite uplinks to Chloe were reliable in Iran. He's apparently impossible to kill, another major benefit of sending him in solo instead of invading with killable soldiers.
I find your ideas intriguing and would like to subscribe to your newsletter.
Yglesias had a good point about this--conservatives have a confidence in the government's ability to carry out a plan like this that doesn't extend to any other governmental actions (like, say, providing health care).
I like that Yglesias point. It's as if they think government competence is a zero-sum game and all of it slid to the military. "Ooops! I totally misallocated my resources while playing Master of Orion!"
Have you guys seen that Neeley has done some other videos? Maybe not as earth-shattering as Washington, but the Professor Brothers are awesomely creepy, and JFK has a excellent groove.
From the Instapundit link:
And some of those who are outraged say it's terrible to attack "religious figures and scientists." But wait -- wasn't the left calling American bomb builders "mass murderers?" And the mullahs hardly deserve immunity for their actions because those actions are cloaked in religion. Certainly few on the left would extend such immunity to Christian religious figures who acted in the same fashion. But to be clear, I think it's perfectly fine to kill people who are working on atomic bombs for countries -- like Iran -- that have already said that they want to use those bombs against America and its allies, and I think that those who feel otherwise are idiots, and in absolutely no position to strike moral poses. We may wind up doing so via airstrikes, but it would be better to do it in a more selective manner.
Seriously, is he retarded?
But wait -- wasn't the left calling American bomb builders "mass murderers?" When was this? Twenty years ago, maybe? Thirty or forty?
that have already said that they want to use those bombs against America and its allies,
They've expressly denied the use of a nuclear weapon as an offensive weapon, which is more than we've done , I believe. I think they've consistently denied the morality of acquiring a nuclear weapon.
He's an abomination, because now he's just lying.
And let's all try to imagine his response if there was a call to target gun nut American law professors as part of jihad.
Off topic, but have any of you seen the news reports about the Salt Lake City mall shooting? Some guy went screwy and killed 5 people. They released his identity today. He's an 18 year old Bosnian refugee.
Countdown to "crazed Muslim attacks the heartland" stories in 3...2...1
He probably just needed a beer.
(sorry.)
11: That just means he needed a beer more, téo.
13: But did he know that he needed a beer? I suspect not.
That first link is awesome. Oh noes, the MSM isn't "reporting" racist speculation absent any supporting facts! It's a liberal plot!
12,14: GAH. right, a killer fits into a well-established pattern heretofore populated by WASPs, and his very name and possible religion change the whole story.
I mean, honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if Bosnia did provide a strong supply of embittered young men to be canonfire, considering that when I was just a girl I wondered how much those children might grow up to hate us for leaving them to rot, but SLC was probably not the first place to send such.
Also worth noting that even if it did turn out that a disturbed young man grabbed onto militant Islamic rhetoric as a reason to go on a shooting spree, that wouldn't make his acts an indictment of Islam generally or a meaningful example of terrorist violence.
I'm sure Hewitt will appreciate that distinction, Dave.
Of course he won't. Nonetheless, Hewitt will still be full of shit even if the guy turns out to have left a suicide note saying he's off to kill a bunch of Americans because he wants to join the jihad.
Wow, what must it be like to be Hugh Hewitt? Every fucking thing is loaded with subtle hints of perfidy, isn't it? These people read like an illuminatus parody.
So how's that "we fight them over there so we don't have to fight them over here" thing working out, anyway?
21: Every fucking thing is loaded with subtle hints of perfidy, isn't it?
Probably not, since Hewitt is on record (just like Rush) as not really believing anything he says. But it would sure suck to be the sort of person who trusts Hewitt.
So how's that "we fight them over there so we don't have to fight them over here" thing working out, anyway?
Apparently well enough for Boehner to have made it the centerpiece of his response to Pelosi on the floor today. I mean well enough politically. They are deeply invested in that idea; without it they don't have much.
23: right, sorry, I momentarily forgot he just makes this shit up.
What to make of the Sadr departure?
Hewitt is on record (just like Rush) as not really believing anything he says
This is what I've long believed about many of the right-wing hacks, but where is he on record with this?
I get a lot of grim amusement from placing some of these guys on the "serious and crazy--just jerking chains for profit" continuum.
Capt. Ed says that Moqtada al-Sadr left for Tehran. Haven't seen this elsewhere; but haven't looked.
No time for pronouns! There's terror to fight!
We use "them" over there so don't have to over here.
According to senior military officials, al Sadr left Baghdad two to three weeks ago and fled to Tehran, Iran, where he has family.
Not sure I believe it. What better way to get him to show himself, or to tie Iran to yet another thing in Iraq, or to undermine his credibility, and to make the surge seem like it's working, etc.?
Looking back, he came close to saying it aloud with his "I felt like I was a lawyer who had a bad client" post-election post, but he still strove to preserve his anti-jihadist cred there. So I guess "on record" is overstating it. It's more that he's already on record as not having been impassioned about things he had previously claimed to be impassioned about, but he still claims to be impassioned about "jihadists" ... for whatever that's worth.
Ah, that I remember. But, naturally, whatever he's saying *right now* he really believes.
Plus it's just hard to take anyone with ugly tits seriously.
Right, he also repeatedly urged his readers to give money to Republican candidates, now that I think about it.
DaveL, I hate you.
You must not read Tbogg, who has posted that pic about a thousand times. Still makes me laugh.
Not sure I believe it.
Sadr leaving seems odd to me as well. That guy's family was at odds with Saddam for a long time and he's still here.
I think Labs has posted that picture too.
38: Which is, of course, where I stole it from. The guy's a buffoon. I suppose there's some limit on fair mockery even of him, but I don't think we're there yet.
Could "fled to Tehran" really mean "visited Tehran" in psy-ops-speak? This sounds like propaganda aimed at Shi'ite Iraqis: your leader has abandoned you!
39: Of course not, but my eyes are scarred.
You know what's amazing? This bit:
What we need to do, instead, is to call on the resources of the one great American who can help us: George Washington. Face it, the man is twenty stories high and made of radiation. He can kill with a stare.
You know why? Because the last time America got its imperialism on, that's exactly what people did. In fiction, of course, but still. Anyone care to guess what the topic of my recently turned in dissertation chapter was? Anybody? What if I give you a hint: George Washington. And another: the late 1890s.
SEK, making love like an eagle falling out of the sky since February 2007.
45: by last time do you mean, maybe, first time? I recall their being plenty of times between then and now.
I'm going to guess that it's a study of how Washington's image in the popular mind had to be changed from that of an isolationist gentleman farmer to a that of a mercantilist champion of trade in order to fund our foreign involvement?
Either that, or the fucking of bears on the American frontier.
Bear fucking eagles, actually.
But yes, first time. (Although, I'm not sure Washington's been invoked to justify imperialist projects 'tween then and now, but I could be very, very wrong.)
47: BTW, in case it wasn't painfully obvious, I make spelling errors on Super-Yglesian scales and am not going to bother everyone by correcting them all the time.
48: hott.
Speaking of bears, I bet you didn't know that the lovely Queen Christina's favorite pastime was bear-hunting. I don't remember that from the Garbo movie.
45: I'm guessing your topic was "Heat Vision and the Mirror Stage: (De)formations of Subjectivity in Mark Twain's The Philippine Adventures of George Washington and His Thirty Dicks."
50: John Emerson, I did not even know about the lovely Queen Christina. Thank you very much, that is quite a chunk of interesting history.
51: Twenty-nine, actually, but now I fear you're competition, and I can't let you get the upper-hand. That job--the one that doesn't exist--it's mine! Get away from it, or I'll, I'll, I'll do send you an attachment you won't not be able to open...
Actually, my topic's much more mundane: it's about the appropriation of Lamarckian rhetoric in turn-o'-the-century historical romances, all of which concerned the Revolutionary War (you know, to ease the anxieties of those who thought Roosevelt's America had outgrown its britches). These books taught you how to live like a Washington or Jefferson, such that if you emulated them, you too could found your own country (or family, depending on the length and breadth of your vision).
54: Did this appropriation involve any kind of imperialist propaganda conspiracies or will I have to lay that notion to rest?
The bit about founding your own country makes it sound like imperial propaganda probably played a role.
(or family, depending on the length and breadth of your vision)
Right—your "vision".
55: Yes, it most certainly did.
56: My spotlight, hello?
57: Three minutes in the penalty box for repeating the obvious.
Lamarckian rhetoric in turn-o'-the-century historical romances
Wow, different disciplines are weird.
I thought imperialists didn't like it when colonies became independent.
Don't you have a degree in English, Labs?
62: What country of lasting independence did he found?
You didn't say anything about "lasting."
An undergraduate degree in English, Ben. You know, the one you get for sitting in circles talking about how you feel about the book.
66: Not "talking" Labs. "Sharing."
I did say something about "becoming independent."
Imperialists generally seem to be okay with colonies becoming independent, as long as they're in charge. Staying independent is a different matter.
Your undergraduate degree is in English? [The rest of this comment will be found in your email.]
Don't violate the sanctity of the off-blog communication, ogged.
That's an interesting definition of independent.
It didn't exist at the time I wrote my comment, you rigid enforcer.
OT: Yglesias moves into ogged space, with a twist.
I've never done a "who's hotter" post, have I? That would be in poor taste.
73: It works fine as long as you conflate your own personal interests with those of the colony in question.
76: Fair point, I guess. I just thought it was funny.
Anyway, I'd go with the redhead. Who's she?
Ariel. (And yes, I own the soundtrack.)
Is [Sausagehead] on crack? No, serious question.
In that very thread he says he gave up drugs for his 2006 new year's resolution.
I've got gadgets and gizmos aplenty.
Brunette, yellow dress. Did you never see Beauty and the Beast?
But wait: if we pull out all the stops, won't everything go down the drain?
If we pull out all the stops, it'll give our organ a funky timbre.
But wait: if we pull out all the stops, won't everything go down the drain?
No, but your organ will let loose a mighty racket.
Did you never see Beauty and the Beast?
With this and the soundtrack confession, I'm going to have to insist that we stop showering together.
"funky timbre" s/b "dinglehopper"
82 gets it exactly right.
Snow White looks prepubescent next to the others, incidentally.
Snow White looks prepubescent next to the others, incidentally.
I was just noticing that.
Who doesn't own the Little Mermaid soundtrack? Besides freaks, I mean.
Also, I'm starting to care about the Knicks again, which frightens me.
Despite posting three minutes later, I hadn't seen 92.
Is Yglesias on crack? No, serious question.
Somehow I never get tired of hearing people say "Is X on crack?" Although you'd think it had gotten old by now, there's just something timelessly comic about being momentarily occasioned to envision Matthew Yglesias, or Condoleezza Rice, or Marti Ahtisaari, or Bob Feller, or Rex Grossman secretly smoking crack.
With this and the soundtrack confession, I'm going to have to insist that we stop showering together.
What can I say? I'm an American. I liked Disney.
What can I say? I'm an American. I liked Disney.
A better defense would rely on the strength of the Ashman/Menken collaboration. The music is really well done.
No, the image of him lighting up a crack pipe is what never gets old. As if life had just gotten that bad for him, and he got more and more unshaven and sallow, but he managed to keep up his façade of being a respectable pundit.
Where's Mulan?
Racists.
I think Saiselgy may have on Unfogged, or someone else might have, and that might have occasioned the appearance soon thereafter of Saiselgy.
And Pocahontas maybe? This is a fraud of colossal dimensions. But san fairy ann, I guess.
Damn, and I just found the link to what we were talking about.
Come on. "Under the Sea" is warring with "embrace jihad", which now gets stuck in my head every time you post.
110: IIRC, he found our worries about his fair name a bit silly. And I suppose he's in a position to know what amounts to compromising information for his profession. But I'd edit it out anyway.
You got to bat your eyes... Like dis!
You got to pucker your lips... Like dis!
It's gotta be Ariel, both because a redhead who wears pink is a gutsy chick, and b/c she obviously sleeps around, what with the crabs and all.
Darling, it's better down where it's wetter.
you don't know why but you're dying to try
Here's the link. Post-pseudonym, it seems.
No one's slick as Standpipe
No one's quick as Standpipe
No one's neck's as incredibly thick as Standpipe
Opinionated Grandma, how I've missed you.
Speaking of missing non-white Disney sexpots, where the hell is Nani?
I don't know, but she was a cutie. Actually looked, female.
62: Kind of have that one backward, don't you? Dole took an independent nation and made it into a colony.
127: No, Nani. In Lilo and Stitch. The chick with the legs and ass.
Cala knows.
Btw, I want to officially complain that none of the Disney heroes is ever hot. Okay, maybe the Beast when he becomes human, in a sorta Fabio kind of way. And Aladdin is probably going to grow up into a cutie. But the rest of them? Sad.
Dole took an independent nation and made it into a colony.
Then he took that colony and made it an independent nation, run by him. Then he made it a state.
(I think. I'm not any kind of expert on Hawaiian history and am open to being corrected.)
Yes, Ned, I will be your Valentine.
No, you have it a bit garbled. For most of the 19th century, Hawaii was a monarchy with a Hawaiian royal family and a lot of powerful haole ministers, etc. The monarchy was overthrown in 1893 by a haole-led group that set up a government with Dole as president. The U.S. annexation was in 1897, IIRC, and statehood didn't come along until 1959.
Okay, I should have said "territory" rather than "state," but otherwise that sounds like exactly what I said.
Well, I, for one, like pineapples. I hear they make your gunk taste like magic.
Eh? In what way did he go from colony to independent nation? That's the part I'm missing. The 1893 coup was a change in government, and while the people involved in the coup were American, they weren't acted on behalf of the U.S. government. The handwriting may have been on the wall after the coup (although the Brits backed away from an earlier overthrow and allowed the restoration of the monarchy in the 1840s), but it didn't make Hawaii a U.S. colony.
54: I'll do send you an attachment you won't not be able to open...
You fiend!
Seriously, though, that sounds interesting. Sort of thing that makes me regret that I didn't pay more attention in C19 American Lit classes.
Anyway, since the thread's moved on, I'd better apply the length and breadth of my vision to founding a country where people recognize the basic fact that Princess Jasmine is hottest.
I hear they make your gunk taste like magic.
TOTALLY AIRWOLF.
137: I guess I'm just using "colony" in a looser sense. Texas is probably a better example.
19th century Hawaiian history is interesting. There's some validity to the Texas analogy, but Hawaiian and haole elites were intertwined in a way that I don't think was common elsewhere, and that continued after Hawaii became a U.S. territory. My strong impression is that 1893 was a much less decisive break than it's generally portrayed as, but that's not a point of view I'd really want to express around here.
See, I was basically thinking that Hawaii in the 1880s and 90s, like Texas in the 1830s, was already a de facto US colony, which was where I was coming from with the "colony to independent country" stuff. Like I said, though, I know very little about it.
144: Right now, the Puerto Rican commenters want to fight, but they're not sure which side to take.
And that's the part that I don't think is quite right. It's complicated, and certainly there was a lot of U.S. influence (also British; look at the Hawaiian flag), but a substantial chunk of the haole elite had been born here and had been citizens of Hawaii, owing allegiance to the monarchy, for their entire lives.
We have Puerto Rican commenters?
Sí, papi, allá en el blog del Estandpipe.
I found Overthrow: America's Century of Regime Change by Stephen Kinzer to be a useful overview of the trends. It starts with Hawaii and works its way towards Iraq. Unfortunately I gave my copy away and still have to get a new one.
With all those a's it's hard to find good anagrams for Amanda. That was her real problem. I think that the best is "Nadaam", the Mongol spring festival.
Amanda Adamna Anamda Amadna Adanma Anadma Manada Damana Namada Madana Danama Nadama Manaad Damaan Namaad Madaan Danaam Nadaam Maanad Daaman Naamad Maadan Daanam Naadam
Somehow I never get tired of hearing people say "Is X on crack?"
According to Scott Horton, "there is a senior figure at the Department of State who would testify, if called and placed under oath, to this conversation with Doug Feith:
DOS Official: 'Doug, after the smoke clears, what is the plan?'
Feith: 'Think of Iraq as being like a computer. And think of Saddam as like a processor. We just take out the old processor, and put in a new one--Chalabi.'
DOSO: 'Put in a new processor?'
Feith: 'Yes! It will be all over in 6 weeks.'
DOSO: 'You mean 6 months.'
Feith: 'No, 6 weeks. You'll see.'
DOSO: 'Doug.'
Feith: 'Yes?'
DOSO: 'You're smoking crack, Doug.'"
This is what happens to countries when good hallucinogens aren't available.
Also. This morning I watched a team of National Guard recruiters set up a paintball tournament.
It's funny, because that conversation tips the hand as to what we wanted to change. The way it's described Chalabi would be running the existing state and would have been allowed to keep most of the torturers on staff if he had so wished.
60: Are not! (And did I start some chain of redactions? Damn. Always the bridesmaid.)
138: You wouldn't have read the books I'm working on in a literature class. They're beyond god awful, with titles like Hugh Wynne, Free Quaker: Sometime Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel on the Staff of his Excellency General Washington.
Fuck you, I'm not lurking here anymore.
on the Staff of his Excellency General Washington.
ATM.
Hugh, I told you to fuck off like, let's see now, two weeks ago? Please, this is embarrassing. When I tell someone to fuck off, I want them to stay fucked off, alright?
There is a legal challenge currently underway that seeks to invalidate the annexation of the independent Kingdom of Hawaii as a US territory. Probably could have worked before statehood.
159: Unlikely, when the vast majority of the population at the time was in favor of statehood. And the current "legal challenge" would be more accurately described as somewhere between a publicity stunt and believing too much of your own bullshit. There are all sorts of different viewpoints among Hawaiian activists, but most recognize that there's no easy way to unscramble eggs.
157 made me actually laugh out loud. Sophistication level of a 12-year old: confirmed!
160. I probably should have said "only had a snowball's chance prior to statehood, which no one was even considering at the time".
One account of what happened:
http://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/hawaii-petition/
