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By Joshua, March 8, 2010 3:06 am

Yup!  It’s another International Women’s Day!  You can read all about it here.

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By Joshua, March 4, 2010 6:44 am

All this talk about Karl Rove led me to this book, put out in April 1, 2009 (April Fool’s Day, a horrible date to release a book about the record of the Bush presidency) called “A Charge Kept: The Record of the Bush Presidency, 2001 – 2009.”  Amazingly, Amazon.com lists this about the “author” of the book:

About the Author

George Bush, forty-first president of the United States (1989A-1993), is the coauthor with Brent Scowcroft of the 1998 critically acclaimed book “A World Transformed.” He and his wife, Barbara, live in Houston, Texas, and Kennebunkport, Maine.

I read “A World Transformed,” and I think it was Bush senior who wrote it.  Anyway,  all this led me to Bush’s farewell speech, which most people have probably forgotten (me, too).  Some excerpts:

Fellow citizens: For eight years, it has been my honor to serve as your President. The first decade of this new century has been a period of consequence — a time set apart. Tonight, with a thankful heart, I have asked for a final opportunity to share some thoughts on the journey that we have traveled together, and the future of our nation…

This evening, my thoughts return to the first night I addressed you from this house — September the 11th, 2001. That morning, terrorists took nearly 3,000 lives in the worst attack on America since Pearl Harbor. I remember standing in the rubble of the World Trade Center three days later, surrounded by rescuers who had been working around the clock. I remember talking to brave souls who charged through smoke-filled corridors at the Pentagon, and to husbands and wives whose loved ones became heroes aboard Flight 93. I remember Arlene Howard, who gave me her fallen son’s police shield as a reminder of all that was lost. And I still carry his badge.

As the years passed, most Americans were able to return to life much as it had been before 9/11. But I never did. Every morning, I received a briefing on the threats to our nation. I vowed to do everything in my power to keep us safe.

Over the past seven years, a new Department of Homeland Security has been created. The military, the intelligence community, and the FBI have been transformed. Our nation is equipped with new tools to monitor the terrorists’ movements, freeze their finances, and break up their plots. And with strong allies at our side, we have taken the fight to the terrorists and those who support them. Afghanistan has gone from a nation where the Taliban harbored al Qaeda and stoned women in the streets to a young democracy that is fighting terror and encouraging girls to go to school. Iraq has gone from a brutal dictatorship and a sworn enemy of America to an Arab democracy at the heart of the Middle East and a friend of the United States.

There is legitimate debate about many of these decisions. But there can be little debate about the results. America has gone more than seven years without another terrorist attack on our soil. This is a tribute to those who toil night and day to keep us safe — law enforcement officers, intelligence analysts, homeland security and diplomatic personnel, and the men and women of the United States Armed Forces.

The battles waged by our troops are part of a broader struggle between two dramatically different systems. Under one, a small band of fanatics demands total obedience to an oppressive ideology, condemns women to subservience, and marks unbelievers for murder. The other system is based on the conviction that freedom is the universal gift of Almighty God, and that liberty and justice light the path to peace…

It has been the privilege of a lifetime to serve as your President. There have been good days and tough days. But every day I have been inspired by the greatness of our country, and uplifted by the goodness of our people. I have been blessed to represent this nation we love. And I will always be honored to carry a title that means more to me than any other – citizen of the United States of America.

And so, my fellow Americans, for the final time: Good night. May God bless this house and our next President. And may God bless you and our wonderful country. Thank you. (Applause.)

In these words are the history of the Bush presidency in microcosm:  President Bush is a man defined by 9/11 and war and an unwavering Christian faith.  He wanted to be seen as a Christian patriot, with “the conviction that freedom is the universal gift of Almighty God.”

I’m looking forward to his memoir.

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By Joshua, March 4, 2010 6:23 am

In his upcoming memoir, “Courage and Consequence: My Life as a Conservative in the Fight,” Karl Rove says his biggest mistake during the Iraq War was that he failed to stop the “Bush lied” narrative after WMD never materialized:

The new book by Mr. Rove, who served as senior adviser and deputy chief of staff in the White House, offers the most expansive account yet of the Bush presidency by one of the people most responsible for it. Addressing some of the most controversial and consequential moments of Mr. Bush’s eight years in power, Mr. Rove takes responsibility for the widely criticized Air Force One flyover after Hurricane Katrina and writes of his secret fear of being indicted in the C.I.A. leak case.

What many historians may focus on is his description of the war in Iraq, its origins and consequences. While many have accused the administration of drumming up a case for war on the back of false intelligence about Mr. Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction, or W.M.D., Mr. Rove maintains that the White House genuinely believed the reports, and pointed to Democrats who accepted them as valid as well.

Most intriguing is his rumination on what would have happened had Mr. Bush known the truth. While the opportunity to bring democracy to the Middle East as a bulwark against Islamic extremism “justified the decision to remove Saddam Hussein,” Mr. Rove makes clear that from the start, at least, the suspected weapons and their perceived threat were the primary justification for war.

“Would the Iraq War have occurred without W.M.D.? I doubt it,” he writes. “Congress was very unlikely to have supported the use-of-force resolution without the W.M.D. threat. The Bush administration itself would probably have sought other ways to constrain Saddam, bring about regime change, and deal with Iraq’s horrendous human rights violations.”

He adds: “So, then, did Bush lie us into war? Absolutely not.” But Mr. Rove said the White House had only a “weak response” to the harmful allegation, which became “a poison-tipped dagger aimed at the heart of the Bush presidency.”

“So who was responsible for the failure to respond?” he writes. “I was. I should have stepped forward, rung the warning bell and pressed for full-scale response. I didn’t. Preoccupied with the coming campaign and the pressure of the daily schedule in the West Wing, I did not see how damaging this assault was.”

Karl Rove is perhaps the most significant political spin doctor in modern political history.  Notably, he is not concerned that we went to war on a mistake, but that he didn’t spin the mistake the right way.  That’s the kind of political leadership we need today.

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By Joshua, March 3, 2010 9:01 am

Safety is job one:

The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating whether a child directed planes from Kennedy Airport’s air traffic control tower.  A child’s voice can be heard on a tape making five transmissions to pilots preparing for takeoff on Feb. 17. The recording was obtained by WFXT-TV in Boston.In one exchange, the child can be heard saying, “JetBlue 171 contact departure.” A male voice in the tower says: “That’s what you get, guys, when the kids are out of school.” The child later clears another plane for takeoff, and says, “Adios, amigo.”

The FAA said in a statement: “Pending the outcome of our investigation, the employees involved in this incident are not controlling air traffic.” It added: “This behavior is not acceptable.”

This behavior is not acceptable, indeed.  And now, to lower further your hopes for safe air travel, watch the Frontline report “Flying Cheap” on regional air carriers in the U.S.

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By Joshua, March 3, 2010 4:31 am

A new book, a startling revelation, all by the guy who claims to be the son of the founder of Hamas:

For 10 years, Mosab Yousef said he gathered information about Hamas terrorist plots and fed them to Israel’s domestic security service Shin Bet.  Yousef, in an exclusive interview with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour, said he did it because he came to believe that Hamas was practicing “exceptional cruelty” against its members and “killed people for no reason.”

He has now written a book, “Son of Hamas” detailing his exploits from his new base in the United States where he has lived since 2007. CNN could not independently confirmed his story and Israel has refused to comment.  In the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, a former Israeli handler said of Yousef: “One insight of his was worth 1,000 hours of thought by top experts.”

Yousef told CNN: “They offered me to work for them. My goal was to be a double agent and attack them from the inside. After I was tortured by Shin Bet I was transferred to prison [where] Hamas tortured Hamas members and I became confused who was really my enemy … I accepted to meet Shin Bet… My people did not understand this. Shin Bet is committed to a constitution but Hamas targets civilians. There’s a difference between targeting a terrorist and civilians. Later on, I became a Christian, during that time, the first few months, and I was convinced by the principle of loving your enemies. And I saw that my enemy, who I thought that they were my enemies, they had morality, they had their responsibilities more than my own people… As a Shin Bet agent, when I had information I helped arrest people, otherwise they hit randomly. When I specified a particular person I had a condition – not to kill that person … In 10 years working for Shin Bet I am not responsible for killing one terrorist. I care about my people, my problem was their [Hamas'] ideology.”

His father, Sheikh Yousef, is serving time in an Israeli prison. He recently wrote a letter from jail saying that the whole family “inclusively and exhaustively denounce our eldest son.”  An attorney for the elder Yousef obtained a statement last week from the father saying Hamas knew of his son’s contact with Israeli intelligence and adding that he “was not on any day an active member in the ranks of Hamas.”

Asked if he feels in danger because of what he’s done, Yousef says he is not afraid. “Death is not the worst thing that can happen to a human being, physical death. The worst, spiritual and soul death. This is what really scares me.”

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By Joshua, March 3, 2010 4:20 am

These new pictures of the Earth are stunning.  They are much better than the picture of the Earth I took a week ago:

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By Joshua, February 19, 2010 3:23 am

But authorities are not calling it terrorism:

A pilot furious with the Internal Revenue Service crashed his small plane into an Austin, Texas, office building where nearly 200 federal tax employees work on Thursday, igniting a raging fire that sent massive plumes of thick, black smoke rising from the seven-story structure.

Austin Police Chief Art Acevedo said the incident was a single act by a sole individual, who appeared to be targeting the federal building. He refused to classify it as terrorism.  “I call it a cowardly, criminal act and there was no excuse for it,” Acevedo said at a news conference.

The FBI identified the pliot as Joseph Stack, a 53-year-old software engineer. Stack was confirmed dead, but his body has not yet been recovered.

Texas Republican Congressman Michael McCaul told reported the incident was, “not tied to overseas terror organizations.”

The Department of Homeland Security said it did not believe the crash was an act of terrorism. President Obama was briefed on the incident. As a precaution, the Colorado-based North American Aerospace Defense Command launched two F-16 aircraft from Houston’s Ellington Field, and was conducting an air patrol over the crash area.

Stack’s actions have obvious parallels to 9/11: use of a plane to cause mass murder by crashing into a building and to strike terror into a target population.  Even the gas tank was full, just as the 9/11 plotters plotted.  Osama bin Laden sought to scare all of American society and the West.  Stack just wanted the Federal government.  An audience for the political violence is clearly established.  So, why is this not terrorism?  Let’s see a definition of terrorism:

Common definitions of terrorism refer only to those violent acts which are intended to create fear (terror), are perpetrated for an ideological goal (as opposed to a lone attack), and deliberately target or disregard the safety of non-combatants (civilians).

Other definitions of terrorism do not discriminate based on whether it is a “lone attack” or a series of attacks.  There is no clear definition of “lone attack.”  One does not have to be part of a terrorist group planning future attacks to be a terrorist.

This is a case of suicide designed to strike terror in the IRS.  it was done for ideological aims: Stack left a manifesto anti-IRS rant as a suicide note:

We are all taught as children that without laws there would be no society, only anarchy. Sadly, starting at early ages we in this country have been brainwashed to believe that, in return for our dedication and service, our government stands for justice for all. We are further brainwashed to believe that there is freedom in this place, and that we should be ready to lay our lives down for the noble principals represented by its founding fathers. Remember? One of these was “no taxation without representation”. ..

in my lifetime I can say with a great degree of certainty that there has never been a politician cast a vote on any matter with the likes of me or my interests in mind.

Why is it that a handful of thugs and plunderers can commit unthinkable atrocities (and in the case of the GM executives, for scores of years) and when it’s time for their gravy train to crash under the weight of their gluttony and overwhelming stupidity, the force of the full federal government has no difficulty coming to their aid within days if not hours?

I know I’m hardly the first one to decide I have had all I can stand. It has always been a myth that people have stopped dying for their freedom in this country, and it isn’t limited to the blacks, and poor immigrants. I know there have been countless before me and there are sure to be as many after. But I also know that by not adding my body to the count, I insure nothing will change. I choose to not keep looking over my shoulder at “big brother” while he strips my carcass, I choose not to ignore what is going on all around me, I choose not to pretend that business as usual won’t continue; I have just had enough.

I saw it written once that the definition of insanity is repeating the same process over and over and expecting the outcome to suddenly be different. I am finally ready to stop this insanity. Well, Mr. Big Brother IRS man, let’s try something different; take my pound of flesh and sleep well.

Truly, Stack was a sick man.  Apparently, before he embarked on attempted mass murder, he allegedly set his house on fire with people in it.  Was Mohammad Atta any less criminally insane?  Is Osama bin laden any less criminally insane?  Just because UBL is more eloquent in his missives against America and the West, are those of lesser eloquence, like Stack, not in the same category of brainwashed terrorists? 

This is not international terrorism, but it is domestic terrorism.

And where is the discussion of this as a terrorist act?  Sen. Brown (R-MA) argues that Stack’s action is part of a wider “frustration” among Americans over the politics of Washington, but he doesn’t call it terrorism.  Some crackpots in the U.S. are hailing Stack as a hero:

“Finally an American man took a stand against our tyrannical government that no longer follows the Constitution,” wrote Emily Walters of Louisville, Ky.  Walters was one of at least two dozen people who founded Facebook fan groups to hail the homicidal pilot.  Most had only a tiny handful of members, but hers attracted more than 200 before Facebook removed it.  “His sacrifice was for all of us,” wrote Texan Tyler Britten.  Crackpots were also praising the dead pilot on Twitter.  “Joe Stack, you are a true American Hero and we need more of you to make a stand,” tweeted Greg Lenihan, an engineer in San Diego.

Rep. Doggett (D-Austin) has called it what it is: Domestic Terrorism:

Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-Austin) said it was outrageous that some Americans were praising Stack.  This was a cowardly act of domestic terrorism,” he said, and Stack’s rant “reflects the steadily increasing flow of ‘the government is out to get me’ paranoia.”

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By Joshua, February 14, 2010 7:36 am

Another look at the luge tragedy of the 21 yeard old Georgian athlete:

Olympic officials treated the death of Nodar Kumaritashvili, the Georgian luge athlete, less as a tragedy than as an inconvenience.  The sport’s international governing body released a callous statement late Friday night, about 10 hours after Kumaritashvili died, publicly blaming the 21-year-old for his own death. Athletes were attaining speeds at the Whistler Sliding Center far exceeding what the track was designed for, but the track was not the problem. It was a user error, the statement implied.  Kumaritashvili failed to compensate properly as he entered Curve 16 before he crashed at nearly 90 miles per hour, the federation’s statement said. It added, “There was no indication that the accident was caused by deficiencies in the track.”

There was at least tacit admission Saturday morning that the course was dangerous:

–  the ice had been contoured to direct sleds toward the center of the track.

–  A high wooden wall had been erected just beyond the curve where Kumaritashvili died after crashing into a support post.

–  Signs reading “wet paint” were still stuck to the wall when the first of two training runs began.

–  Padding was placed on exposed metal beams just before the finish line.

–  And the men’s start was moved to the women’s start, a lower position that will slow maximum speeds by about five or six m.p.h.

Olympic officials insisted that the changes were not made for safety reasons, but rather to accommodate the emotional state of Kumaritashvili’s fellow athletes — a bogus notion.  “They don’t know what the emotions of the athletes are, because they don’t see the athletes on a day-to-day basis,” said Wolfgang Staudinger, the Canadian Olympic team coach.

Officials said Kumaritashvili’s death was the first luge fatality since 1975. Several sliders and officials said it could not have been foreseen. But the idea that something terrible might happen here, on the fastest course in the world, was talked about publicly and feared for a year.  Frequent concerns were expressed about excessive speeds. Even Armin Zoeggeler of Italy, a two-time Olympic champion and a favorite here, had crashed on this track.

The president of Georgia, Mikheil Saakashvili, said in a news conference Saturday that officials should have listened more carefully to athletes’ concerns about the safety of the track. “I don’t claim to know all the technical details,” he said. “But one thing I know for sure, that no sports mistake is supposed to lead to a death. No sports mistake is supposed to be fatal.”

On the opening training run — the first since Kumaritashvili’s death — Tony Benshoof of the United States was the first slider down the hill. Asked about his emotions during that run, he said, “I’m not going to talk about that stuff.”  After the second run, Benshoof acknowledged that he thought “a little bit” about the death of a fellow racer. But, he said: “Luge is a tough sport. It takes a long time to master. That’s the bottom line. We could hash over it for hours. But at the end of the day, we’re going 95-98 miles an hour and we’re six inches off the ice. We get down a mile of track in 45 seconds. There’s an inherent risk.”

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By Joshua, January 27, 2010 3:43 am

YOU be the judge!

The four men accused of trying to tamper with Democratic U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu’s office phones share a common experience as young ideologues writing for conservative publications. Federal authorities said two of the men posed as telephone workers wearing hard hats, tool belts and flourescent vests when they walked into the senator’s office inside a federal building in New Orleans on Monday. The other two were accused of helping to organize the plan.The most well-known of the suspects is James O’Keefe, a 25-year-old whose hidden-camera expose posing as a pimp with his prostitute infuriated the liberal group ACORN and made him a darling of conservatives… the fourth suspect, Robert Flanagan, 24, wrote for the conservative Pelican Institute and had recently criticized Landrieu for her vote on health care legislation. O’Keefe was a featured speaker at a Pelican Institute luncheon days before his arrest. Flanagan is the son of the acting U.S. Attorney for northern Louisiana.

It’s not yet clear whether the plan was a prank intended to be captured on camera or a more serious attempt at political espionage, as claimed by state Democrats who dubbed it “Louisiana Watergate.”

All four suspects were charged with entering federal property under false pretenses for the purpose of committing a felony, which carries a penalty of up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

“It was poor judgment,” Flanagan’s lawyer, Garrison Jordan, said. “I don’t think there was any intent or motive to commit a crime.” 

As he got into a cab outside, O’Keefe said, “The truth shall set me free.”

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By Joshua, January 25, 2010 9:35 am

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said on NBC’s “Meet The Press.” “The exit polls that I looked at said 48% of the people in Massachusetts said they voted for the new senator over health care. Only 5% mentioned any other issue.

Is is possible that Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky was outright lying about looking at exit polls?  Or did he collect exit polls on his own without telling anyone about it?  And if so, how did he do it, if no survey organization says that they collected exit polls from the 2010 MA senate race?

Those seeking exit polls for the 2010 Massachusetts Senate Race will be disappointed to know there aren’t any.Mike Allen of Politico reports about the lack of exit polls:  The consortium scrambled to put something together — for the “why,” more than for the call — but wasn’t confident a reliable system could be built so fast.”  Curious Americans aren’t the only losers. John Fund of the Wall Street Journal writes in his blog that the missing exit polls are “disappointing journalists and political scientists alike.”  Also on the matter, MSNBC anchor David Shuster tweeted: “No news organization is doing exit polls in Mass senate race today. Only numbers will be the election results themselves. Voting ends 8pm.”

That’s John Fund from the Wall Street Journal, the same news organization that ran the quote from Minority Leader McConnell.

So, Senator McConnell.  Tell us a little more about those exit polls you saw.

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By Joshua, January 25, 2010 7:50 am

Happy birth-day to David, the The Waterglass Editor Emeritus who is busily celebrating his birth-day on his new blog.

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By Joshua, January 20, 2010 4:47 am

That’s today’s headline, folks.  Thirty million Americans won’t get health insurance because Coakley couldn’t run a campaign to fill Ted Kennedy’s seat in Massachusetts. 

Scott Brown, a little-known Republican state senator, rode an old pickup truck and a growing sense of unease among independent voters to an extraordinary upset Tuesday night when he was elected to fill the Senate seat that was long held by Edward M. Kennedy in the overwhelmingly Democratic state of Massachusetts. By a decisive margin, Mr. Brown defeated Martha Coakley, the state’s attorney general, who had been considered a prohibitive favorite to win just over a month ago after she easily won the Democratic primary.

With all precincts counted, Mr. Brown had 52 percent of the vote to Ms. Coakley’s 47 percent.

Just as Gore is blamed for losing the presidential election, Coakley will be blamed for losing the Senate seat.   All that work for health care reform by the Democrats shot down because Coakley ran a crappy campaign.  The chance of a lifetime for the Dems, the holy grail of Democratic Party legislation, on the fingertips, slipped away.

Steve Bartman was blamed for losing the Cubs a chance for the World Series.

Martha Coakley is blamed for losing health insurance reform.

That’s right, folks.  30 million Americans are going to be without health insurance because Democrat Coakley couldn’t win a Senate seat in Massachusetts.

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By Joshua, January 18, 2010 3:02 pm

There is great uncertainty about Coakley’s chances of winning Ted Kennedy’s seat in the Senate.  Looking at the polls and reading up on the situation, here’s why I think the polls showing Brown ahead by substantail margin are wrong:

1.  There are many more registered democrats in MA than registered Republicans.

2.  The phone surveys rely on fixed phones.  Most of the people who will vote Democratic are young, and they tend only to have cell phones.  They probably haven’t been contacted, and chances are they will vote Democrat.

3.  Almost all registered Democrats will vote Democrat.

The main problem for Coakley are the independents, who are leaning toward Brown.  I think the Democrats will wash them out.

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By Joshua, January 14, 2010 4:00 am

Pat Robertson, the venerated spiritual leader of some Evangelicals comments on the Haiti’s earthquake:

Officials fear more than 100,000 people have died as a result of Tuesday’s 7.0-magnitude earthquake in Haiti.

Robertson, the host of the “700 Club,” blamed the tragedy on something that “happened a long time ago in Haiti, and people might not want to talk about it.”  The Haitians “were under the heel of the French. You know, Napoleon III and whatever,” Robertson said on his broadcast Wednesday. “And they got together and swore a pact to the devil. They said, ‘We will serve you if you will get us free from the French.’ True story. And so, the devil said, ‘OK, it’s a deal.’   You know, the Haitians revolted and got themselves free. But ever since, they have been cursed by one thing after the other.”

Robertson has previously linked natural disasters and terrorist attacks to legalized abortion in the United States. Soon after Hurricane Katrina ravaged the Gulf Coast, killing more than 1,800 and wreaking unprecedented devastation on New Orleans, Louisiana, Robertson weighed in with his own theory.  “We have killed over 40 million unborn babies in America,” Robertson said on his September 12, 2005, broadcast of “700 Club.” “I was reading, yesterday, a book that was very interesting about what God has to say in the Old Testament about those who shed innocent blood. And he [the author] used the term that those who do this, ‘the land will vomit you out.’ … But have we found we are unable somehow to defend ourselves against some of the attacks that are coming against us, either by terrorists or now by natural disaster? Could they be connected in some way?”

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By Joshua, January 12, 2010 7:05 am

The Triangle of Wickedness, not to be confused with the Axis of Evil, is blamed for the murder of an Iranian nuclear physicist:

A bomb attached to a motorcycle killed an Iranian professor of nuclear physics outside his home in northern Tehran on Tuesday, state media reported, blaming the United States and Israel. 

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack. One state broadcaster, IRIB, quoted a Foreign Ministry spokesman as saying that “in the initial investigation, signs of the triangle of wickedness by the Zionist regime, America and their hired agents are visible in the terrorist act,” Reuters reported.

The authorities called the killing of the scientist, Massoud Ali Mohammadi, an assassination carried out by terrorists, but did not say who was believed to be responsible. The professor taught neutron physics at Tehran University, the English-language Press TV said, but it was not clear whether he was part of Iran’s contentious nuclear enrichment program.

The broadcaster called the professor a “staunch supporter of the Islamic Revolution” of 1979 that overthrew the Shah and initiated three decades of theocratic rule.