Month: October 2011

Stephen C. Poulson examines some data from Iraq:

Obviously, when “holding” and consolidating control over territory, “insurgent” and “incumbent” groups have different types of violence at their disposal. Nevertheless, in the so-called “Sunni Triangle,” both groups exhibited one particularly similar pattern of violence.  Namely, when these competing groups did not control territory they often resorted to more indiscriminate forms of violence. In the case of incumbent forces (the United States and its allies) there was a tendency to use more aerial bombs, which risked killing a greater number of civilians. In the case of insurgents, there was (and continues to be) a tendency to use more land explosives and other types of bombs (e.g. suicide bombs) as they lost control of territory. Insurgents also used more indiscriminate violence when actively fighting against the U.S. army’s offensive campaigns.

It looks rather relaxing without the needle:

The Daily What captions:

Photographer Dabe Alan snapped a few hundred shots of Toledo tattoo artist Tony Touch‘s work in progress, and strung them together to form a stop-motion video of his "nerd sleeve" tattooing itself.

See Also: Part 2; Part 3.

Kevin Williamson rebuffs the finger pointing:

China is not the reason that manufacturing began to decline in the United States in the second half of the 20th century. The United States was an uncontested manufacturing powerhouse in the 1950s in no small part because Germany and Japan had been bombed to smithereens, along with much of the rest of the civilized world, while potential global competitors in much of Europe, Latin America, and Asia were suffocating under socialism in various forms. That is no longer the case. The United States is a country with an average household money income of some $50,000 — we are not going to be the world’s leader in low-margin injected-plastic manufacturing. That is not going to happen, and we should not be eager for it to happen.

As another report of a burned mosque on the West Bank emerges, here's an insight into the settler mentality:

Note they target Israelis as well. At some point, the Greater Israel lobby has to concede that it is exactly these fundamentalist, violent forces that they are refusing to stop, even as they give lip-service to opposing them.

"But perhaps most disturbing is the tone of the Romney ad itself. It is not simply an issue-oriented contrast. It uses a statement praising Perry by former Mexican President Vincente Fox as though it were an endorsement by Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The last time I checked, Mexico was an important ally – a country that Romney, if elected president, would need to deal with daily. Fox’s words in the commercial are innocuous – simply thanking Texas and Perry for the education measure they had passed. So why is Fox’s statement supposed to be disturbing or sinister? Because Fox is a foreigner? Because he has a Mexican accent? This is really an ad one would expect of Tancredo, not Romney. Mitt Romney is better than this. He just needs to act like it," – Michael Gerson, on this Romney hit on Perry.

Mississippi transplant Lee Habeeb reflects on the "Great Migration":

According to the latest Census figures, and stories in USA Today, the Associated Press, and elsewhere, the South was the fastest growing region in America over the last decade, up 14 percent. “The center of population has moved south in the most extreme way we’ve even seen in history,” Robert Groves, director of the Census Bureau, said a few months ago. … It’s quite a story, actually. Americans, black and white alike, are moving in record numbers to a part of the country where taxes are low, unions are irrelevant, and people love their guns and their faith. 

In light of his sister Ruthie's death, Dreher's family is moving home to St. Francisville, LA:

This morning, I received e-mailed congratulations on our planned return from an old friend who is also a Louisiana expatriate, and with whom I have commiserated for many years over the woebegone condition of our home state. I told him, "She might be a whore, but she’s still our Mama." I mean, I know about all of Louisiana’s problems. I grew up thanking the good Lord for Mississippi so we could be 49th in everything, not 50th. … I remember the story about the New Orleans journalist who, upon resigning, explained that he could no longer raise his kids in a city that valued parades more than libraries. I get that.

But you know, life is short, and it needs more parades. 

(Photo by Flickr user Gary Bridgman.)

Jonathan Rue explains why scaremongering over Iran's absurd threat to send warships to the American coast is, well, absurd:

The logistical impediments Iran would have to overcome in order to complete a deployment to the Western Atlantic are enormous, possibly insurmountable. Iran has no permanent or temporary bases in the Western Hemisphere at which it can make port in order to refuel and resupply. Thus, it would have to rely on friends and allies to receive its ships and resupply them with fuel and other supplies.

Raymon Pritchett takes a serious look at how the Iranian navy is dealing with the threat of a war with the US.

Los Angeles, California, 1.54 pm

A reader writes:

You wrote "I do not understand why the Village cannot handle or absorb this."

The Village cannot handle this because they have been participants in the scam that is Sarah Palin. Whether giving her a pass, lowering the bar for the little con artist, reporting her lies as gospel or flat out lying for her they have been active participants in the con game that is Sarah Palin. What they can't handle or absorb is just how far they went and how low they've sunk. They can't handle themselves. Someday, and it will take awhile for dust to settle and perspective to clear, someone is going to write another book about Palin. Only it won't be about her and the hoax she is. It will be about the hoax that the press turned themselves into on her behalf. It's going to be a really ugly and unforgiving book. And no doubt the press will savage it.

I think that's largely true – proven almost definitively by the Journo-List leaks, where liberal journalists debated the political efficacy of finding out the truth. I remember asking one colleague about Palin's weird pregnancy story when it first emerged. Probably untrue, he said, but not worth looking into because it would hurt "your reputation." Others insisted the actual life of Palin was irrelevant, because her public record was so awful, it was all you needed to focus on. Another writes:

"The Village cannot handle or absorb" the total moral vacuum that is Sarah Palin for one simple reason:  they don't care about it.  They are no longer journalists but participants in the entertainment business.  As individuals, I'm sure they don't take Palin any more seriously than you do.  But they all recognize the media phenomenon she is (or was).  Their goal is to increase the number of eyeballs watching them and Palin serves that purpose.  They know damn well she'll never be president and that her long-extended fifteen minutes of fame will eventually end.  But in the meantime, a Palin story may mean their ratings go up a notch and that is truly all they care about.

Just remember that the NYT ran a completely credulous piece on Palin's stories about her pregnancy. You think a NYT staffer, Janet Maslin, would implicitly rebuke her own newspaper for never digging deeper? Or would it be more in her interest to grandstand about "old news" and alleged misogyny?

Sigh. As another leading DC reporter said to me at the time: "Why ask questions she won't answer?" Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the legacy media. Oh, and about that "unattributed crap" cited by so many, including Maslin. When will she dismiss the "Niggerhead" story in the Washington Post? Money quote:

Most of those interviewed requested anonymity because they fear being ostracized or other repercussions in their small community.

So the story is baseless, right?

Mike Konczal thinks the Wall Street activists need to focus on three issues:

1. Cancel the debts. The crisis we face is fundamentally about a giant pool of bad mortgage debt. We need to work through these debts for recovery to really take off. … 2. Investigate Wall Street … 3. Create a Financial Transaction Tax. It is hard to think of something with such a boring name as a particularly radical solution, but an FTT would be an important first step toward remaking our economy so it is not so dependent on the financial sector.

He follows up by examining the unorthodox means the occupiers are using to develop a list of demands. Extensive input from Dish readers here. In the wake of this weekend's mass arrests on the Brooklyn Bridge, the movement is now approaching DC:

With attendees from Washington’s major progressive institutions — from MoveOn.org and labor unions to the Center for American Progress and members of the House Progressive Caucus — the CAF conference had already been planned a Wednesday march on Capitol Hill to advocate for "jobs not cuts." Now the conference’s progressive leaders are urging them to support a D.C. offshoot of Occupy Wall Street,” which converged Sunday at McPherson Square. On Thursday, they’ll protest the role of corporate money in politics. "Occupy K Street is starting. It’s from Wall Street to K Street," says Liz Butler, campaign director for climate advocacy group 1Sky. "To send the same message to corporate lobbyists that’s being sent to Congress and Wall Street. It’s a beautiful moment of convergence — versus Wall Street, versus cuts, for our future."