Building The Next Marine

They’re getting exo-skeletons:

"The enhanced mobility and load carrying capability provided by the MEPAC" — that’s short for "Marine Exoskeletal Performance Augmentation Capability" — will eventually "allow Marines to individually carry more ballistic protection and heavy weaponry," the memo says.

The first uses of exoskeleton (in about 10 years, according to the document) would be in logistics units, to "complement smaller forklifts [and] overhead cranes."   As the suits became more capable, Marines might wear ’em to lug heavy crew-served weapons around.

"Still later, the MEPAC could evolve into an objective capability that stands alone as a computationally-self-aware machine, a fully sensing and interactive endoskeletal entity that has outgrown its practical need for unmitigated Marine contact, and can act constructively on its own."

Poetry And the Presidency

Here’s hoping Obama would forego the dreadful Angelou at his inauguration. But the poetic bond to whoever occupies the White House is strong:

George Washington scribbled some wistful, angst-ridden love poems as a teenager (“From your bright sparkling Eyes, I was undone”), and Jimmy Carter published a complete volume in 1995 (“well meaning” and “mediocre”, sighed Michiko Kakutani in the New York Times). Abraham Lincoln, perhaps the most melancholic president, wrote some rather morbid poetry: “O death! Thou awe-inspiring prince/That keepst the world in fear.”

George Bush has not published any poems himself, though many consider his unique turns of phrase—or “Bushisms”—to be pure poetic genius …

The Real McCain

A great new ad:

Pete Abel likes. As does K-Lo. I had a chat with McCain in the green room at ABC News this weekend. He seemed on great form and in fine spirits. I have to say that, although I’m under no illusion as to the limits of the tactical successes in Iraq, I didn’t expect the surge to be this effective at reducing violence, because I trusted Petraeus’ previous metrics. But McCain was right, and he deserves credit for it. I find myself wanting him to be the nominee more and more. He’s deserved it. And he is the one Republican who won’t needlessly exacerbate polarization. Imagine an Obama-McCain race: adult, graceful, necessary, and good for us. On torture and climate change, McCain is also a rare Republican prepared to embrace reality rather than base-bluster. Maybe he’s going to become the Kerry of this election cycle: dismissed as old hat for months and then newly relevant in the weeks before the primaries. Here’s hoping. The GOP could do a lot, lot worse.

The Meaning Of Annapolis

David Samuels offers this:

It is difficult to imagine that America’s newly limber devotion to a future Palestinian state is going to convince Arab listeners of anything other than the fact that America is feeling afraid and alone. Yet by loudly insisting that the creation of a Palestinian state is a central goal of American policy, Bush and Rice have laid down a marker that the next American president will be forced to pay off. Assurances that Israel’s security will somehow be assured before the final ribbon-cutting ceremony in Ramallah do little to disguise the fact that America has established itself – and not Israel – as the final arbiter of whether Israeli security worries are valid.

I wish I could be in the slightest bit optimistic. Wonkette offers a Condi photo-op guide. Melanie Phillips lapses into total self-parody:

Annapolis is America’s Munich — and Israel is the new Czechoslovakia.

She’s not the only one, alas:

I’ve long observed that the trademarks of this Administration’s approach to foreign policy has been: to neglect a problem when they might have taken action to help solve it; to let ideology trump reality when they finally do get involved; and to "spin" when they fail.

And the beat goes on.