Monthly Archives: February 2011

Somebody should have shot Mugabe years ago

So opines Instapundit:

Zimbabwe Prof Arrested, Tortured for Watching Viral Vids. And plenty of Zimbabweans know where the people who arrested him live. They should do something about it. Rule-of-law concerns don’t apply in a murderous dictatorship, which Zimbabwe’s certainly is.

Indeed.  Don’t we have Spec Ops people who know how to do that?  I can’t imagine there is anyone who would mourn the death of a monster.

The Men Who Stare At Senators

Rolling Stone reports that the U.S. Army deployed Psy-Ops on U.S. Senators.  (h/t The Blog Prof)

The U.S. Army illegally ordered a team of soldiers specializing in “psychological operations” to manipulate visiting American senators into providing more troops and funding for the war, Rolling Stone has learned – and when an officer tried to stop the operation, he was railroaded by military investigators.

The orders came from the command of Lt. Gen. William Caldwell, a three-star general in charge of training Afghan troops – the linchpin of U.S. strategy in the war. Over a four-month period last year, a military cell devoted to what is known as “information operations” at Camp Eggers in Kabul was repeatedly pressured to target visiting senators and other VIPs who met with Caldwell. When the unit resisted the order, arguing that it violated U.S. laws prohibiting the use of propaganda against American citizens, it was subjected to a campaign of retaliation.

The list of targeted visitors was long, according to interviews with members of the IO team and internal documents obtained by Rolling Stone. Those singled out in the campaign included senators John McCain, Joe Lieberman, Jack Reed, Al Franken and Carl Levin; Rep. Steve Israel of the House Appropriations Committee; Adm. Mike Mullen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; the Czech ambassador to Afghanistan; the German interior minister, and a host of influential think-tank analysts.

Psy-Ops.  That’s a good one.  Who “reported” this, Sy Hersh? It sounds like one of his delusions. Sy Hersh, Psy-Ops, kinda goes together, doesn’t it?

Comic relief: It’s gonna get ugly people

Found this in my inbox after lunch today:

This morning a coalition of Muslim leaders warned the United States that if military action against Muslim countries continues, they intend to cut off America’s supply of 7-11 and Motel 6 managers. If this action does not yield sufficient results, cab drivers will be next, followed by Dell, AT&T and AOL customer service reps. Finally, if all else fails, they have threatened not to send us any more Presidents either.

We’re Number One! We’re Number One! (For the 3rd year in a row!)

N.J. residents were highest-taxed in U.S. in 2009.

Gov. Chris Christie has pledged to change New Jersey’s reputation for high taxes. Judging by a report released Wednesday by the Washington, D.C.-based Tax Foundation, the state has a long way to go.

New Jersey residents were the highest-taxed in the country in 2009, giving 12.2 percent of their income to state and local taxes.

Wednesday’s report covers former Gov. Jon Corzine’s last full year in office, and it was New Jersey’s third consecutive year with the dubious honor.

But there is a glimmer of good news.  We went from dead last in business tax climate to #48.  With a bullet…

Anybody still think we don’t pay enough to support the public employee unions?

Like anybody really needs another reason to hate Comcast, but…

They’re getting in bed with the al-Qaeda Channel.

Al-Jazeera is in discussions with Comcast, the nation’s largest cable operator, about bringing the network’s English-language channel to millions of U.S. homes, the Qatar-based news service said Tuesday.

Great.  When Osama bin Laden needs a microphone, Al-Jazeera is on the scene.

When Islamist nutjobs behead U.S. citizens, Al-Jazeera broadcasts it live.

Their most popular show is a 47 part miniseries based on the 100% ficticious Protocols of the Elders of Zion.  I’m sure that’ll be a big hit here in America.

 

In Obama’s America you need a permit to recite the Gettysburg Address

Stand on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and read the inscription aloud?

That’s a $100 fine.

On President’s Day — standing where the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his “I Have a Dream Speech” — Phillip Howell, 25, recited Lincoln’s famous address and was quickly stopped by a Park Police officer. He told Howell that he could not give speeches on the steps of the memorial without a permit.

“He called me Abe, and then I turned around and he said, ‘Do you have a permit?’ I said ‘no’ and he said, ‘well you can’t do that here then,’” Howell told The Daily Caller. “Then I said, ‘I’m just giving the Gettysburg Address, come on, it’s President’s Day.’ And he said, ‘I don’t care what you’re giving, You’re not allowed to do that here. I don’t care what speech or what agenda you want to give.’”
[…]
They told the officer they didn’t know it was illegal and would be on their way. The officer refused, detained them at the base of the memorial, and wrote Howell and his friend holding the basket $100 in tickets.

Doug Powers has video.

What do we expect, right?  Obama wakes up every day hoping to make the Constitution illegal.  An old speech by Lincoln must certainly be out of bounds.

When will Columbia Alum Barack Obama denounce students jeering a wounded veteran on campus?

I’m guessing “never”.  Or, when Hell freezes over.  Whichever comes first.

Columbia’s Dishonor: School Stained By Students Jeering Vet:

They teach many things at Columbia University — but common decency appears not to be among them. Nor how to recognize personal honor.

 

Consider the treatment given last week to Anthony Maschek, a Purple Heart combat vet of the Iraq war, when he spoke up in support of a return of reserve officer training to Columbia after a 40-plus-year absence. It was, in a word, disgraceful.

 

Maschek, a former US Army staff sergeant, was hospitalized for two years as he recuperated from 11 gunshot wounds received in a firefight near Kirkuk.

 

As The Post’s Annie Karni reported Sunday, he’s now a freshman economics major at the Ivy League school. Not surprising, he supports a return of ROTC to Columbia — the program having been banished during the anti-Vietnam War student tantrums of the ’60s. . . . The response? Laughter.

 

Catcalls.

 

And the usual sophistries about gay rights, economic justice, America’s hobnailed boots, whatever — the same bushwa dragged out by the academy whenever it feels the need to deflect attention from the obvious, which is that it hates the military and has for more than a generation.

The Commander in Chief hates the military almost as much as his mentors at Columbia do.  And he’s got bigger fish to fry, seeing as how he’s devoting every waking moment to protecting the public employee unions to DNC revenue stream.

At least nobody at Columbia asked Staff Sergeant Maschek to fetch a glass of wine.