Friday, March 23, 2007

Calling In Well

When all else fails, Scott and James (usually) deliver. James isn’t all that great today, what with a rant about a malfunctioning new fridge that, save the colorful language, is just average for Mr. Lileks (I should be so “average”). On the other hand, Mr. Ott is pretty good today:

Army Desertions Rise to Near All-Time Average
by Scott Ott

(2007-03-23) — The Pentagon today admitted that, due to the Bush administration’s hugely unpopular war in Iraq, desertions from the Army have increased in each of the last two years, reaching almost 75 percent of pre-war levels.

According to a story in The New York Times, citing a National Public Radio report, the Pentagon has miscalculated desertion figures in recent years, in part because the Defense Department inexplicably misplaced personnel records during what officials called an “isolated incident at the office” on September 11, 2001.

His best line, however, is at the very end. Fair use” prevents me from posting the whole thing, but I’m sure you’ll go read. Right?

And then there’s this…an op-ed from the WaPo:

TODAY THE House of Representatives is due to vote on a bill that would grant $25 million to spinach farmers in California. The legislation would also appropriate $75 million for peanut storage in Georgia and $15 million to protect Louisiana rice fields from saltwater. More substantially, there is $120 million for shrimp and menhaden fishermen, $250 million for milk subsidies, $500 million for wildfire suppression and $1.3 billion to build levees in New Orleans.

Altogether the House Democratic leadership has come up with more than $20 billion in new spending, much of it wasteful subsidies to agriculture or pork barrel projects aimed at individual members of Congress. At the tail of all of this logrolling and political bribery lies this stinger: Representatives who support the bill -- for whatever reason -- will be voting to require that all U.S. combat troops leave Iraq by August 2008, regardless of what happens during the next 17 months or whether U.S. commanders believe a pullout at that moment protects or endangers U.S. national security, not to mention the thousands of American trainers and Special Forces troops who would remain behind.

The Democrats claim to have a mandate from voters to reverse the Bush administration's policy in Iraq. Yet the leadership is ready to piece together the votes necessary to force a fateful turn in the war by using tactics usually dedicated to highway bills or the Army Corps of Engineers budget. The legislation pays more heed to a handful of peanut farmers than to the 24 million Iraqis who are living through a maelstrom initiated by the United States, the outcome of which could shape the future of the Middle East for decades.

I know: politics as usual. Happens all the time, right? Scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours. It’s the way things get done in the real world. Still and even…I’ve not seen an example of political behavior lately that’s more reprehensible or more disgusting. It will be most interesting to see which representatives take the bait and sell the country out to get peanut storage, among other things. Damn.

But…kudos to the WaPo for taking a principled position on this issue. I hope they manage to shame those reps that just might be willing to eat the bacon. Fat chance.

Today’s Pic: An example of an art time has passed by: the hand-colored portrait. This particular example is a photo of my sister and me, circa 1957 in Ankara, Turkey. I was 12, my sister was six. Interestingly, the artist didn’t know the shirt I was wearing was tan, not green as colored. My Mom was furious with the results, my Dad much less so. It’s strange how one can remember the angst associated with an event, but not the event itself. I have absolutely NO recollection of sitting for this picture, but I well remember my Mom’s outrage over the color of my shirt. I don’t think she ever got over it!

Short post today. I thought about calling in well* but decided against it. But on the whole? I need a mental health day.

* “calling in well” is when you just feel too good to go to work. Some people can pull this off, some can’t.

7 comments:

  1. Can anyone spell "veto"??? It won't erase the SHAME that these - oh I just don't have the words to describe them - should feel, but it will erase the damage they intend to do.

    And BTW, I read somewhere (can't remember unfortunately) that these asshats included less funding for our veterans than they did for livestock.

    But oh yeah, they support the troops...

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  2. Found it! The original listing of the pork barrel crap was here, at Mudville Gazette

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  3. Great link, Kris, thanks for that!

    I remembered reading that, as well, and couldn't begin to think just where I'd read it. Either I read too much (?) or my memory sucks. I tend to think it's the latter... :-)

    Now...can you point me to a list of Algore's "environmental" recommendations (greenhouse gas "freeze," cap 'n' trade, outlaw incandescent lamps...yadda, yadda)? I saw those a while back, too, and can't find them again. Google is no help, either. Which may or may not be surprising...

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  4. I always feel guilty if I call in well.... have only done it a few times, and the guilt makes it so I can't enjoy it anyway, so I don't do it. Yeah, I'm pathetic.

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  5. "At the tail of all of this logrolling and political bribery lies this stinger: Representatives who support the bill -- for whatever reason -- will be voting to require that all U.S. combat troops leave Iraq by August 2008, regardless of what happens during the next 17 months or whether U.S. commanders believe a pullout at that moment protects or endangers U.S. national security, not to mention the thousands of American trainers and Special Forces troops who would remain behind."

    All of my dislike for the war aside, the above is just a very, very bad idea.

    Lori

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  6. Toby took half a day, and we went to Wichita Falls (yeha), but it was a very nice afternoon. We did some shopping - new canvas for me and a new suit for Toby. I thought of you - some men just think a suit is the way to go when "dressing up". We had a beer at Chili's, but decided it was too noisy and went to Olive Garden for some pasta. Then we topped off the evening with Starbuck's on the home trip. Calling in well was well worth it.

    The pic of you and your sister is classic. The green shirt just makes it that much better.

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  7. Lori sez: All of my dislike for the war aside, the above is just a very, very bad idea.

    True...on many levels. I watched Madame Speaker address the house (on C-SPAN) last evening after the vote for a brief while but simply HAD to change the channel after about six minutes. I'm an adult and all that, but I have great, nigh impossible difficulty understanding her and her party's reasons and rationales for wanting to quit in Iraq. The stakes are SO high and her approach is SO wrong...

    Lou: Sounds like you had a great day!! Better than mine, LOL!

    Unlike Laurie, I never had issues with calling in well, but I never did it all that much to begin with. You can only play that card just so many times...

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Just be polite... that's all I ask.