The Perfect Season 14-0

well I said it and now they've done it. The Pats, who played a game against a playoff-bound Giants team that (1) took the risk of having its starters in to stop the Pats and paid the price with 3 injuries, (2) clearly studied the game videos of the near-wins by the Bills and Eagles a few weeks before and used everything they learned, and (3) played one helluva game, perhaps their best this season, and was winning at halftime with the Pats worried their train ride might end Saturday, once again pulled that old hat out the bag one more time, exerted all their energy and muster and pulled it through. With everything on the line, and a formidable opponent (who they may face again in the Super Bowl) almost prevailing, the Pats proved they are the best team in football in a generation. Whoa Whoa to the New England Patriots!

Let's Not Forget About our Friends in Iraq

...just thought you'd like this shot. FYI: Iraq, with the bulk of the Euphrates River running through it, is the eastern half of the Fertile Crescent, the cradle of civilization...


Beautiful, isn't it? How in hell could mankind want to destroy it?

Pakistan is Now the New Epicenter of Terrorism

make no mistake about it - no matter what the outcome of the recent assassination of Benazir Bhutto, Pakistan is perfectly poised to become the new response point of a new level of militancy and terrorism in the world. Expect to see more spectacular acts of terror, ranging without doubt from more car bombings at crucial Western markets and transportation points, to 9/11-level catastrophes by 2011. If for no other reason, it will be the 10th anniversary of 9/11/2001.

Pakistan

I hope you're listening. Al-Qaeda has already established a strong, relatively-permanent (and most likely very mobile), base of operations in Wazirastan, the western, mountainous, and well-defended and populous provinces of Pakistan. Uncontrollable by the Musharraf government, they are strong enough to establish & maintain leadership in an area quickly, and perhaps mobile enough (thanks to the 'spreading of the faith' thru the Internet, video feeds to news media, and speeches like the tape coming out soon from Bin-Laden) that make it able to re-establish leadership when needed where its support is strong, as they appear to have done in Wazirastan. They also almost did it in Sudan, and they definitely did it with the Taliban in Afghanistan. Perhaps the Wazir, cousins of the Afghans, can did where their brother is coming from. Perhaps they feel the same way and Bin Laden speaks to them, to the heart.

So how do you combat the heart? This is the core issue that has to be either defeated or embraced into a peaceful co-existence. That co-existence is likely impossible, so we have to either change our ways to accommodate their fears or fight and defend ourselves. Sadly, this one doesn't have much of a choice but to fight.

Our world is far from perfect. But at least for the most part no one is telling me what to do. In fact, unless it breaks some rule that I agreed to abide, or involves the unspeakable, I'm probably free to do what I want. That is NOT what Islam offers me, I suspect. While I respect Islam highly, I am not a religious person. That means not Christian, either. I'm happy I can live somewhere where I am relatively free to be who I want to be, not what someone else wants.

The threat of Pakistan is a strong military force and nuclear weapons. More than enough firepower, under the wrong hands, to strike out decisively against Israel, or India, or Iraq. I doubt they'll mess with Iran, but if to start a regional chain reaction of wars, especially those that bring in the United States, I'm not so sure they wouldn't.

We must realize NOW that we are in true danger from other world powers! Not as a demagogy, but as a fundamental sea change in how the rest of the world sees itself, not how they see us. In fact, they are dismissive more and more of our Western Anglo view of the world. Whether you like it or not the influence and power of the non-U.S. world is slowly diminishing, and our ability to be the preeminent world power is weakening. Expect Al-Qaeda to be on the move from now until the end of the decade, with stunning results.

Wind Power is the Wave of the Future

Well, we could use wind power to power these turnpike vehicles....

Well these days hot air will blow just about anything, won't it W? Why not use the shit y'all blowing as an ergonomic clean alternative fuel? It could save the planet, make our air less gray, make some folks a little quieter. It might stink a little more but it stinks anyway out there, fuckit.

As We Get Closer To Nirvana.....

Uhhh....Just a reminder - The Pats are getting reeeeel close, boys . . .



Lombardi Trophy, here they come . . .

Huckabee

Persuasive?

'Putt Li'l Luv in Your Heart...'

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — In more than a decade of presiding over this state, Mike Huckabee produced a legacy like few other Republican governors in the South, surprising even liberal Democrats with his willingness to upend some of Arkansas’s more parochial traditions.

the New meets the Old Power Generation: Rollins, Hukabee and Norris. What a trio! See full-size pic on FeedBurner --------->

A review of his record as governor shows that, beginning in 1996, he drove through a series of changes that transformed education and health insurance in Arkansas, achievements that were never tried by most of his predecessors, including Bill Clinton.

But he is also remembered in the state for a style of governing that tended to freeze out anyone of any party who disagreed with his plans. He did not, for example, seek Mr. Clinton’s conciliatory middle, or try to court skeptical state lawmakers. Though he was considered as persuasive a speechmaker as he had been a pastor, Mr. Huckabee largely kept his own counsel — in politics, ethics and a singular clemency policy that continues to haunt him.

Ready to git down on the guitar...

At Times Like This They Wish for a Little More Larry Craig...

Doug Mills/The New York Times

Thomas Kean and Lee Hamilton releasing the Sept. 11 commission's report. A lotta good that did. So is this the part where we say what else is new? The CIA erased the tapes again. What is this, a Watergate holiday season coming up or something?

WASHINGTON, Dec. 7 — Angry Democratic lawmakers called for investigations today into the Central Intelligence Agency’s destruction in 2005 of at least two videotapes documenting the interrogation of two Qaeda operatives in the agency’s custody.

Multimedia

Graphic

Evolution of Interrogation Tactics

Related

Letter From U.S. Attorney on Existence of Tapes (pdf)

Blogrunner: Reactions From Around the Web

Senator Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts accused the C.I.A. of “a cover-up,” while Senator Richard J. Durbin of Illinois said it was possible that people at the agency had engaged in obstruction of justice. Both called on Attorney General Michael Mukasey to investigate.

“We haven’t seen anything like this since the 18½ -minute gap on the tapes of Richard Nixon,” Mr. Kennedy said in a speech on the Senate floor, as reaction to the disclosure about the videotapes seemed to intensify minute by minute.

Mr. Durbin, the Democratic whip, said he had written Mr. Mukasey to ask for an inquiry into “whether C.I.A. officials who destroyed these videotapes and withheld information about their existence from official proceedings violated the law.”

The speeches by Mr. Kennedy and Mr. Durbin followed an angry statement by Representative Jane Harman of California, head of the Homeland Security subcommittee on intelligence and terrorism risk assessment. Ms. Harman, who was the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee in early 2003, said she cautioned C.I.A. officials then not to destroy any videotapes pertaining to interrogation practices.

“To my knowledge, the Intelligence Committee was never informed that any videotapes had been destroyed,” Ms. Harman said. “Surely I was not.”

Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee wrote to Mr. Mukasey and the C.I.A. director, Gen. Michael V. Hayden, today asking whether the Justice Department advised the C.I.A. on the destruction of the videotapes, and whether the department was now contemplating an investigation into possible obstruction of justice.

Late Thursday, Senator John D. Rockefeller 4th, the West Virginia Democrat who heads the Senate Intelligence Committee, said he committee “must review the full history and chronology of the tapes, how they were used, and the reasons for destroying them.” At least one Republican lawmaker has also expressed dismay over the destruction of the tapes.

The C.I.A.’s destruction of the tapes came in the midst of Congressional and legal scrutiny about its secret detention program, according to current and former government officials.

President Bush “has no recollection of being made aware of the tapes or their destruction before yesterday,” the chief White House spokeswoman, Dana Perino, said today.

As to whether there would be investigation by the Justice Department, Ms. Perino said: “I know that the C.I.A. Director is gathering facts and our White House Counsel’s Office is supporting them in that. Whether or not there is going to be an investigation to that scale will have to be determined by others.”

She said President Bush has “complete confidence” in General Hayden.

The videotapes showed agency operatives in 2002 subjecting terrorism suspects — including Abu Zubaydah, the first detainee in C.I.A. custody — to severe interrogation techniques. The tapes were destroyed in part because officers were concerned that video showing harsh interrogation methods could expose agency officials to legal risks, several officials said.

“But that excuse won’t wash,” Senator Kennedy said today. “Does the director believe the C.I.A.’s buildings are not secure? Would it be beyond the agency’s technical expertise to preserve the tapes while hiding the identity of its employees? Does the director believe that the C.I.A.’s employees cannot be trusted not to leak materials that might harm the agency?

“Or does he know that the interrogation techniques are so abhorrent that they could not remain unknown much longer?”

Another prominent Democrat, Senator Carl Levin of Michigan, weighed in with similar remarks. Mr. Levin called the C.I.A. explanation “a pathetic excuse.”

“You’d have to burn every document at the C.I.A. that has the identity of an agent on it under that theory,” Mr. Levin, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said at a Capitol Hill news conference.

Ms. Harman, now head of the Homeland Security subcommittee on intelligence and terrorism risk assessment, said, “This matter must be promptly and fully investigated.” She noted that in early 2003 she received “a highly classified briefing” on C.I.A. interrogation practices from the agency’s general counsel, and that she had expressed “serious concerns” in a letter to the lawyer afterward.

“I call for my letter of February 2003, which was never responded to and has been in the C.I.A.’s files ever since, to be declassified,” the Congresswoman said.

In a statement to employees on Thursday, Gen. Michael V. Hayden, the C.I.A. director, said that the decision to destroy the tapes was made “within the C.I.A.” and that they were destroyed to protect the safety of undercover officers and because they no longer had intelligence value.

The destruction of the tapes raises questions about whether agency officials withheld information from Congress, the courts and the Sept. 11 commission about aspects of the program.