Signing off in 140 characters: I will be off-net for the next month. Back OOA 8/1/2009. No tweets, posts, or email. Nothing. Dropping off completely. Have a gr8 month.

 

Before celebrity deaths had taken over the news cycle, we were hearing a lot about how health care reform was stalling because of the debate around cost. In this blog post I’ve broken down some of the most recent research on cost and explained what it all means. Much of the controversy surrounded some figures released by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). The CBO got a lot of coverage on the news because their partial analysis of the half-crafted-and-constantly-changing health care reform bill said that health care reform would top $1 trillion and still leave people uninsured. You can read the full CBO r

Here's a little break from stuff about politics, ecology and firearms.

I have a 5 year old daughter and a 2 year old son. So I watch a lot of kids' movies. Usually again and again and again. I have watched all of these movies literally anywhere from 5 to 50 times. Naturally I have developed some, ahem, opinions about what kids movies are any good and which ones should never have entered the house. I'm just going to be looking at feature-length animated movies that were made for kids.

Read on for my love of Barbie princess movies.

'Ice Age' sucks. The sequel sucks even harder. It is a string of slapstick skits that makes very little sense. The writing sucks and the voices are annoying. This is a typical movie designed to create 2 dimensional characters for 'limited edition' fast food food soda cups. For some reason they put a Jar-Jar in it, which is grounds for dismissal on its own.

'Over the Hedge' is ok, I guess. It has its moments. At the end of the day it is a poor man's 'Pom Poko.' Pom Poko was great, by the way. Weird and great.

Anything by Pixar will be great. 'Cars' was awesome. Literally, this could have been done as an old Steve McQueen movie for adults 30 years ago and the concept, with much of the script, would have worked just as well. This was a really good movie that happened to be computer animated and marketed to kids. 'Toy Story' and its sequel were both great. 'Monsters, Inc.' was another Pixar movie with a 2 year old girl named 'Boo' and the character is dead-on. I don't know why so many writers and directors have so much trouble with creating child characters that are remotely like an actual child, but an ability to do this well is something that Pixar shares with Studio Ghibli. I think it is a big part of why kids respond so well to their films.

'Open Season' sucks. At first it appears to be some sort of attempt to teach kids about conservation and ecology, except that the writers knew nothing about these topics and got everything wrong. Instead, they settled for typical suburban know-nothing preachy negative caricatures of hunters as evil louts who murder for fun. I doubt it ever even occurred to them that millions and millions of Americans are hunters and that insulting these people in front of their children makes them complete assholes. I literally threw this movie in the garbage.

Anything by Hayao Miazaki or his Studio Ghibli will be brilliant and wonderful. This includes 'Spirited Away,' Porco Rosso,' Howl's Moving Castle,' 'My Neighbor Totoro,' 'Castle in the Sky,' 'Nausica of the Valley of the Wind,' 'Whisper of the Heart' and everything else that they did. Miazaki's films are everything that Disney wishes that they could do but constantly fail at. They are not designed to sell toys or make for flashy trailers. The movies are intended to be visually beautiful, engaging stories that kids will imagine themselves within.

You remember that scene from 'Snow White' where she's looking into the wishing well and you see her reflection rippling on the surface of the water? Everyone looks back at that fondly as some sort of apex of animation as art that has never been equaled since. Wrong. Most of Miazaki's films have this level of detail and attention paid to the art. 'Totoro' or 'Spirited Away' make 'Snow White' look amateurish. 'Spirited Away' makes everything else look amateurish, actually.

Anything by Pixar will be great. 'Cars' was awesome. Literally, this could have been done as an old Steve McQueen movie for adults 30 years ago and the concept, with much of the script, would have worked just as well. This was a really good movie that happened to be computer animated and marketed to kids. 'Toy Story' and its sequel were both great. 'Monsters, Inc.' was another Pixar movie with a 2 year old girl named 'Boo' and the character is dead-on. I don't know why so many writers and directors have so much trouble with creating child characters that are remotely like an actual child, but an ability to do this well is something that Pixar shares with Studio Ghibli. I think it is a big part of why kids respond so well to their films.

Almost everything made by Disney in the last 20 years has been absolute shit. Not to say that they have never made a good movie, but its been a long time and the company seems more interested in gloating about movies made 50 years ago than anything else (Like Pabst Blue Ribbon still crowing about some medal they won in 1893). Disney does not really make children's movies. Disney makes brands and logos and crappy Happy Meal toys and then crams an 80 minute long cartoon around that brand with animation below the quality of most computer games from a decade ago. Do not even bother with anything with their logo unless they are only acting as the distributor, as with many of Pixar's and Miazaki's films.

Mattel's Barbie Princess movies are often unexpectedly awesome. In fact, I would argue that the quality of the writing and the music of these straight-to-video Barbie movies beats Disney's output during the same period hands-down. The better examples include 'Swan Lake,' 'Island Princess' and 'Princess and the Pauper.' I would personally skip 'Barbie and the Diamond Castle,' which abandons the catchy Broadway and classical scores of the previous films in favor of the most awful adult contemporary shlock you could imagine wading through. Definitely not one you want to be around for repeated viewing.

The spin-off 'Fairytopia' series is definitely weaker than most of the princess movies. Not awful, not as bad as Disney, but I wouldn't start picking those up until you've been through the Princess movies first.

Barbie's 'Nutcracker' is another good one. 'Rapunzel' is decent, as is 'Pegasus.' The thing about all of these Barbie movies that most adults will have to get past is that fact that the animation is all computers and not as good as what Pixar does. The way it is all rendered will remind most people my age (30) of cheap computer games. However, consider the fact that we are stuck on this detail merely as a result of our association of the style as something that only belongs in a game rather than a movie. To the intended audience (under the age of 10), they have no such association and can approach the movie for what it is.

'The Incredibles' was unexpectedly good. The writers followed a sort of Josh Whedon approach by taking a genre, that being superhero movies, and completely turning it on its head by looking at it as an everyday sort of thing under a microscope. Fun movie, well written and good art.

Give 'Monster House' a try. I certainly have, roughly 20 or so times. This is another computer animated movie which succeeds by totally getting middle school aged kids and depicting them in an honest, believable way. Yes, there is a house that tries to eat them and highjinks ensue. But that isn't what really makes the movie. Its the writing ("DJ! You pee in bottles?") and the voice work that results in my kids watching it over and over again.

I hated 'Polar Express.' Tom Hanks decided to play pretty much every single character in the movie and it doesn't take much to get Tom Hanks-ed out. The movie also suffers from sloppy writing. Things are said and done to create 'feel-good' moments that make no sense. Skip it.

'Iron Giant' is about a huge robot that falls to Earth and hangs out with a little kid in the 1950's. Terrible things happen in the end. Everything about it is exactly right and you should watch it.

Back to rifles, conservation and politics soon. I promise.

This Saturday Bob McDonnell will be front and center along with Bill Bolling and former Congressman Tom Davis as they walk in Fairfax City 4th of July Parade. McDonnell has increased his presence in Northern Virginia as the race to Richmond heats up. There is no doubt that in order for McDonnell to surge ahead Deeds he will need to win big in the NOVA region. If you are in the area and would like to volunteer please RSVP to(adam.zubowsky@bobmcdonnell.com) . The Fairfax HQ is located at 4246 Chain Bridge Road, Fairfax Va.

Alright--those of you with your fancy new Kindle readers from Amazon can now download "Landstrike" and read it to your e-delight! Click HERE.

We've gotten a lot of feedback on Landstrike and the consensus is that it's a perfect vacation/beach read--a real page-turner that's like "Tom Clancy meets the Weather Channel."

If you don't have the Kindle, it's available in good old-fashioned book form--hard and soft cover--at Amazon, BN.com and other online sellers (and a few bookstores).

A Rasmussen poll at the beginning of the month showed that Republicans are now the trusted party on most issues.

Why wasn’t this information celebrated by the party? Oh, they were dealing with more pressing issues, like a member of party leadership in another sex scandal, and then a disappearing Gov. in yet another sex scandal. Seriously, how bad are the Democrats to be less trusted than the current circus the Republican party is putting on. I hope this is a sign that the new guard of the Republican party is the one that people are paying attention to, however, I get the feeling that these results have nothing to do with the success of the Republicans and more to do with the failure of the Democrats.

National Survey of 1,000 Likely Voters
Conducted June 3-4, 2009
By Rasmussen Reports
1*I’m going to read you a short list of issues in the news. For each, please let me know which political party you trust more to handle that issue.

First, the economy.

45% Republicans
39% Democrats
16% Not sure

2* National security and the War on Terror

51% Republicans
36% Democrats
13% Not sure

3* The War in Iraq

45% Republicans
37% Democrats
18% Not sure

4* Immigration

43% Republicans
29% Democrats
29% Not sure

5* Government ethics and corruption

35% Republicans
29% Democrats
36% Not sure

6* Taxes

44% Republicans
39% Democrats
17% Not sure

7* Health care

37% Republicans
47% Democrats
17% Not sure

8* Social Security

37% Republicans
43% Democrats
19% Not sure

9* Education

37% Republicans
44% Democrats
18% Not sure

10* Abortion

41% Republicans
41% Democrats
18% Not sure

NOTE: Margin of Sampling Error, +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence

Link back to Rasmussen

Don't let the door hit your ass on the way out....

I don't think it's too early for this...

Take a listen to this (pops). It's the first thirty seconds of the Jackson Five's first single for Motown, "I Want You Back." Number One for a week in January, 1970. (Preceded in that spot by -- oy! -- "Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head," succeeded by The Shocking Blue's "Venus." There were giants in the earth in those days.)

It's particularly instructive to stop the clip after ten seconds, after twenty seconds, and at the end, and ask yourself, "What has happened so far?" The answer will be that after ten seconds, you've had one iteration of the verse's main instrumental motif. You've had that fabulously exciting piano crash that kicks the whole thing off, you've had nine -- count 'em nine! -- chord changes. The rhythmic pattern is immediately established: the rhythm guitar sets up its chang-ka-chang syncopation against which the bass, keyboard and lead guitar establish the chordal pattern directly on top of the beat. What an amazingly effective musical idea: Make the clanging, monotonal guitar the central syncopative device, while the rest of the band plays a slightly plodding series of notes that declare the harmonic pattern. Not a single drum has yet been heard -- only one cymbal crash -- but we're already up and dancing to this marvelously infectious and complex polyrhythm.

Between seconds 10 and 20, we get our second iteration of the motif, this time with congas, orchestra, and a third guitar adding yet more complexity to the rhythm. This sets up the beautiful explosion between seconds 20 and 30, in which the drums finally kick in, and the bass slides up an octave and plays for the first time the magnificent descending figure with which it will bolster the chorus throughout the song. (That's what your professor would call your contrapuntal motion; and like the man said, "Live it, or live with it.") Little Michael does his nearly wordless vocalization ("a-lemme-tell-ya-now" being the main concept being put forward) -- sounding improvised, but, I'm sure, the product of whole lot of thought on somebody's part. By now, if we aren't completely hooked, we never will be -- we're probably back with the "Raindrops Keep Falling" crowd.

Now, Michael Jackson, all of ten years old during its recording, had absolutely nothing to do with the creation of this stunningly terse exposition. That credit goes to The Corporation -- Berry Gordy, Freddie Perren, Deke Richards, and Alphonzo Mizell -- and to the various musicians who played on it, most notably the stunning bassist Wilton Felder. Michael's task going in was to sing the living shit out of the lyric -- and by the end, no one will cavil when I assert that there remains neither jot nor tittle of living shit in that lyric. Talented kid, no question.

So that's that -- now take a gander at this. The first thirty seconds of "Billie Jean."

Let's try that every-ten-seconds exercise again.

0:00 - 0:10: Nothing. A drum machine and a farting synth. No motion whatsoever.

0:10 - 0:20: The same fucking nothing.

0:20 - 0:30: The nothing continues, with the addition of a four-note synth figure. A human being enters 29 seconds in, when Michael hiccups and begins the verse. The first chord change comes in at 0:37.

This shit went platinum.

Now, a lot happened between 1970's "I Want You Back" and 1983's "Billie Jean." Not only in popular musical tastes, but also in technology. MIDI. Click tracks. Drum machines. And of course, the all-important, sine qua non technology: video. YouTube has disabled embedding the Billie Jean video, but you can still watch it here. It's something of a revelation. Ah, we think. That's where those thirty seconds went. That's why the song's so spare, why so much of nothing is going on in the opening strains: The music's become subservient to the video.

Music for the eyes. Music to stare at.

The whole purpose of that utterly wonderful opening of "I Want You Back" is to reach out and grab you. It's producers knew perfectly well how their product would for the most part be consumed -- by people with better stuff to do, who have the radio on in the background as they go about their daily business. If your first couple of seconds don't contain something that makes them go woah! you may well be screwed. They're back to their work, tuning your product out. Think of how many iconic pop artifacts of the AM radio era start with a clang like that -- "I Can't Get No Satisfaction," the Byrds' chiming twelve-string confections, "A Hard Day's Night."

When you are watching TV, that's what you're doing. Watching. Attending. It matters very little that there's fuck-all going on in the first thirty seconds of the record, as long as the material onscreen tickles the audience's Entertainment Gland.

That's what we lost sight of in the Eighties -- the imperative to make interesting records that stand absolutely on their own, independent of any other medium. To serve your audience. To, yes, pander.

It's when I checked out, too -- probably not at all coincidentally -- and started investigating musics of the past: bluegrass, old country, jazz, that stuff. Haven't looked back.

Michael Jackson's death is sad in many senses of the word, but as he was the first true MTV phenomenon, I blame him in a real sense for killing my love of pop music, my interest in following what's new. That I won't forgive.

Update: Jesus Horatio Christ

Michael Jackson will live on as a 'plastinated' creature preserved by German doctor Gunther von Hagens.

Von Hagens has caused controversy with everyone from the Pope to the chief rabbi in Israel with his practice of embalming corpses with preserving polyurethane.

Yesterday, he declared: 'An agreement is in place to plastinate the King of Pop.'

Democratic leaders and "grassroots activists" (shout out to Roseanne from MN) have begun a series of meetings to determine whether, and if so how, to reform the delegate selection process for nominating a presidential candidate.

Pleasant surprise: A coup is taking place in Central America and the U.S. government is not backing it (now). Nor is anyone else.

Seriously, I was impressed and pleased with the U.S. government response. See my comments here, in response to understandable kneejerk cynicism skepticism of a kind found widely througout the left end of the blogs today.

Not that there's anything wrong with cynicism if it's funny: My favorite post so far is from the guys at BoRev, who take apart the zombie lie of this news cycle (ZOMG the leftist president is trying to make himself dictator for life!).

For coverage of the issues involved, see coup vet Al Giordano and reporter Karen Bricker at NarcoNews.

The rightists' line is that this is all perfectly legal, not a coup, but a "democratic transition." The Supreme Court openly says it ordered the troops to kidnap Pres. Zelaya out of his bed in the early morning -- so it's legal! The usurper Micheletti (Congressional speaker) showed up with a laughably phony "resignation letter" supposedly signed by Zelaya (on Thursday yet), got voted in, and put his hand on the Bible -- so it's Constitutional! The "democratic transition" was made especially smooth because none of the leftish members of Congress showed up, for fear of being taken prisoner. Like the eight members of Zelaya's administration on whom there is little to no information. Oh, and the fake president promptly declared an indefinite period of martial law, because how else would you kick off such a festival of democracy?

Here's hoping the international isolation has the desired effect: a climbdown in which no one is killed, and the return of normal political life, which can be pretty dangerous on its own in Honduras. Via CISPES, a rundown of what's made Pres. Zelaya so unpopular among the ricos he grew up with:

The proposal to draft a new constitution is the culmination of a series of controversial measures undertaken in his presidency, which include a significant raise in the minimum wage, measures to re-nationalize energy generation plants and the telephone system, signing a bill that vastly improves labor conditions for teachers, joining the Venezuelan Petrocaribe program which provides soft loans for development initiatives via petroleum sales, delaying recognition of the new US ambassador after the Bolivian government implicated the US embassy in supporting fascist paramilitary groups destabilizing Bolivia...

You can see why the Washington Post and New York Times editorial staffs are a bit thrown by the Obama administration's failure to accept the gift of this "democratic transition" gracefully. [Hint: It's the tanks; so nineties eighties seventies over.]

Update: noon, 30 June - The beginning of the end: Two military battalions have turned against the coup plotters, the popular movement has blockaded major highways, and Honduras' neighbors have sealed the borders for 48 hours, shutting down trade. Micheletti's illegitimate government has blocked international media channels, including CNN and Venezuela's TeleSur, and has arrested AP and TeleSur correspondents.

Update 2: 1:40pm, 30 June - Mexico, Brazil, and Chile have withdrawn their ambassadors. Pres. Zelaya has announced that he will return to Honduras accompanied by the president of the Organization of American States after speaking before the UN in New York (at the invitation of General Assembly president Miguel d'Escoto). The UN General Assembly has just unanimously passed a resolution demanding that the coup plotters step down and that Zelaya be returned to his office.

Update 3: 11:45am, 2 July - The OAS has given a 72-hour deadline to the coup government that expires Saturday morning, and Zelaya has agreed to postpone his return until then. Within hours of Zelaya's announcement, the Honduran Congress yesterday afternoon passed a decree suspending indefinitely during curfew hours the five articles of their constitution that most resemble our Bill of Rights. Clearly, they're planning to try to use the night to arrest and intimidate enough popular leaders to prevent a big showing of support for Zelaya's homecoming.

It's remarkably convenient for the Obama administration that these events will be buried in a holiday weekend. More than ten countries and the European Union have withdrawn their ambassadors; the U.S. has not, saying that Amb. Hugo Llorens, a Cuban-born economics specialist who was the State Dept's Andean advisor to the Bush administration during the 2002 attempted coup in Venezuela, will be needed to help reach a peaceful solution. Nor has the U.S. government cut off aid, despite being required to do so by the Foreign Assistance Act. (However, the Defense Dept. has suspended all operations with the Honduran military indefinitely and the World Bank has "paused" aid). The administration has put a big emphasis on working through the OAS, so the test will be Saturday: if the coup government hasn't stepped down by then, the U.S. response needs to include an immediate aid cutoff. But don't just wait and watch: call State at 202-647-4000 and leave a message reminding Sec. Clinton that U.S. law requires an immediate end to U.S. aid to Honduras.

Update 4: 4:55pm, 7 July - Negotiations begin in Costa Rica Thursday, with Arias mediating. Restoration looks likely, with Zelaya agreeing to drop effort for constitutional reform. Cracking of ice internally in Honduras has been quite visible: the National Party candidate for President backed Zelaya's return, the head of the Supreme Court has proposed amnesty for the collection of charges against Zelaya, and today even bozo Micheletti toned down the bluster in accepting the negotiations.

Obama and Clinton get to distance themselves politically from Zelaya while getting multilateralist and democratic cred for backing his return to office through regional efforts. The tepid response, the failure to cut off aid ("pausing" it instead), and the indisputable and continuing U.S. role in funding right-wing elites as "democracy promotion" will encourage pessimists to conclude that nothing has changed. But I think the popular movement's pressure for a constitutional assembly provoked the military and the rightists in Congress to overplay their hand badly. The Liberal Party has discredited itself for some time to come as a path to any real reform. Honduras' majority understand that their determined actions helped force the restoration -- although at a high cost.

The distorted accounts in U.S. media and punditry of what led to this crisis are hard to dispel partly because so few people know much of anything about Honduras. Blogger RAJ has stepped into that breach with very useful information. [Update edited and links added at 6:15 pm.]

Update 5: 11:00am, 9 July - Finally! U.S. suspends military aid. That's the right tone to set as Zelaya enters the talks. This will be the last update to this post unless the situation's resolved within a day.
.

Obama won election by promising an end to the absurd practice of the Democrats to pass bills that nobody had a chance to read.

Well, as rediculous as that is, the Democrats have found a way to make things even worse.

It turns out that on Friday, they passed a bill that they hadn't even bothered to WRITE.

Story by Powerline: (quoting the Examiner):

Through a series of parliamentary inquiries, the Republicans learned that the 300-plus page managers' amendment, added to the bill last night in the House Rules Committee, has not even been been integrated with the official copy of the 1,090-page bill at the House Clerk's desk, let alone in any other location. The two documents are side-by-side at the desk as the clerk reads through the instructions in the 300 page document for altering the 1,090 page document.

So nobody could read the final bill, because nobody has written the final bill yet. As the Republicans sarcastically ask:

"If a bill for which there is no copy were to actually pass this body," Barton asked, "could the bill without a copy be sent to the Senate for its consideration?"

The House was in such a rush to pass this, they couldn't be bothered to read or write it. But there was no need for a rush, as this bill won't be considered by the Senate until September. The only reason they rushed it is because they would lose votes every day they waited, especially if they ever wrote the bill so people could see what is in it.

Finally some useful data to review... for our statistical consideration, dear readers:

From Kaiser Family Foundation

Achieving comprehensive health reform has emerged as a leading priority of the President and Congress. President Obama has outlined eight principles for health reform, seeking to address not only the 45 million people who lack health insurance, but also rising health care costs and lack of quality. In Congress, a number of comprehensive reform proposals have been announced as the debate begins over how to overhaul the health care system.

This interactive side-by-side compares the leading comprehensive reform proposals across a number of key characteristics and plan components. Included in this side-by-side are proposals for moving toward universal coverage that have been put forward by the President and Members of Congress. In an effort to capture the most important proposals, we have included those that have been formally introduced as legislation as well as those that have been offered as principles or in White Paper form. This side-by-side will be regularly updated to reflect changes in the proposals and to incorporate major new proposals as they are announced.

click here -- Healthcare Reform Plans - Comparison Data Tool

Reuters reports today on political events in Honduras where the Armed Forces sent President Zelaya into exile at the direction of the Supreme Court. Zelaya who was limited to a single four year term had planned a referendum on overturning that constitutional provision. As a result of a dispute over the legality of the referendum Zelaya tried to sack the head of the Army. Anonymous Obama administration officials, in a conference call organized by the State Department, told the press that "We recognize Zelaya as the duly elected and constitutional president of Honduras. We see no other," A...

[Read More]

Ayn Rand wanted Farrah Fawcett to star as Dagny Taggart.

Hat tip: The Corner at National Review Online.

If you haven't read the classic novel Atlas Shrugged, you should. The premise of the novel is to illustrate a world in which all the people of ability go on strike. The author, Ayn Rand (1905 - 1982), features prominently as heroine Dagny Taggart, the Operating Vice President of her family business, the Taggart Transcontinental Railroad. As Dagny tries to run the railroad despite the best efforts of her brother James (the company President and a big supporter of bureaucracy), she finds that everyone she needs to accomplish any necessary task quits and disappears. Soon, she starts to suspect a destroyer at work. Along the way, the novel describes not only Dagny Taggart's search for this destroyer, but also the inventor of a miraculous motor she found in the ruins of an abandoned auto plant, and also love in her own life. The government, in the meantime, grows in size, scope, and oppressiveness as it lurches from one crisis to another (while failing to admit that the government's own actions are what make the situation worse). There is a running gag through the book in which everyone seems to say "Who is John Galt?" as if nothing matters and no one can to anything to change the deteriorating economic situation.

The book is very difficult reading, as Ayn Rand frequently interrupts the plot to go on a one or two or 60-page objectivist philosophy stream of consciousness rant. Many people find that they either really love or really hate the book. However, sales of this book (first published in 1957) have been soaring in recent months, especially as the novel is rather predictive of the consequences of a growing Federal government that makes big giveaways to unions and other special interests (like we are experiencing now).

It is interesting that Ayn Rand wanted Farrah Fawcett to be her Dagny Taggart. What guy wouldn't have wanted to be her John Galt?

It ran in the Los Angeles Times so it’s official: the key to Gen. Stanley McChrystal’s success in the Bananastans will be a “civilian surge.” The thinking apparently goes that if McChrystal stops killing as many Afghans as he used to when he was head of the secret Joint Special Operations Command, they’ll flock to his arms in gratitude.

It’s clear that no one in the national security establishment is serious about “winning” in the Bananastans, but they’re certainly serious about their war propaganda. In the old days, four-star generals like David Petraeus had personal public affairs colonels. McChrystal is so important he’s snagged himself a public affairs admiral: Rear Adm. Gregory J. Smith. Like all military reporting now, the LAT piece, titled “U.S. to limit airstrikes in Afghanistan to help reduce civilian deaths,” is a poorly camouflaged piece of stenography, and it’s clear that Smith did the dictating.

Smith told the LAT that the civilian surge strategy will be outlined in a “tactical directive” that will order “new operational standards.” McChrystal, Smith says, will limit the use of airstrikes in order to “help cut down” on civilian casualties. This new direction came about as a result of the “listening tour” of Afghanistan that McChrystal took upon his arrival. “Listening tour” is a euphemism for the rounds a new boss makes to ensure everyone knows he doesn’t give a flying tackle what they think.

The LAT (i.e., Smith) reports that part of McChrystal’s plan to improve relationships with Afghans involves efforts to “speed up and sharpen the military's message in so-called information operations.” The real crux of his plan, however, involves information operations aimed at the American public.

The airstrike mantra is covering smoke. According to a UN report, airstrikes accounted for 64 percent of civilians killed by U.S. or Afghan forces in Afghanistan last year. Those civilians could just as easily have been killed by artillery or other heavy ground based weapons. Supporting fires are supporting fires, whether they come from land, sea or sky. A 19-year old private can kill just as many civilians with a grenade launcher as the 42-year old pilot of an F/A-18 Hornet can.

What’s more, a “staff member” told the LAT that, “the directive does not mean that use of air power will be sharply reduced—only that the emphasis is on protecting civilians rather than killing insurgents.” If the emphasis is on protecting civilians, why not stop airstrikes altogether? In my 20 years as an air operations planner, I never once designed a strike for the primary purpose of saving lives. In fact, why not halt air and ground based offensive actions completely? As best we can tell, we’ve killed about as many civilians as the Taliban have. Shoot, we can cut civilian deaths in half just by packing up and climbing on a plane for home.

McChrystal’s predecessor, Gen. David D. McKiernan, issued orders last year that required commanders to "minimize the need to resort to deadly force." How is this new directive on protecting civilians any different from the old orders on protecting civilians? According to the LAT/Smith/unnamed Smith underling, “McChrystal's directive appears to be more emphatic and specific.”

Ah!

But the new directive emphatically and specifically does not expect commanders to let their troops become sitting ducks. The LAT says that Smith says that McChrystal "made it very clear that if our troops find themselves in a situation where they are receiving fire from a location, if their lives are in danger, they'll have to address the problem as best they can, either with ground forces or close air support."

They’ll “address the problem” by blowing the location in question to smithereens. They have no other choice. Nothing in any superior’s orders overrides a commander’s authority and obligation to use all necessary means available to defend his unit, and no unit commander worth the market value of his precious bodily fluids is going to let a single troop in his charge be harmed in a firefight as the result of a pulled punch.

The LAT also says that Smith says that McChrystal says, "If it's a situation where clearly [hostile] individuals are in a structure or move into a structure . . . where you do not know precisely whether or not civilians are . . . in those structures and you can move away safely, you should do so."

Again, why bother going after “hostile” individuals at all if you’re going to withdraw the second you think there may be civilians in the vicinity? In the Bananastans, civilians will almost always be in the vicinity. McChrystal’s notion of separating the civilian population from the Taliban is the kind of lunacy you’d expect from a guy who only sleeps three hours a night. What he’s talking about is the precise equivalent of wading into Miami to separate Hispanics from Latinos.

Well, not the precise equivalent: in the Miami scenario, we would have a fair number of reliable Spanish speakers to provide us with good intelligence. We’ll never develop good intelligence in the Bananastans. Ever.

All the “change” hoopla attending Stan McChrystal’s arrival in Afghanistan is cynical hogwash, designed to sucker the American public into turning yet another corner, and sitting patiently through another Friedman unit, and listening to Thomas E. Ricks tell David Gregory or some other bobble-head that sure, what we’re doing is immoral, but it would be even more immoral not to do the immoral thing we’re doing.

The most immoral part of this travesty is that our military chain of command, right up to the commander in chief, continues to put our troops in a deplorable situation—to kill innocents or be killed themselves—for reasons that have nothing to do with national security whatsoever.

Commander Jeff Huber, U.S. Navy (Retired) writes at Pen and Sword. Jeff's novel Bathtub Admirals (Kunati Books), a lampoon on America's rise to global dominance, is on sale now.

There exists a story of an Eskimo gentleman come down to the Lower Forty-Eight to try his hand at farming, only to come to naught when he could not fallow his fields in the right order. I'd call it "The Lore of Unintended Corn-Sequences," but I'm just not that Inuit.

So says this guy as he talks about the Padilla 1932. This was a cigar I received from the cigar of the month club. It will run about $10 to $13 a stick. Padilla is legend hand rolling sticks in little Havana, Florida. The specifics: Brand: PadillaLine: Series 1932Vitola: 5 x 50 RobustoOrigin: Nicaragua (Puro)Wrapper: 5 year aged Cuban-seed Corojo.Binder: Cuban-seedFiller: Cuban-seed long

Tom Jensen (PPP) audio interview on WVTF Va Public Radio:

Lessons Learned:

<> Deeds got 80-90% of undecided votes.

<> Deeds competed everywhere.

<> Deeds focused on 4th quarter game plan. Didn't get sucked into an ad spending battle with McAuliffe, early in campaign. Ran race as a long-distance runner, not a sprinter.

<> Virginia roots matter. "Man of the people" label is a given with Creigh.

<> McDonnell will have a tough sell -- that he can offer any real progressive, positive change in Virginia. The VA GOP has focused on barriers, blockades and bluster to stop any significant legislative progress in the last four years. Party of NO ... to Party of Just Say Yes? Really? NOT!

<> VA GOP personal attack ads against well-regarded Deeds are likely to be ineffective. Virginians know the difference between good guys and bad guys. Good luck with that Bobby McD!

Jerry has taken noticed of my Trash to Fuel posts. (Videos are here) I encourage you to watch these videos. I would think the tree huggers would be all over this. Watch this awesome green technology. Technorati Tags: Wise County Virginia, Ethanol Plant