AllahPundit observes: “There’s nothing so pathetic, or entertaining, as someone stupid trying to sound smart…”
Calling Chris Wallace a monkey is only the beginning of this hilarious meltdown.
This is roll-on-the-floor funny it’s so unhinged. I was expecting his pea brain to pop out through his ears.
Bad news in Michael Yon’s latest dispatch.
There is a widespread notion that Afghanistan is safer for our troops than Iraq, yet Coalition and NATO combat deaths in Afghanistan are per capita nearly identical to those in Iraq. In 2007, per capita combat deaths will–-in my opinion–-likely be significantly higher in Afghanistan than Iraq. Why? There are many reasons, but one of the most important is that after years of neglect and dawdling, our European allies are awakening to the reality that a monster really is under the bed. But this awareness is not keeping pace with the threat. Our European friends are still not providing their people with proper equipment, all while the Taliban is getting stronger from the billion-dollar narcotics backwash that floods enemy coffers. As in Iraq, troop numbers are also dangerously low in Afghanistan, where the handfuls of friendly forces additionally lack sufficient air power to stretch their security resources.
NATO is tentatively confronting the proximate and growing threat by sending more troops into battle, but they are sending troops with insufficient force protection. During my trip, I visited several bases. Steve needed to meet some Danish engineers who were to fly into Tarin Kot the next day by helicopter. When Steve asked an Australian Special Forces officer how to identify which helicopter the Danish engineers would arrive in, the Australian officer grimly answered, “It will be the only helicopter flying alone.”
I don’t like polls. But this one does seem interesting (and the margins are wide enough to probably mean something.)
Iraqi confidence in Iraqi forces (as opposed to militias) is increasing while its confidence in US forces is decreasing. Given US policies there can be little doubt but that US forces have lost significant Shia support and gained some Sunni support. I suspect increasing number of Shia no longer believe that American forces are capable of protecting them and with increased confidence in their government’s capabilities no longer fear the consequences of an American withdrawal.
This is a case where decreasing confidence in the American Military is actually a positive sign – at least to the extent that it’s balanced by increased confidence in the Iraqi forces.
Odds are you’re living in Republican territory, according to a fascinating survey in USA Today. They find that the “fertility gap” may be an important factor in upcoming elections.
This “fertility gap” is crucial to understanding the differences between liberals and conservatives, says Arthur Brooks, a professor of public administration at Syracuse University. These childbearing patterns shape divisions over issues such as welfare, education and child tax credits, he says.
“Both sides are very pro-kids. They just express it in different ways,” Brooks says. “Republicans are congenial to traditional families, which is clearly the best way for kids to grow up. But there are some kids who don’t have that advantage, and Democrats are very concerned with helping those kids.”
A Buttle’s World Geek-Out moment:
A FOIA request has resulted in the release of cumulative indices of four cryptological journals, and a crypto history monograph series published by the NSA. Bruce Schneier has the story.
Some of the sample titles are intriguing. The BS Attitudes: How Things Work in Bureaucracies, anybody?
Michelle Malkin wonders if Paul Pillar is the CIA leaker who has been feeding cherry-picked secret data to the NYT. One does wonder what he was doing at the CIA. Apparently now he’s at Georgetown where, I hope, he no longer has access to secret documents.
