Category Archives: Political Commentary

Media Criticism, Political Commentary, War Commentary

Humpty Dumpty

8 Comments

…has been shattered:

…Those were heady times when Guantanamo was still a gulag with its hundreds of Solzhenitsyns, not psychopaths like Khalid Sheikh Mohammeds, when we could just leave Iraq by “March 2008”, and when there would be no lobbyists, no tax cheats, no insider buy-offs and horse-trading for votes. In such a dreamy world, geniuses like Timothy Geithner don’t pocket their FICA allowances, and Tom Daschles don’t fudge on their complimentary limo services.

And then tragically Obama got elected and discovered that the real world had no relationship whatsoever to his fantasy impressions of it. In a cosmos of radical Islam, Chinese bankers, Japanese exporters, and Arab oil producers, there were no more law school profs, Rev. Wrights, or Chris Matthews and Newsweek editors to wink and nod and reassure Obama that his mellifluous but empty rhetoric allusions were at all reality-based.

So here we are. A president of the United States does not want to rush to the microphones and swear he will hunt down the Abdulmutallabs of the world and their sponsors, or that there will be no more Major Hasans (so much easier to rush to call the Cambridge police “stupidly” acting, while employing “allegedly” for the bomb-making of Abdulmutallab).

It’s sort of like much of the country suffered from Bush-Derangement Syndrome last year, and are just finally coming out of it, and their Obamanian trance. I think that it’s a good sign for the elections next fall, though.

Political Commentary, War Commentary

So This Is What He Meant By “Hope”

51 Comments

It’s definitely change:

Abdulmutallab remains in a Detroit area prison and, after initial debriefings by the FBI, has restricted his cooperation since securing a defense attorney, according to federal officials. Authorities are holding out hope that he will change his mind and cooperate with the probe, the officials said. (Emphasis added)

Yes, hoping that he’ll talk is so much more effective than, you know, interrogating him. But hey, just because he’s an illegal combatant, in violation of the Geneva Conventions, doesn’t mean that he doesn’t have Miranda rights. Right?

[Update a couple minutes later]

More thoughts on the suicidal law-enforcement mentality:

Charging Mutallab with a crime is no cause for relief, however. Instead, the decision renews concern about how seriously the administration is taking the threat posed by al-Qaeda and other terrorist organizations, and whether we are slipping back into the pre-9/11 mindset of treating terrorism as principally a law-enforcement problem. Whatever legitimate role our civilian authorities may have in eventually bringing Mutallab to justice for attempting to blow up the airplane, experience and common sense tell us they are a poor means of addressing the more immediate problem — acquiring intelligence to stop the next attack before it happens.

That’s OK. If there’s another attack, we’ll just arrest the attackers. And make sure they get a fair trial. If they survive.

[Update a couple minutes later]

Apparently the Washington Post has given up hope.

Political Commentary, War Commentary

TSA Isn’t Working

25 Comments

…so let’s unionize it. Glad to see the administration has its priorities straight.

[Update a while later]

Jim Garaghty:

…does anyone standing in a labrythine airport security line look at the TSA personnel and say, “boy, all of this would go smoother if these guys were unionized?” As one of these guys is getting to third base on you, do you look at them and think, “boy, if only they had the job protections and collective bargaining rights that made America’s automakers the efficient, well-run economic powerhouses that they are today?”

Apparently, judging by comments here, some do.

Humor, Political Commentary, Satire, War Commentary

Man, I Hate Holiday Travel

7 Comments

Iowahawk has an exclusive: a guest editorial by the skivvie bomber:

…the whole in-flight terror experience has gone completely downhill since the jet set golden years of the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s. What happened to all those pretty stewardesses and polite, well dressed infidels, screaming as the plane plummeted to the ground? Time was, a suicide mission to explode an international jumbo jet was an event full of glamor and excitement; but now it seems to be a endless series of delays, hassles, pushy jerks and third-degree testicular chemical burns. And don’t even get me started on the crappy airline food.

…So I’m like, “honey, do I look like I’m a US military veteran?”

“No.”

“Do I look like I’m some sort of right wing anti-tax teabagger?”

“No.”

“Do I look like anybody else on the DHS terrorism danger list?”

“No, but…”

“Then I suggest that unless you want a nasty anti-discrimination lawsuit on your hands, you’d best give me an aisle seat. With extended legroom.”

I don’t know how he gets these things….

Political Commentary, War Commentary

Where Is Hillary?

7 Comments

This seems to have been a massive Charlie Foxtrot of the State Department as well. Just for example, how did this guy get a multiple-entry visa?

Yet Her Highness is nowhere to be seen. In fact, the last time I recall seeing her was when she was berating a middle-school student somewhere near Timbuktu for asking a badly interpreted question about her husband.

At least Janet Incompetano has been out taking fire, making a fool of herself on an hourly basis, even though her department actually had not that much control over what happened. Do we need to put the Secretary of State’s picture on a milk carton?