C'Mon...Get Serious!

One interesting factoid about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan has been the reluctance of the military to focus on “body counts,” reflecting one of the lessons our military learned in Vietnam. CENTCOM does report enemy KIAs, as anyone who subscribes to CENTCOM press releases knows full well. But there have been no Vietnam-style weekly or monthly summaries of the numbers of al Qaeda, Taliban, and/or other enemy combatants who’ve bought that lil farm outside of Baghdad, Diyala, or Kandahar. As a matter of fact, it’s somewhat difficult to find the total numbers of terrorists presented with virgin chits by our soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines. Unless you’re reading Terrorist Death Watch. From TDW’s “About This Site” section:

This is the Terrorist Death Watch. It will always show the total to date since January 1, 2006, and have the current month’s activity. Prior months may be found in the links in the sidebar.

For data and analysis of American losses in Iraq, please visit this page.

The site will be updated as additional information is found, including past months’ totals. The military has not been consistant (sic) with its press releases, resulting in small numbers in several months such as June 2006. No press releases were issued by MNF between June 15 and June 30, 2006. The editor of this site would suggest that dead terrorists are still dead even if they have not been counted in a press release.

While there may no strategic value in publicizing body counts, I submit the information is still “good to know.” Terrorist Death Watch provides a public service by keeping running totals of dead terrorists. I like the concept.

Oh. The reason I’m posting this? The US armed forces killed the 20,000^th enemy combatant in Iraq on or about December 27^th.

So…I read on memeorandum this morning that the NYT is hiring Bill Kristol as a regular columnist in 2008. And the Left-O-Sphere goes nuts. Randomly-selected examples of said nuttiness:

6 dadams Says:
looks like a massive subscription cancellation is needed here.
if they want to be a reichwing pundit pulp rag, then it’s time to show them what it costs.
i am canceling my subscription now.

28 jfr Says:
Can’t we flood the NYT with emails to cancel subscriptions if he is hired?

42 Stuart Shiffman Says:
I have e-mailed the times that my subscription will be canceled should he be hired. I will follow through on this promise.

48 Maddy Says:

Russ Mason UK @ 45:
Huffington Post has banned comments for this story, looks like it’s getting nasty.

It can’t get nasty enough, that walking twit, filled to the brim with shit is not qualified for anything without his daddy’s money, and I would venture to say that I could write a better column for the NYT than he could ever hope to, I am smart, intelligent, and filled with the wisdom of 66 years, but the dagger falls because I have no money or influence, just one of thousands who could do a better job than this incompetent chickenshit hawk sans balls.

tecpatl
As per Chomsky, I try to read a wide variety of media, both progressive and conservative, but I simply will not be able to read the NYT after this recent hire. This man is pure evil. He and his Straussian buddies are killing this country.
| posted 08:22 pm on 12/28/2007

Meah
I too cancelled the L.A.Times because of Lucy's little smarmy boy. Kristol with the NYTimes. So much for them in my book. Another one bites the dust. Pathetic. Go ahead, hire him. Those such as Kristol will be the undoing of the news business in this country. People are sick of the neocon puke machine. And people are sick of Kristol.
The internet and Olbermann for the truth.
| posted 08:27 pm on 12/28/2007

MarkC December 29th, 2007 at 7:36 am 23
Well, that’s like giving Idi Amin’s justice minister a social work job.
I don’t mind, as long as he is described thusly:

William Kristol is the the child of prominent Straussian Irving Kristol. Irving was a founding member of the empirically seditious Neo-Conservative Movement and fellow at the Bush-fellating American Enterprise Institute. WIlliam himself co-founded the Project for the New American Century, a group that laid the groundwork for the war crimes of George W. Bush and Richard Cheney, atrocities for which William served as the most prominent apologist and media cheerleader. His hollow laugh and shit-eating grin have long served to distract viewers from the copious amounts of blood dripping from his hands and seeping from his very pores. He is writing this opinion column because the very rich are increasingly afraid that they have overplayed their hand, and are worried that without elaborate misdirection, the downtrodden majority might begin to realize that their children’s futures have been sold to pay for William Kristol’s diamond tie pins.

Kinda makes ya feel sorry for the NYT, don’t it? First the conservatives cancel their subscriptions over the NYT’s outing and publicizing numerous classified government programs and tactics being used against our enemies. And then the Left gets their knickers in a twist and say they’ll cancel their subscriptions over the hiring of a columnist? Aside from the Left having their priorities completely and totally screwed-up, one just has to ask: Whatever happened to dialog and debate? Oops. Sorry, lost my head there for a moment. There is no debate when it comes to true-blue Lefties…they’re right correct, and you better believe it.

And as for the NYT? See also: “petard, hoisted by one’s own.”

Betcha thought I was never, ever gonna be serious again. C’mon…you did, didn’t you, Gentle Reader? Well, I fooled ya. My mojo returned sometime this morning, albeit in greatly diminished form. I’m still “not right,” but as noted elsewhere and earlier…t’is the season. Some of us get jolly, some of us go the Humbug route. I opt for humbug. And as also noted: this, too, shall pass.

And besides that…the entire freakin’ collection of inter-tubes is off for the holidays. Hadn’t you noticed?

Today’s Pic: Apropos of exactly nothing…YrHmblScrb striking a pose while wearing a gag gift at his retirement party (from EDS, not the USAF). Being as how I'm the type of person who’s never been all that shy about his political leanings, my coworkers thought I’d appreciate this tee shirt. Well, I did. Sorta. Keep in mind…this was 1999. And I never did hide my affection for Perot, who was my first post-USAF boss. In the same sense that the Chief of Staff was my last USAF boss...

And to compensate for the foregoing offense to your eyes... here's another pic from the same event, with two co-workers who are…ummm …much easier on the eyes. (Along with some other guy (Ethan), who is arguably better looking than I.) I miss these guys.

October 1, 1999.