Category: Politics

A very interesting briefing on counter-piracy operations.

Found here, by Vice Admiral William Gortney. Blackfive sums up the whole thing nicely, I think:

The entire point, of course is to “disincentivize” piracy. That’s a nice way of saying they want to make piracy more painful than fishing. Right now there is no disincentive, or what little there is remains vastly outweighed by the potential rewards. So Somali fishermen have become pirates. The average payoff today is $1.5 million to 2 million a ship. CTF-151’s mission, in reality, is prevent successful hijackings, capture the pirates and help the rest rediscover their love for fishing. When enough head out to hijack a ship and don’t come home, but end up dead or in prison for a long, long time, Gortney figures fishing will start looking a lot better again.

Continue reading A very interesting briefing on counter-piracy operations.

Paper Tiger Watch?

I have to disagree with Debra Saunders slightly, here. After discussing Bush’s administration – both the good and the bad – she concludes that history will favorably judge the outgoing President on what did not happen:

Osama bin Laden once told Time magazine that the U.S. withdrawal from Somalia after the murder of 18 U.S. troops on a humanitarian mission made him realize “more than before that the American soldier was a paper tiger and after a few blows ran in defeat.” Members of al-Qaida have told intelligence officials they never thought Washington would respond to the 9/11 attacks as ferociously as Bush responded. They expected a few bombs to be dropped, no boots on the ground, a swift withdrawal if casualties mounted — the usual short-attention span foreign policy that warped Lebanon, the Persian Gulf War, Somalia, the African embassy bombings and the attack on the destroyer Cole.

Bush showed America’s enemies a country that does not retreat in fear, does not bomb with impunity, and most important, does not desert civilians or foreign governments that trust us. If you think that doesn’t matter, look at Libya, which disarmed its weapons program. And see how much easier Obama’s presidency will be because Bush kept the faith.

Osama bin Laden may live, most likely quivering in a cave. And no one thinks America is a paper tiger anymore.

The problem is the word “anymore.” Continue reading Paper Tiger Watch?

Federal bureaucrats graciously choose to let the thrift store industry live.

That title should grate.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission has apparently decided that they don’t feel like holding the bag for Nancy Pelosi’s inability to write a functional consumer protection bill: Continue reading Federal bureaucrats graciously choose to let the thrift store industry live.

What? In what alternate universe is there a “cloud” over Rangel?

“It’s a new day, and Mr. Rangel is part of that new day,” Levin said.

The Democrats have made it clear that they don’t give a tinker’s dam about Rep Rangel’s numerous ethical lapses, as even this Politico article makes clear (via Instapundit):
Continue reading What? In what alternate universe is there a “cloud” over Rangel?

Happy not-quite-ending for war hero’s widow and son.

(H/T: Technomancy for Fun and Profit)

Quick background: last year, USMC Sgt. Michael Ferschke was killed in Iraq while conducting door-to-door searches. He left behind his Okinawan-born, pregnant wife Hotaru Ferschke, who he had married a month before by proxy; and, of course, there were problems with her visa. Wizbang wrote about it here and here; Senator Lamar Alexander‘s (R-TN) office has been working on getting this fixed from the start, of course (I understand that some other (Tennessee?) lawmakers also assisted, but I couldn’t find details); between them and the USMC, they’ve made arrangements for Mrs. Ferschke to enter the country on a temporary visa, now that her son is born (more here).
Continue reading Happy not-quite-ending for war hero’s widow and son.

So, Obama stopped by the Washington Post to reassure them.

Via Glenn, here’s their first and last paragraphs, with my executive summary in the middle:

PRESIDENT-ELECT Barack Obama came to The Post editorial board yesterday with two messages sketchy on details yet reassuring in approach: a commitment to fiscal discipline, and a determination not to be bound by liberal, or indeed any, orthodoxy.

[snip of the President-elect not answering their questions about what he plans to do about controlling the budget, determining what financial sacrifices need to be made, when – or if – Card Check will be passed, what changes – if any – will be made to our current detainee system, and whether all of this means that he’s a centrist.]

Mr. Obama’s indications of ideological flexibility are rather abstract at this point; he has not yet been called on to make the kind of difficult choices about which he speaks so eloquently. But his transition has sounded all the right themes, and, if yesterday’s session is any guide, his presidency promises to begin on the same hopeful, pragmatic note.

For my response, here’s an Isaac Asimovquote from Foundation (pg 71).

“That,” replied Hardin, “is the interesting thing. The analysis was the most difficult of the three by all odds. When Holk, after two days of steady work, succeeded in eliminating meaningless statements, vague gibberish, useless qualifications – in short, all the goo and dribble – he found he had nothing left. Everything canceled out.

“Lord Dorwin, gentlemen, in five days of discussion didn’t say one damned thing, and said it so you never noticed. There are the assurances you had from your precious Empire.”

Further commentary unnecessary, yes?

A mildly sort of, kind of all right article, if you don’t mind the National Geographic theme music.

Although it’s… instructive that while the title of the article is “Disconnected from Obama’s America,” the page loads as “Wary of Obama’s America.” It’s even more instructive that both versions imply that the people who didn’t vote for the man are somehow the Other.

I’d say “Well, at least they’re trying,” except that you really should expect better from functional adults. Even if they’re reporters.

And in the great Guilty Pleasure Watch…

…we have The Deceiver, which is apparently dedicated to the notion that you can make fun of everybody who says one thing, yet does another. They had a field day with the Blago thing, for example – and, hey, I caught ’em linking to right-sphere sites without sneering, so let’s get a bloglink up. I’m sure that they’ll annoy me soon enough.

Give you a taste: “Obama Been Backpedallin’.” which discusses the PEOTUS’ sudden decision to rewrite that pesky I’m-going-to-get-Osama rhetoric. What makes it especially choice is that one of the category’s got the entry under is “Religious” – which, really, perfectly describes the people most likely to feel betrayed over this flip-flop.

Annnnnnd Reid messes up the Burris seating thing to the bitter end.

They seated Million Dollar Burris today:

WASHINGTON – Roland Burris took his place as Barack Obama’s successor in the Senate on Thursday, ending a standoff that embarrassed the president-elect and fellow Democrats who initially resisted the appointment by scandal-scarred Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

[snip]

More than a week after his colleagues were sworn in, Burris was seated without objection or a roll call vote, even though Majority Leader Harry Reid had said senators would have their voices heard on whether to accept his appointment.

[snip]

Senate Democrats wanted to move beyond the distracting controversy and its racial undertones.

Continue reading Annnnnnd Reid messes up the Burris seating thing to the bitter end.

Hey, turns out that the wiretapping thing’s constitutional after all!

(Via Hot Air) You know, I was going to come up with all sorts of snark directed towards the people who are swearing at this NYT headline (“Intelligence Court Rules Wiretapping Power Legal“) – but then I remembered that, really, there’s no sport to it when it comes to this bunch.

So let me just present them with their new theme song, via Beck.. Enjoy!