Bush's tax cuts at, um, work

How about this new economy of ours? It turns out that all of the (net) jobs created during the Bush presidency are government jobs:

The mere fact that the projected job growth resulting from increased defense and other government spending exceeds the actual number of jobs projected to be added to the economy through 2006 clearly indicates that the tax cuts hardly seem plausible as the engine of the modest job growth in the economy since 2001. 

Something to think about while the President blows smoke up your ass tonight.

How to keep losing elections

By advocating compromise first, the Democratic Party has lost the confidence of its base and the sympathy of the people. That's why arguing for just winning elections is not pragmatic, even though the advocates think they are being intensely pragmatic. Moreover, the "elections first" crowd always ends up debating tactics, not strategy; concessions, not convictions; practicality, not principle. That group is never bold or open in its thinking. It is hopeful primarily that the other side stumble, not that it actually win. Perhaps most dangerous, the "elections first" crowd inspires no passion, and has no hope of changing the culture -- which in the end is the goal of all politics.
| Reed Hundt at TPMCafe |

Back in our unreachable archives, our brilliant and influential community of bloggers have argued this point extensively. In those discussions, I have wholeheartedly endorsed Hundt's view. I will certainly argue for it in the future, as well. But now, as the 2006 elections season is just beginning to sap our very souls, I am taking this moment to concede that one cannot completely abandon pragmatism.

In practice, the "pragmatic" and "principled" camps always end up in an uneasy compromise. If I were, say, a Naderite, I would be urging my cohorts to swing a bit towards the tactics-based, pragmatic camp.
I still believe that the Democratic party is currently adrift in a fog of confused pragmatism. A swing towards principles is in order. But there are times where a small concession here and there to consolidate a majority can indeed achieve our political aims.

Here's Hundt again:

I can't think of a single reform movement in history that started with the mantra of "just win, baby," to use Al Davis' phrasing. Every reformer in the history of ideas and politics has sought to define a point of view in debate first, and compromised in order to win elections second. This is, for instance, how the Republican Party got started; same thing with Populism and Progressivism; same thing with the Reagan-Bush version of the Republican neo-con party.

Since he doesn't address any of the issues on which the Democrats are compromising, Hundt is erecting a bit of a straw man. What we need in these parts is a more specifics-based discussion....

(paging Mr. Henderson... come in, Henderson)

Free Internet Security Links

Hurrah! Originally uploaded by ftruijens.

For those of us who are not fortunate enough to use Apple products that are relatively free from viruses, the online world is a very scary place with viruses, trojans, spam, key loggers, spyware, and spam.

In order to help make the world a better place, Safety Neal and the Bellman are providing some links to free computer security programs, to help keep the malware away.

• Site Advisor is a new product that uses an artificial intelligence program to visit websites, fill in their forms, submits a unique email address, downloads their freeware products & then monitors the amount of spam, spyware, and malware that results.
  
  It’s not yet been publicly released, but you can use it as a tester if you want to be bleeding edge.
  
  I’ve been running it in Firefox for 2 weeks now and haven’t had a single problem.
  


• Panda Free Anti-Virus Scan allows you to scan your hard drive manually.
  


• Zone Labs Free Personal Firewall that allows you to decide if you want to allow programs to activate other processes as well as if you want to allow programs to access the Internet. In theory, even if you were infected with a worm, this program would keep the worm from reaching out to other computers. In practice, I find people often click through the warnings from their personal firewalls without reading them...human error is unavoidable.
  


• Lavasoft's Free Anti-Spyware Utility Ad Aware will scan your computer for spyware.
  


• Spybot's Free Anti-Spyware Search and Destroy has a built-in pop-up blocker that helps prevent spyware from being installed. It also destroys keystroke loggers.
  

If you build it, they will hack it

molen.weesp
Originally uploaded by piet_db99.

The new Dutch biometric passports have already been hacked.

So, it good to know that European data security is as worthless as our American versions.

I think RFID is a fantastic technology for barcoding commercial items, pallets, and other items in a supply chain. But when it comes to my confidential data, I'd like to see something a bit more secure.

Why Republicans hate science, part 2,942

The analysis found that substantial majorities of Americans, liberals and conservatives, found it more difficult to associate black faces with positive concepts than white faces — evidence of implicit bias. But districts that registered higher levels of bias systematically produced more votes for Bush.

“Obviously, such research does not speak at all to the question of the prejudice level of the president,” said Banaji, “but it does show that George W. Bush is appealing as a leader to those Americans who harbor greater anti-black prejudice.”

--from the WaPo, via the E.A., which, as an aside, is possibly the only blog any of us need to read.

The Gathering Storm

war at home
Originally uploaded by ocularsmith.

I saw this quote at the Wall Street Journal this morning:

"I am glad that Hamas won ... It's better to deal with a pure enemy: Fight him ruthlessly while he is your enemy, and sit down and talk to him when he is genuinely willing to cut a deal." - Um Dromi, Israel Democracy Institute

Then I popped over to CNN to see that Hamas is suggesting that the Palestinians should create an army.

We live in interesting times, my friends.

carmine

[French 'carmin', from Medieval Latin 'carminium', probably blend of Arabic 'qirmiz', kermes, and Latin 'minium', cinnabar]

n.
1. A strong to vivid red.
2. A crimson pigment derived from cochineal.

adj.
Strong to vivid red.

cochinial

[French 'cochenille', from Spanish 'cochinilla', cochineal insect, probably from Vulgar Latin 'coccinella', from feminine diminutive of Latin 'coccinus', scarlet, from Greek 'kokkinos', from 'kokkos', kermes berry]

n.
1. A red dye made of the dried and pulverized bodies of female cochineal insects. It is used as a biological stain and as an indicator in acid-base titrations.
2. A vivid red.

Just wrong

The FDA ruled out banning the use of the colorings since it found no evidence of a "significant hazard" to the general population. It also declined to require that labels disclose the colorings are made from insects, as the Center for Science in the Public Interest had asked.

"Why not use a word that people can understand?" said center executive director Michael F. Jacobson. "Sending people scurrying to the dictionary or to Google to figure out what 'carmine' or 'cochineal' means is just plain sneaky. Call these colorings what they are: insect-based."
|CNN -- FDA:You're eating crushed bug juice|

I agree that the old practice of labeling such products as "color added" was deceptive, but what in the world is so burdensome about taking a few minutes to consult a reference work? Maybe the Center for Science in the Public Interest should consider promoting research into why Americans are so damn lazy.

Instant carat gonna get you

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We hope and believe that your LifeGem memorial will offer comfort and support when and where you need it, and provide a lasting memory that endures just as a diamond does. Forever. |LifeGem|

I'm betting on door #2

Given the one-two punch of announcements from Sens. Kerry and Reid, one of two things is going on here. One, the Democratic caucus is so poorly managed that they still can’t bother to coordinate with each other and send a unified message on something as important as the confirmation of a man who will completely shake up the Supreme Court. Two, the Democrats have a “good cop / bad cop” strategy going on by having their highest profile member (with the safest seat) rile up the base and have all the bloggers shouting “Give ‘em hell, Kerry”, while their leader does the only thing Democrats seem especially good at : kissing moderate ass. |Greg Saunders|

Friday dumb game blogging, our hirsute cousins edition

Monkey Lander.

Er...

I'm no optimist when it comes to the Israeli/Palestenian, ahem, question, and no apologist for suicide bombing, but, please, a little perspective. Here’s what George W. Bush had to say when he learned that Hamas won an electoral victory in the Palestenian Authority:

"And I know you can't be a partner in peace if you have a -- if your party has got an armed wing."

And here, from the official website of the Israeli Defense Forces, is a description of the Nahal Brigade:

"Nahal" is the Hebrew acronym for "Noar Halutzi Lohem" - Fighting Pioneer Youth - a military cadre unique to Israel. It is a framework which combines military service in a combat unit with civilian service in a newly founded kibbutz or moshav (collective and semi-collective agricultural settlements).

History

The Nahal was established during the 1948 War of Independence by David Ben-Gurion. It was the natural continuation of the pioneering values and customs of the nascent state and the legacy of the elite underground Palmach unit. The aim of the Nahal was to ensure security and settlement, combining the sword and the ploughshare (the Nahal official emblem). The Nahal was created as a subdivision of the Gadna (pre-military age youth battalions). The unit's function was to maintain Gar'inim ('nuclei'), or groups of youths who had united for the purpose of founding new settlements or joining existing ones, in the framework of youth movements. At the time, 17 year-olds were drafted along with these groups of youths in times of national emergency. From its inception, the Nahal included women in its ranks. The aim of the Nahal Gar'in was to provide its soldiers with extensive military capability as well as the basic tools for life on a new kibbutz or moshav. Since its establishment, The Nahal has helped found at least 108 new settlements and has assisted in the development of many more.

I understand that there are some apples and oranges issues here. The IDF, and hence the Nahal Brigade, is an arm of the Israeli state, not a wing of a particular party. But Bush’s statement only makes sense if he’s saying that being a partner in peace, for a Palestenian, means renouncing the capability to engage Israel militarily. And I think it’s abundantly clear that this is a double standard.

John Kerry seeking an Alito filibuster

He's looking around to find the 41 votes he will need.

I think this is a Good Thing. The one thing that would make this a Bad Thing is if the Dems can't get out there and clearly articulate why.

The Thin Green Line and the Commander in Chief

Manchester Park Monument
Originally uploaded by sponng.

Zwichenzug's recent post on the moral dimensions of the use of force reminded me of an interview I read last week.

The French philosopher and journalist Bernard-Henri Lévy has written a book titled War, Evil and the End of History.

Lévy was interviewed in the January 21st Wall Street Journal's Weekend Edition. Unlike many French intellectuals, Lévy recognizes the pivotal role (for good or ill) of the United States in world politics.

Mr. [Bernard-Henri Lévy] describes Mr. Huntington's last book, [Who Are We : The Challenges to America's National Identity] as "racist," and rejects the notion that there is in the world, or has been, a clash of civilizations:

"We are engaged in a war against terrorism, but the war is a political one, not a religious one, not a civilizational one. It is, I stress, a political war."

...I make the distinction because I believe that you have some Muslims who do not hate the West. Being an enemy of the West is not a necessary condition of being Muslim, of adoring the God of Islam."..."It is suicide to say that this is a civilizational war, because if it is such, it is an endless war, bloc against bloc. If you say 'political' you make a bet on the outcome."....

"I think [the Iraq war] was morally justified and politically a disaster." ...he added, referring to the Iraqis, "you cannot liberate un peuple somnambule" -- a people sleepwalking.
|WSJ|[Sub'n Req'd](emphasis and links added)

The War on Terror (WOT) has been sold to the American people as a never-ending war and the Bush administration in formulating the War on Terror has essentially criminalized all groups who threaten the existing political order, even if the group is fighting a vicious and corrupt dictatorship. Just look at the autocrats the U.S. is propping up in the oil-rich Black Sea region despite human rights abuses in Kazakhstan and suspected genocide in Tajikistan.

By invading Iraq, the Bushies were picking an easy target. The U.S. Air Force already patrolled the skies of Iraq and the embargoes had starved the country (literally and figuratively) for years.

The Bush administration thought the U.S. Army should be able to easily overrun the country and make Iraq a vassal state. They were half right.

Maybe if any of the chickenhawks in the Bush administration had ever seen combat, they might have realized some of the limitations of our Armed Forces.

A recent report commissioned by the Pentagon concludes "that the Army cannot sustain the pace of troop deployments to Iraq long enough to break the back of the insurgency." |MSNBC|

Pony made a good observation in a comment to a recent post. Pony wrote:

Just out of curiosity, what does it take to mount an effective counter-insurgency? And is it something that our government is politically willing to do? Are there collateral issues that we're afraid of? Given that they were more than willing to go to war against an enemy who had yet to actually threaten us I don't see what would hold us back other than really awful leadership. Something tells me that with all the money and expertise available to our military that an effective counter-insurgency is entirely within our capability. Wasn't insurgency our game in the 80's?|Bellman Comment|

I think the first lesson of fighting a guerrilla war is to avoid them whenever possible. As Commander in Chief, if you can avoid a long, protracted, costly war against an irregular foe... avoid it.

One of the most tragic things about the Iraq war is that it was an elective war. Our current leadership chose to go to war for a variety of reasons (including overweaning pride), but an imminent threat was not one of them.

The second lesson of fighting a guerrilla is to use proxies whenever possible. The U.S. used this approach throughout the Cold War because we were leery of another Vietnam and we wanted to avoid open warfare with the Soviets. Now that the Soviets are gone the Bushies want to flex our military muscle and show how powerful we are. Unfortunately, a few rag-tag warriors with a cell phone and some high explosive are showing that the U.S. Army has severe limitations in counter-insurgency.

Before the invasion of Iraq commenced I kept saying that we should get the Turks to take over Iraq for us and use them as our puppets. Instead, the adminstration bungled its relationship with the Turks so badly that they wouldn't even let us stage our troops out of Turkey.

The third lesson of fighting a guerrilla war is that if you must fight, and you cannot obtain proxies, then you should seek out strategic alliances. The lack of speakers of Arabic in the U.S. Army is a great hindrance to counter-insurgency operations. The US should have secured advisors and other Arabic-speaking support personnel from Turkey, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Egypt before invading Iraq.

The first Gulf War had a huge Arab component...while the second one had very little international representation of any stripe.

The current Iraq war is an glaring example of failed leadership and incompetence.

Where do we go from here? First, I'd suggest using technology to our advantage. The British who developed an incredible distributed sensor network in Northern Ireland to detect and surveil terrorists. We should have cameras and microphones all over Baghdad. According to some reports, the Special Air Service would send troopers to live in the attics of occupied homes without ever letting the people in the house know of their presence...while this may be apocryphal, it at least suggests a strategy of surveillance rather than SWAT style raids for gathering intelligence that this administration seems to favor.

Of course, surveillance doesn't do much good if you don't have the translators to sort through the information.

One might object that this strategy would also be incredibly expensive and difficult. Dublin is a city of half a million while Baghdad is moving up on 6 million people. Well, refer back to lessons one and two for dealing with a guerrilla war.

At the very least, electronic surveillance would help control key intersections and snoop for intelligence.

I don't think the U.S. Army or Marine Corps are well-suited to counter-insurgency by their nature. To that end, if I were President, I would seek to develop a new branch of the service specialize in counter-insurgency and espionage.

And I would use them as liaisons and commanders of the proxies that I would use instead of the Army and Marines whenever possible.

It's a huge mistake for the U.S. to commit itself to a never-ending war against terrorism and for our leadership to demand that we, as a nation, sacrifice our fundamental freedoms to fight a shadowy enemy.

While Al Qaeda is real...this threat is exaggerated by our country's fears and distrust of other nationalities, especially our distrust of Arabs and the century-old tensions between Chrisitans and Muslims.

Invading Iraq was a political choice and a damned poor one. We picked a fight we weren't ready to finish because while our Army is the best in the world at kicking ass and taking names, they aren't set up for low intensity warfare.

We need a new strategy and a new Commander in Chief who understands international diplomacy, respects the rule of law, and knows what our armed forces can and cannot do well.

More of a "dork," I guess

Seems pretty freakin' low to me.

Just one Vince Young post

And really only an instapost, at that, but I thought this was funny:

Like Jordan, Vince Young will go third in this year's NFL draft. Reggie Bush and Matt Leinart will be the Sam Bowie and Akeem Olajuwan of their time. I'm not saying which is which.

| guest blogger at Altercation |