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She voted for the war.
Short & simple YouTube video – this is the creator’s (watercooler254) only video. Intriguing.
Internet Gone Too Far?
The top post on Digg right now is out of control. It’s apparently video, which I will not watch, of a US solider in Iraq throwing a puppy off a cliff.
The submission suggests – correctly – that if this indeed true, the soldiers should be sanctioned in some way. Some of the top-rated comments in the post pull similar videos of US soldiers in Iraq, others ask why the outrage over one puppy instead of 200,000 civilians, etc. I don’t care about any of those.
What is extremely disturbing is the extent to which people are outright calling for this man’s murder – like a vigilante internet mob, sans torches. It should be noted that the man in the video gives his name and rank – for whatever reason. But the commenters are not just calling for murder – people combed the Internet and posted his profiles on social networks, his pictures, and pictures of his family members. One person posted his home address and phone number, another his car and license plate number.
It’s really unbelievable what the cloak of anonmity brings out in people – who in their day jobs would literally scream for murder? This video incident is sad, but the reaction is even worse. Come on, Internet.
This kid should be president. (via Future Majority)
This has been a known bad idea since 1505.
Amidst scrutiny on Blackwater USA’s lawless operations in Iraq, I keep coming back to one point. Blackwater’s website claims that the number of private contractors in Iraq is the same as the number of US military personnel.
But let’s get things straight. Anyone who carries a gun for hire is a mercenary. And the first and only thing anyone should read when you are dealing with mercenaries is Chapters XII of Machiavelli’s The Prince. Appropriately, Blackwater’s CEO’s name is Eric Prince.
I want to organize people to send copies of The Prince to every member of Congress with Chapter XII bookmarked. Bush should get one too. And one to Eric Prince for good luck. We cannot use mercenaries to be successful anywhere in any war. It was true in 1505, and it’s true in 2007.
Some relevant excerpts:
Mercenaries and auxiliaries are useless and dangerous; and if one holds his state based on these arms, he will stand neither firm nor safe; for they are disunited, ambitious and without discipline, unfaithful, valiant before friends, cowardly before enemies; they have neither the fear of God nor fidelity to men, and destruction is deferred only so long as the attack is; for in peace one is robbed by them, and in war by the enemy. The fact is, they have no other attraction or reason for keeping the field than a trifle of stipend, which is not sufficient to make them willing to die for you. They are ready enough to be your soldiers whilst you do not make war, but if war comes they take themselves off or run from the foe…And as they were the sins of princes, it is the princes who have also suffered the penalty.I wish to demonstrate further the infelicity of these arms.
Progress in Iraq!
The Sunni leader who met with Bush was assassinated in a bombing today. The explosion supposedly took place within the heavily-fortified barrier 50 meters from his home. But fear not! Look at the progress Iraq is making already after the leader’s untimely death:
Interior Ministry spokesman Abdul Kareem Khalaf told al-Iraqia state TV that the minister of interior has ordered a monument to be built in memory of the sheik, in addition to naming a police brigade after him and dispatching that brigade to Anbar to assist the council.
Sweet! A monument and they’re naming a police brigade after him. I bet the members of that brigade are thrilled that they’ll bear the name of the man who cooperated with Bush. Countdown to when they’ll get blown up, too?
The Pentagon is opening a library! This library will serve as a “24-hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week Iraq Communications Desk that will pump out data from Baghdad” in advance of the September release of the Petraeus White House Report On Why The War Is Totally Sweet. The Pentagon’s Press Secretary bristled at the comparison to a campaign war room, suggesting that this operation was more of a “library.” How quaint.
McCain running Google Adwords campaign on "Iraq war propaganda"
John McCain’s campaign is running a Google Adwords campaign on the phrase “Iraq war propaganda,” as evidenced by this ad that I found on NoIraqDraft.com, my petition site against a draft for the War. I can understand the campaign wanting to bring in visitors on ads targeted by issue area, but this ad makes it seem like you can find propaganda on the war at John McCain’s website. I don’t think that’s what McCain’s campaign wants to be doing now, as his unpopular positions on the war and basically every other issue at stake led Ames, Iowa Republicans to support him less than every other candidate in yesterday’s straw poll. (The only candidate who got fewer votes than McCain is John Cox, a no-name fringe candidate who’s raised just $12,000 for his quixotic campaign.)
The War Czar wants the draft. Lt. Gen. Douglas Lute told NPR that it “makes sense to certainly consider” re-instating a military draft, because our nation’s security needs to be protected “by one means or another.” I have an idea. Let’s withdraw from Iraq, give our troops a couple years home, and try to find bin Laden in Pakistan. Anyone? Bueller?
I’m going to revive NoIraqDraft.com again this weekend, with more functionality and focusing on what is pretty much the War Czar’s first public statement.
This sounds pleasant. “An evangelical military entertainment group” is sending “freedom packets” of supplies to troops in Iraq. Included is the controversial video game “Left Behind,” which promotes the killing of non-Christians. The lucky troops will also receive a Christian extreme sports DVD, a pocket Bible, and tips on dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder, like “tough man meetings.”
Bird Poops on Bush During Press Conference
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