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Friday, Oct 31, 2003
A doctorate in unintended irony?
This excerpt is the conlusion that Dr. Paul was driving towards in the quotation cited in the previous post. Dr. Paul intended to describe the situation of the Ba'athist deadenders, but may be describing the situation in which he and the rest of the civilian leadership have placed our troops.
Previously I've speculated that Dr. Paul had an infarction in the irony cortex. But perhaps instead Dr. Paul has got the Shrubster Truth Inversion Syndrome, which causes one to say precisely the opposite of the truth. You know, "Clear Skies Initiative", "Returning Integrity to the Oval Office", "Mission Accomplished", et cetera.
transcript
previous in series of Dr. Paul's Words of Wisdom
Paging Dr. Paul ...
An excerpt from billmon's
Neolib Group Think
In any case, this appears to have been the fatal flaw (or one of the fatal flaws) in the neocons' assumption that a serious guerrilla movement was impossible in Iraq because it would lack an outside "sanctuary." Or as Wolfowitz put it in a June interview with the Washington Post:Dr. Paul: Densest military intellect ever.I think it is worth emphasizing that these guys lack the two classical ingredients of a victory in a so-called guerrilla war if that's what you want to say they're conducting. They lack the sympathy of the population and they lack any serious source of external support.The first part is obviously untrue -- at least in the Sunni Triangle and the more militant pro-Baathist districts of Baghdad. And, as I said, the latter part may be irrelevant, at least in the short run. It's offset by the fact that the Baathists had years to plan, prepare and lay in the logistical support for a protracted guerrilla war.
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Thursday, Oct 30, 2003
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With God on Our Side
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Wednesday, Oct 29, 2003
winmail.dat
From time to time you may receive an email that says, "Check this out!", or "This picture is hilarious". But instead a a gif, jpeg, or some other recognizable file format, the attachment is a mysterious "winmail.dat" file.
Microsoft, being dissatisfied with mime encoding or uuencoding, has decided to invent their own method of attaching files to emails. Oh joy! I'm sure this is purely for my benefit, and has nothing to do with an attempt to undermine open standards and transparent protocols.
I've been doing my best to train Outlook users to check off the uuencode option, but I've found a new problem. Outlook is more than just an email program, it's a personal information manager. It handles schedules, to-do lists, contact database, etc. One can "forward" a contact, or a meeting schedule, or some other tidbit of Outlook information. This stuff is always sent in a winmail.dat.
My first idea to work around this was to forward those messages to a special email address tied to Outlook. Thus I could retain Eudora, which has served me faithfully since the mid-nineties, and is not a huge, gaping security hole, as my primary email client. But noooooooooo, you can't forward winmail.dat files. They must be sent directly from one Outlook client to another Outlook client. If Eudora is an intermediary, the winmail.dat is unintelligible at the recipient Outlook client. Nice, job Microsoft.
I came up with other ideas for workarounds, such as having two clients (Eudora and Outlook) service my pop account. But nothing that I could actually live with.
But then I found a man of God who is actively working to chip away at Evil. His program pulls apart the winmail.dat files into their original constituent components, and actually makes them useable. Can I get an "amen"?
"Aggressive Press Corps"
G. Dubya held his tenth solo press conference today. In the post-conference wrap-up, David Asman of Fox News Channel, said "But he sort of rose to the occasion when challenged by an aggressive press corps." In what alternate universe does this group of lap dogs appear to be aggressive?
In the pre-war solo press conference, Bush let it slip that "this is scripted". Yeah, we're talking about aggressive press corps. So I watched this one closely to see signs of scripting. A teleprompter would make it too obvious, but there are other telltales.
As with the March 6th solo, Bush seemed to be calling on the press in a pre-ordained order. He allowed not one follow-up, and got snippy at one reporter for interrupting with a request for a follow-up. Sacre bleu, speaking out of order at a press conference! At long last, does this aggressive press corps have no sense of decency?
Prior to most questions, the Dubster looked down to his podium in an apparent move to read his scripted answer while the scripted question was being asked. I'm just guessing about that, but it was a very consistent affectation. At times during an answer he looked down, as if looking for a missing talking point, and then resumed his answer with more vigor. He seemed to be trying to mask this downward looking guesture by pretending to be gassy. Chug too many O'Doul's this morning, Mr. Dubya?
This was not a press conference. This was a scripted series of monologues. And those were not questions, they were scripted cues for the monologues. Aggressive press corps, my ass, Mr. Asman.
Monday, Oct 27, 2003
Brush with Death on Appalachian Trail
Jim, Craig and I came across a menacing creature while hiking.
It looked like the dreaded white-banded black python.
But, perhaps we were mistaken in the degree of danger.
Appalachian Trail Flora
Sunday, Oct 26, 2003
Wolfowitz Under Fire
Rockets were fired at the al-Rashid hotel early this morning. This hotel houses many Americans, civilian and military, who are running the country. Wolfowitz had a few comments after the attack, including this from the NYT.
At a hastily arranged, mid-morning news briefing, Mr. Wolfowitz hailed the American civilians and military personnel working in Baghdad as heroes struggling to halt those he described as ``criminals who are trying to destabilize this country'' and who ``have abused and tortured Iraq for 35 years.''Wolfowitz is right about the abuse heaped upon the Iraqi populace during the rule of the Ba'ath Party. But rooting out the Ba'ath is simply treating the symptoms. We need to root out the world leaders who supported and enabled the Ba'athists, especially during the critical period of the 80's.
So when are Reagan, Bush 1, Rumsfeld, et al going to be shipped off to Gitmo for their active support of Saddam's WMD programs?
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Saturday, Oct 25, 2003
Cultural Warfare
I thought I was coming to visit a clean, wholesome community, a time-capsule of sorts. Mayberry RFD. But even Rappahannock is no safe haven from the cultural wars.
Nude calendar gets more publicity, creates controversy
By Mary Ann Kuhn
10/23/2003
The story about "The Men of Rappahannock County" nude calendar has made it to big Washington where The Washington Post and Channel 7 TV reported on it this week. It also has been covered in regional newspapers and on radio stations.
Coyote Cafe
We (M, J, J, and C) sampled the finest Tex-Mex in R. County, VA. C pointed out that it wasn't bad, they just failed to use any spices. I corrected him; they used both spices, salt and pepper.
After that gastronimic feat, geekification ensued. J and I hooked up a second CAT 5 off the switch connected to a DirectWay modem. Multiuser broadband. Mmmm ... broadband.
PreReviewing the War
More from Jay Bookman, 29 September 2002
This war, should it come, is intended to mark the official emergence of the United States as a full-fledged global empire, seizing sole responsibility and authority as planetary policeman. It would be the culmination of a plan 10 years or more in the making, carried out by those who believe the United States must seize the opportunity for global domination, even if it means becoming the "American imperialists" that our enemies always claimed we were.
PreReviews Go Legit
Tom Moody has a number of posts on the topic of prereviews, which I assumed to be an internet phenomenon. But this weekend I noticed several reviews in Metro Santa Cruz (the alternative weekly, not the bus system) that led me to believe the reviewer had not yet seen the flick.
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003) A director known for Janet Jackson videos and a producer known for Armageddon and Pearl Harbor remake one of the most unique and truly nightmarish films of all time. Outside of Gus Van Sant's Psycho, this may be the worst idea I've ever heard. And yet, I'm morbidly fascinated to see the result. I'm a total idiot.
Tuesday, Oct 21, 2003
That's Doctor Man of the Year to you.
Somehow the staff here at "Dr. Paul's Words of Wisdom" missed a momentous announcement: Dr. Paul Wolfowitz was named man of the year by the Jerusalem Post.
The number one qualification cited by the J Post was Wolfowitz's influence in driving US policy toward the invasion of Iraq, fulfilling a long held dream of Wolfowitz and likeminded folks at PNAC. Reason number two is Wolfowitz's advocacy of democracy. Now there's a proven formula: democracy by invasion! That's a righteous man-o-the-year caliber oxymoron if I've ever seen one.
The J Post carried a few articles associated with this announcment including an interview. As I scanned Wolfowitz's responses in the interview for words-o-wisdom caliber quotations, I had a sense of deja vu. I had missed the announcement, so why did the interview seem so eerily familiar? Oh, wait, it's the talking points. It's all about the talking points.
One of Dr. Paul's current talking points is shown in the graphic. This is also shown in context at the bottom of this post. In the first place, this isn't quite logical. Dr. Paul is saying it wasn't sufficient for the antiwar folks to know the invasion was a bad idea. They also had to know exactly which unintended consequence would be most adverse in order to receive any credit at all. Thanks Professor Paul. That's an interesting grading system you've got there.
Further, leaving aside the tangential noun "most", Wolfowitz's talking point about "these critics" is demonstrably incorrect. If Google had better date-sensitive search capabilities, or I had access to LexisNexis, I'm sure I could find plenty of evidence to back my point. Having a bit of a mathemetician in me, I'll provide Dr. Paul with a proof of existence, and leave the rest as an exercise for the reader.
NewsHour with Jim LehrerSo, Jay Bookman cited exactly the sort of problems we're experiencing. However, he did say "be there for years with thousands of soldiers" when the real issue is being there for years with tens of thousands of soldiers. Sorry Jay, no credit for you! Come back, one year.
August 7, 2002
TERENCE SMITH: A phrase [nation building] that this administration did not support. When you think about that and you think about the possibility of having to occupy and in effect rebuild the country, what do you think about that?
JAY BOOKMAN: I think that's a incredibly difficult proposition. We would be there for years with thousands of soldiers. The expense would be great. The exposure of our troops to terrorism, all kinds of attacks, guerilla attacks, would be extreme. Mr. Perkins mentions Iraq as a model. I think it's important to note that what's happening in the world right now is we are coming to grips, I think, for the first time with the idea that we are an empire, that America is unchallenged in any sphere of influence in the world.
What we are in the process of defining is how we govern that empire as a nation, and I think it's... if we engage in a cold-blooded invasion of another country, unprovoked, that... it will set a model for how we act as an empire in the future. So I think there's a lot here at stake, not just the fate of Saddam Hussein and Iraq in this particular thing. We are deciding what kind of nation we are and how we're going to rule this empire that has come to us.
Okay, so Jay was close, but not on the money. Perhaps I'll have to go with my backup case to provide the proof of existence. In his "Back in Iraq 2.0" blog, Christopher Allbritton speculated on whether Bush would follow through with the war, with these words.
Back in Iraq 2.0Is that prescient enough for you Dr. Paul? Christopher is pretty close on the killed per day (KPD) stat. On the other hand, civil war hasn't broken out yet. But Christopher's got another year on his projection window. What's that, Dr. Paul? Sorry Christopher. The correct answer is "old regime loyalists". That's "old regime loyalists." We can't accept your non-specific KPD projection. "Baathist deadenders" also would have been accepted.
October 10, 2002
I’m told Bush doesn’t want to be looking at an occupied Iraq two years from now when we have guerilla fighting in Baghdad suburbs, a massive drain on the national economy and a stable oil supply only because United States occupation forces keep Kurds, Shi’ites and Sunni Arabs (not to mention Turkomen and Iranians) from each others’ throats. Add to that a daily trickle of body bags as one or two GIs die every couple of days. That wouldn’t be very fun to run on, would it?
Thanks for trying, and please come back again to play Dr. Paul's "Predict the Specific Debacle ... or No Credit For You!".
Jerusalem Postprevious in series of Dr. Paul's Words of Wisdom
September 25, 2003
JANINE ZACHARIA: Is there anything now you wish you had done or considered differently in the pre-war period regarding the post-war period?
WOLFOWITZ: You mean all this terrible planning that prevented oil fields from being destroyed, that prevented humanitarian crises, that prevented fortress Baghdad, that prevented weapons from being used against Israel… I get a little tired of all these things we didn’t plan for when there was so much good planning that prevented all these things that these critics predicted. Most of these critics frankly didn’t predict the main problem we have today, which is the persistent virulence of old regime loyalists.
Friday, Oct 17, 2003
Molly Ivans on KQED
Listen.
Dr. Paul's Fabulous Self-Financing Debacle
I can't find the transcript from March. Perhaps this was said during a closed session. But Senator Carl Levin reminds Wolfowitz of the "rosy scenario" during Wolfowitz's September 9th appearance before the Senate Armed Services Committee.
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tip o' the hat to Disinfotainment Today
The Simpsons
The syndication schedule for The Simpsons is currently cycling through the first season of the stand-alone show. (Some of us got a first glimpse of these characters in a series of shorts on the Tracy Ullman show.)
The cast, the characters themselves and the town of Springfield develop quite a bit over the first season. For example, Homer has a bit of Walter Matthau in his voice, but that characteristic seems to fade over time. The early animation style is a little more out of control, but not as wild as during the Ullman years.
Inside the Actor's Studio recently aired an episode with the principal voice actors from The Simpsons. For some reason it's very funny to watch the actual people making those voices. The show is stored on the Tivo in "save until I delete" mode. Watching Dan Castellaneta in action gives me greatly improved insight in mimicking Homer's voice. D isn't sure that's a good thing.
Terry Gross v. Bill O'Reilly
Pity poor little Billy, who got beat up by a girl. Boo hoo.
Bill, who's used to playing the "cut the mike" game lauched a tirade against Terry Gross during a Fresh Air interview and pulled the plug before Terry could respond. In the abreviated version of the interview on Bill's site, one gets to hear Bill's attempt to take over the interview, followed by Bill's pussilanimous belly aching, followed by Bill running to find his teddy bear. Of course, Bill would never play the game of personal attack, but on his teevee show "The Factor" he relishes that he "told her off". Very nice, Billy. Can't win on logic, so you resort to a temper tantrum.
The Gropenator
A man backed by a $23 million production effort and former Governor Pete Wilson's political machine posed as an "outsider", as a one of "the people". And Californians bought it.
By the way, Pete brought energy deregulation to California. Thanks a lot Pete. That worked out really well! And welcome back.
A California senator summed it up as: Californians were looking for an action hero to save the day. Given that the most coherent policy statement from Arnold was "We're not going to take it", that senator pegged it well.
In about 12 months, Californians may come to realize that Arnold's voodoo economics are as bankrupt as Reagan's were. He proposes to lower taxes, balance the budget and protect funding levels for the schools (about 50% of the budget). And the details of his brilliant plan? "Day one: Open da books."
$300M and Counting
Under David Kay's leadership, Operation Iraqi Snipe Hunt continues to rack up major finds. Just think what they can accomplish with another $600M!!!
Update: Technically speaking, Dr. Kay found a small vial of Clostridium Botulinum Okra, which produces Botulinum Toxin Type B. That wrinkle reducer is marketed under a completely different brand name: Myobloc.
Dr. Paul, we asked you here to speak about Iraq
I'm getting worried about Dr. Paul. No matter what the topic, he continues to ramble on about 9/11. Perhaps the obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) this poor man is obviously suffering from was triggered by post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Does someone have a DSM-IV?
transcript 1
transcript 2
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Friday, Oct 03, 2003
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the original fucktard
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the original fucktard
Thursday, Oct 02, 2003
Insert your own caption.
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Two slips for the price of one
The chickenhawk architect of war from a chickhawk administration of endless war has tough words about death.
transcript at defenselink.mil
"We"? Who's this "we", desk cowboy?
Besides the irony of a chickenhawk talking tough about death, a further oddity is that Wolfowitz calls to mind a crucial meeting between Glaspie and Hussein. In fact, this was the last meeting between senior Iraqi and US officials before Hussein's invasion of Kuwait. In fact, this was the meeting in which the Bush 1 administration gave the green light for Hussein to invade Kuwait.
GLASPIE: I think I understand this. I have lived here for years. I admire your extraordinary efforts to rebuild your country. I know you need funds. We understand that and our opinion is that you should have the opportunity to rebuild your country. But we have no opinion on the Arab-Arab conflicts, like your border disagreement with Kuwait.It's hard to dismiss this as a momentary slip, as three days later Wolfowitz cited this same Glaspie-Hussein conversation during testimony to the Senate Armed Services Committee. What's going on inside the mind of Wolfowitz? Why does he flirt with the moral turpitude of the two Bush administrations? Does he think the American public is too stupid to notice?
according to google, only one savant picked up this quotation
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"We will fuck him. Do you hear me? We will fuck him. We will ruin him. Like no one has ever fucked him!"
Karl Rove, "Why Are These Men Laughing", Esquire, January 2003, Ron Suskind
Blowing Valerie Plame's CIA cover was the act of vindictive, small-minded people. Tom Moody
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Tuesday, Sep 30, 2003
Dr. Paul, your OCD is showing
At the New Yorker Festival Paul Wolfowitz raised the specter of September 11th on at least eleven occasions in remarks which were principally about Iraq.
This is either a mantra, or a symptom of obsessive compulsive disorder.
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Carol Moseley Braun from the recent debate of presidential candidates at Pace University.
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