Quote of the Day: R.E. Lee

It appears we have appointed our worst generals to command forces, and our most gifted and brilliant to edit newspapers! In fact, I discovered by reading newspapers that these editor/geniuses plainly saw all my strategic defects from the start, yet failed to inform me until it was too late. Accordingly, I’m readily willing to yield my command to these obviously superior intellects, and I’ll, in turn, do my best for the cause by writing editorials – after the fact.

Robert E. Lee, via Michael Ledeen, Nation Review Online. 

Some things just don’t change.

(Addendum: Bit)

Mike updates his post with one from a general on the winning side, in reaction to a number of folks who pointed out that Lee lost…

“I hate newspapermen. They come into camp and pick up their camp rumors and print them as facts. I regard them as spies, which, in truth, they are. If I killed them all there would be news from Hell before breakfast.”

– Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman

From LGF, we heard of a 1989 vid of Cat Stevens talking about Salman Rushdie:

Here’s a rare video of former pop star turned Islamist Cat Stevens (aka Yusuf Islam, aka Yusuf) on British TV in 1989 discussing Salman Rushdie; when asked if he’d go to a demonstration to burn an effigy of Rushdie, Yusuf Islam replies, “I would have hoped that it would be the real thing.”

Wild World, ain’t it?

You know, he showed, during his musical career, occasional flashes of brilliance.  It was the dearth of brilliance between those flashes that made me consider his career to be a waste of talent.  At the moment, I consider his life to be a waste of skin.

Snark of the day to Croaker’s Corner:

“I think Bill Clinton not only redefined the term “sexual relations” he also has made it acceptable to redefine terms to suit one’s need.

I didn’t kill him.  I merely used my hands around his throat to restrict the amount of airborne pollutants he could inhale.

Officer I wasn’t speeding. I was accessing my vehicles ability to redistribute molecules of air verses it’s ability to create CO2.”

• One thing about having a bad memory is that you have a clear conscience.  Is it possible that that’s why the Democrats have no shame?
• I remarked to Billy yesterday, about how there will be fools always in the realm of the political.  Here is an example.
• For the third time inside of a week, for reasons I’ve yet to fathom, I’ve seen references to the 1975 song “Feelings”.  On each occasion, the song is referred to as being a creation or at least covered by Barry Manilow. So here and now, for the last time, it was NOT Barry Manilow. It was Morris Albert, who was on RCA records at the time. Albert, as I gather it, lives in Italy, these days, so he must have done OK by the song financially, but he was a one hit wonder in the true sense…. even that one hit doesn’t get much airplay anymore, so I suppsoe it’;s easy to do… but to have that one hit confused with Barry Manilow… I mean, he’s OK, but, really…
• Happy Birthday to American Digest
• I’ve been busy plowing through blog sites the last few days. By my own count, I have visited perhaps 800 sites in the last 24 hours.  I’ve come to the conclusion that 90% of it is utter crap.  There’s only about 10% of what’s out there that’s worth the time to read. Around 6% of that is comprised of political sites.  Forgive me, perhaps I’m talking out of school, but after making a concerted effort to see what they’re is out there, in terms of getting ideas for web page layout I’m convinced that layout isn’t the biggest problem.  I say that, despite the fact, that the majority of the web sites I see, are using straight stock Blogger CSS. (Yecch!) I’d say about 50% of the sites I ran across, were abandoned, at some point.  A goodly chunk of what I saw, consisted of stuff that would be an absolutely no interest to anyone except the person’s immediate family or circle of friends, and that, of politeness.  The reason I say all of this, is I keep seeing where blogs are supposed to be this massive force for good.  Particularly, we’re supposed to be ‘running the country’. I have to tell you the number of sites that could even be considered to be on that list are exceedingly small.  The numbers being bandied about as to the number blogs that exist, is vastly different than the number of blogs that actually make a difference.
• I went and, almost as a subset of the above article, that the impact of the web, can hardly be accurately measured, any more, when you consider the number of RSS readers out there. I have, for example, no blinking idea how many people read this site via RSS, though I have a very good record of all the vistors coming in via IE, Forefox or what have you. But How do we know how many people are actually reading what we post?
• We know that were too tied into one operating system, when we see a blue screen of death on a gas pump.

I’m not noted for agreeing with People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals(PETA), but when you’re riight, you’re right.  PETA is right:

there’s an elephant in the room, and it is you. With all due respect, no one can help but notice that a weighty health issue is affecting you personally

The elephant to which PETA refers is Moore himself.  PETA thinks Moore is fat and should lose some weight.

More, Allah Pundit, Hot Air.

H/T photo: World Prout Assembly

Glenn Reynolds says:

IN THE MAIL: Col. Buzz Patterson’s War Crimes: The Left’s Campaign to Destroy Our Military and Lose the War on Terror.

I don’t think that the left wants to lose the war on terror, exactly — they just want Bush to lose the war on terror. I suspect, however, that Patterson’s theme is one that we’ll hear more in the future, especially if things go badly in Iraq.

Yeah, well… The usual suspects are already trying to deflection routines, trying desperately to avoid being labeled as the anti American putz collection that they are.  The fact remains, however, that the left in this country is deeply invested in our losing this war.  So deeply in fact, that they will not survive, should we actually win it.  At least, so long as there is a Republican in the White House.

The Democrats are starting to realize, I think, just how badly they erred in their posturing on the Iraq war.  They are hoping against all hope of an American victory.  The reality is that we ARE in fact winning, as I suggested earlier today.

The more positive news that comes out of Iraq, the more desperate the Democrats become.

OK, I’ve GOTTA look at this one for my file server here at Casa de Bit:

Icy Dock/Seagate 4-Bay 2000GB

Icy Dock/Seagate 4-Bay 2000GB (4x500GB Seagate SATA 7200RPM 16MB HDD) External SATA Hard Drive w/ Interchangable Trays & Detachable Fan. 2 terabytes of storage for your DVR or computer. Only 50 cents per gigabyte. Backup all your photos, videos, music, iTunes library, documents, etc.>

(Drooling…) It would certainly make my big server a bit easier to manage. Thing is, when you go that big you’ve almost gotta buy two of the things..You’ll never get a backup tape big enough to handle it.  So, the only way to deal with the issue, is to simply have two of them, mirrored.

BAGHDAD, June 22 — The operational commander of troops battling to drive fighters with Al Qaeda from Baquba said Friday that 80 percent of the top Qaeda leaders in the city fled before the American-led offensive began earlier this week. He compared their flight with the escape of Qaeda leaders from Falluja ahead of an American offensive that recaptured that city in 2004.

In an otherwise upbeat assessment, Lt. Gen. Raymond T. Odierno, the second-ranking American commander in Iraq, told reporters that leaders of Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia had been alerted to the Baquba offensive by widespread public discussion of the American plan to clear the city before the attack began. He portrayed the Qaeda leaders’ escape as cowardice, saying that “when the fight comes, they leave,” abandoning “midlevel” Qaeda leaders and fighters to face the might of American troops — just, he said, as they did in Falluja.

That’s the New York Times, yesterday, observing that criminals tend to run away from superior firepower.  It would seem that the policy called for by the president, was sound, after all.  Not that you never get the Times to admit it.

Attention Harry Reid: You were saying, Senator, about how the surge has failed, the war was lost, and how our military leaders were “Incompetent’? 

(Crickets…)

Another point:

Some American officers in Baquba have placed blame for the Qaeda leaders’ flight on public remarks about the offensive in the days before it began by top American commanders, including Gen. David H. Petraeus, the overall commander in Iraq. But General Odierno cast the issue in broader terms, saying Qaeda leaders were bound to know an attack was coming in light of President Bush’s decision to pour nearly 30,000 additional troops into the fight in a bid to secure Baghdad and areas around the capital that have been insurgent strongholds. That included Baquba, which lies 40 miles north.

“Frankly, I think they knew an operation was coming in Baquba,” General Odierno said in a teleconference briefing with Pentagon reporters from the American military headquarters in Baghdad. “They watched the news. They understood we had a surge. They understood Baquba was designated as a problem area. So they knew we were going to come sooner or later.”

So, if we hadn’t had to have spent so much time explaining our actions to Democrats who want us to lose this war anyway, the operation would have been more effective, yet?

Are you getting the picture, yet, America?

Is Fred running?

WSMV-TV /4 in Nashville is reporting:

A source close to the campaign planning tells WSMV that that Thompson planned to announce his candidacy on the steps of the historic Fall School Building Tuesday, but Thompson campaign officials deny that Tuesday’s announcement is an official run for the White House.The source tells WSMV report says that the Thompson campaign has obtained the lease for that building to turn it into a national campaign office.”Everything’s in place for tuesday,” the source told WSMV. “There are three major events built around his announcement.” But Bob Davis, the Tennessee Republican Party Chairman, and Thompson’s former Chief of Staff says “There will not be an annoucement Tuesday.”

But, soon, apparently.

WSMV is claiming that this is an exclusive story to them, and they have video, too.

TV station WRAL is saying:

Defense attorneys for three Duke lacrosse players are expected to file a motion Friday asking a judge to enter criminal sanctions against disbarred Durham prosecutor Mike Nifong.

Nifong was disbarred June 16 by a State Bar disciplinary committee for his handling of the Duke lacrosse rape case. The committee unanimously agreed with the Bar on 27 of 32 charges, including the most serious allegations — that Nifong’s actions involved “dishonesty, fraud, deceit and misrepresentation.”

Three men — Reade Seligmann, David Evans and Collin Finnerty — were charged with rape, sexual assault and kidnapping in connection to an off-campus party in March 2006. All charges against the three were dropped in April 2007 after the state Attorney General Roy Cooper declared them innocent.

If the motion is granted, Nifong could face a possible fine and/or jail time.

A good idea, I think…I am firmly convinced that the man needs to see some jail time. .. though I suspect that there’s not much chance of actually happening. And frankly, I’d like to see some official action against the so called “gang of 88”.

(Addendum: Bit.. Michelle Malkin has some discussion on this topic.)
It strikes me as alarmingly typical, that particular group of inDUHviduals along with Nifong, himself, are not being vilified in nearly the ways that those three young men were.  They should be.  They should pay the price for what they’ve done. why are these matters not being pursued by the state district attorney?  Why is not Duke University’s complicity in these matters, not being pursued by the same?

And you know, one more individual we haven’t heard from, is the accuser, Crystal Gail Mangum. Explain to me how it is that she’s not on the receiving end of some of the worst vitriol possible from the left, along with some serious legal action… as were those she and Nifong falsely accused?. Is it possible, just possible, that all these people , including the gang of 88, including the district attorney’s office, including the police, can’t bring themselves to believe that these three young men are innocent, and that the real criminal action was on the part of the now disgraced DA, and this woman?

Or is this just to reverse racism, …a mindset that insists the black woman can never be questioned because her actions can never be criminal?  We already see a certain degree of that going on, in this case. The cursory examinations of the situation over the last several months have revealed that as David put it, it was ” ever increasingly difficult to find a single male in Durham with whom Crystal Gail Mangum did not have sexual relations. “.  Logic dictates that kind of activity, for that long, could not have passed unnoticed at the police department.  Or, for that matter at the district attorney’s office.  So why no investigation?

This case has uncovered a number of very uncomfortable truths, for the left.  As such, it is tending to get ignored, now.  Certainly, I can understand the motivations in the overwhelming lead Democratic party dominated district. As one commenter over at Michelle Malkin’s site said yesterday:

Indeed, why?

But I have to tell you, my friends, that there is something greater, and deeper, going on here that is being covered up.  Why is this woman not being charged in the matter? There’s something missing in all of this. A lot of questions need to be asked. And answered. A logical place to start would be… did Mike Nifong already know Mangum, before all this started? Was there some reason other than political avarice that Nifong would go to the mat for this woman, so to speak?

Says LGF:

Fear of pork grips the United Arab Emirates: People fume as shops sell toy that hurts religious feelings.

It’s a porcine conspiracy, and the ummah simply won’t stand for it.

Ras Al Khaimah: Scores of Emiratis are angry that a toy that offends Islamic sentiments is being sold in local malls.

People have requested that the municipality pull the pig-shaped toys off the shelves. Some people believe the toys have been brought here on purpose.

The furious Emiratis said children are raised here to believe pigs are dirty and now contrary to that there are toys which show that what they believe is incorrect.

“There are some dirty games being played against our culture and religion,” said the parents.

The municipality said it will investigate the matter. The Emiratis said the sale of these toys is totally rejected in an Arab and Muslim society and all attempts to play dirty games with the local culture and religion should be foiled.

Most of the Emiratis have taken pictures of the pig-shaped toys and provided them to the authorities, urging them to take quick action against the shops selling them.

(Chuckle) I wonder how those Trojan TV ads are going over…..

Today we honor the 1st Navy SEAL to fall in battle in Iraq, Petty Officer Marc A. Lee of SEAL Team 5, who was awarded the Silver Star posthumously for valor in combat in Ramadi Iraq on August 2, 2006..

Go and read… and learn that America has heros.
Project Hero, is a worthy attempt on McQ’s part to remind us that we have heroes among us.  Further, that these need to be honored as such.  We at BitsBlog are proud to lend our voice to such a project.

While the Iranians were able to kidnap fifteen British sailors and Marines, the Iranians earlier had been unable to capture Austrialiian sailors.  The BBC:

Iranian naval forces in the Gulf tried to capture an Australian Navy boarding team but were vigorously repelled, the BBC has learned

Love this tidbit.

The BBC has been told the Australians re-boarded the vessel they had just searched, aimed their machine guns at the approaching Iranians and warned them to back off, using what was said to be “highly colourful language”.

“Colourful language”, I just bet.

It’s beginning to look like that monstrosity of an immigration bill, is going down in flames.  The Congresscritters are starting to get the message that this is a wildly unpopular bill, and at the moment what we have is a number of people trying to save face. Let me say this plainly, so there’s no mistaking me; We should not let them save face.  They should pay the penalty for backing this bill.  

John Hawkins has been watching this one closely , perhaps more closely than most.  And one paragraph that he puts up fairly well tells the story:

Last but not least, I talked to my source about the shots Trent Lott and Lindsey Graham have taken at people opposed to the bill. My source replied that when this whole thing started, these guys were cocky and thought they’d get this bill through with 70 votes, no problem. But now, because of the blogs and talk radio, they’ve lost the public debate on the issue and they know it. So, at this point, they’re way out on a limb supporting a wildly unpopular bill that may or may not pass, and they’re lashing out in frustration. He added that a lot of Republican senators have been offended and embarrassed by their comments and are worried that the voters will lump them in with Graham and Lott.

Well, no duh. The Republicans should seriously consider cutting their losses on those two.

There are of course others, who have been going along for the sake of Party Unity, who took far too long to respond to the rank and file, such as Kay Bailey Hutchinson. And President Bush, for that matter. Mitch McConnell. And of course John Kyl, who should be handed his walking papers before the echo dies.  Byebye. Seeya. These are people that know better, or ought to. There’s no excuse for it.

It’s about time that the message gets sent from the RNC; You either act like Republicans, or you can start acting like ex- officeholders. Lott in particular, as I said earlier today, really should know better.  The Republicans and an awful lot of their supporters went to the mat for this bozo, basically pulling his cheeks out of the fire…  and look at how we get repaid.

Admittedly, it’s a slow news day, and therefore, around here a slow blogging day…  And this is the kind of story, that pops up on such a day is this, as if to save us from ourselves.  It’s too bad this pops up on a Friday, because if there’s one thing I’m sure of it’s that Neal is going to have something to say about this from Monday.

Ready?

Cynthia McKinney wants to be the Green Party Candidate.

OK, I guess I shoulda given you a little warning. Sorry.

Anyway, that’s right, we just managed to get one loony Cindy out of the way, the other one shows up.  As if the Greens needed any help and being pushed along the road toward moonbatty irrelevance… sheesh.

And let’s examine the old adage that “the green tree, has red roots”, shall we?  David Weigel in the Reason article on the subject:

Near the end of the speech McKinney started riffing on the nations who’d elected left-wing leaders.The world can’t wait for us any longer. And the world did not wait! Because starting in Cuba, but then in Venezuela and Chile and Argentina and Bolivia and Brazil, they did not wait for us! So if I do something in 2008, and I really do want to do something in 2008, it will be the fullest expression that I know of revolutionary love. Because we will make revolution and it will only be about love.

Ummmmm…. Yeah. I guess that pretty much proves that. It gets better…

She said, “With the failure of the Democratic Congress to repeal the Patriot Act, the Secret Evidence Act, the Military Tribunals Act, I have to seriously question my relationship with the Democratic Party. The idea has not been ruled out. All the current Democrats running for president support the principle of potential military action against Iran; none of them is for impeachment of the President. They can’t speak for me. I am open to a lot of ideas in 2008.”

As Mr. Johnson said, in “Blazing Saddles”, “Now, who could argue with that?”

The sad part is, assuming Mzzzzz McKinney was found a street corner, even without that face…they’d be edging away from her , and calling the authorities to deal with the mental deficient. I guess it’s true; crazy people who are poorer are called crazy people. Crazy people who were rich are called eccentric.  Crazy people who are/were members of Congress, get a pass altogether.  Good lord.

BBCT for the second link to Billy, Who as usual, looks to be somewhat more incredulous than I on the matter.  Can’t say as I blame him.

To see McKinney anywhere near it, however, brings a whole new dimension of horror to it. This is true regardless of her actual prospects. The very idea that she’s not instantly ground underfoot at her merest mention of something like this is a horrendous indication of how rotten things really are.

I’m not so worried. There will be fools always. McKinny continues to label herself as such, each time she opens her mouth.  As do, I hasten to point out, supporters she has.  There’s a certain point, however, at which railing against them, becomes counterproductive. I figure, she can act as the bug zapper.  She will attract a certain kind of bug, leaving the rest of us to enjoy the picnic in peace. 
(Shrug) I guess the thing is, it provides proof of what’s been said about such people, all along.  I mean, we’ve been pointing out this kind of craziness for years, now.  Decades.  But when they themselves come along and not only verify what you’ve been saying about them all along, but take it to the next level, that’s got to inspire a reaction against them.  And also tends to solidify the position of those who can speak against people like McKinney. She’s giving us an extraordinary example of the logical consequences of the non- thought of the left.  Her platforms are precisely what we’ve been warning America about for decades, now.
With all of that, I tend to think she will serve as a millstone around the neck of the left.  It will be amazing, I think, to observe the left trying to detach themselves from her, unsuccessfully.  And I think by now you see where I’m going with this, if she turns out a very small amount of people, and the left camp detached themselves from her, what do you suppose that’s going to do for everybody else’s chances in the presidential race?