Cheap Blogging Crutch 11.13

Making Health Care Better
The New York Times' David Leonhardt provides us with an exhaustive story on doctors, administrators, and public policy dorks who are doing the hard work of trying to hold down costs and make health care more effective in the current broken system. You may know them by their other title: people who aren't as smart as our elected betters in the Senate. He focuses specifically on the work of Brent James, who probably wakes up every morning, reads about the health care debate, and then has to spend 15 minutes talking himself out of suicide. It's an article that's worth your time.

How the US Funds the Taliban
I bet you're thinking "I'm sure it's just some labyrinthine trail where we find out that things we buy and things we do eventually flow back to the Taliban and terrorist organizations in Afghanistan, meant to teach us a lesson about the complexities of war." Nope! We're just straight up paying them. In cash. Sometimes just to not do anything, sometimes we pay them for protection. Often it's just huge, corrupt payments to Hamid Karzai's family. It's all very sordid and is definitely one of the many, many things your shouldn't think about when we decide to send a bunch more troops over there.

CDC Estimates 22 Million H1N1 Cases In US Between April And October
Oh, you forgot about Porcine AIDS, didn't you? Well it didn't forget about you, infecting maybe as many as 36 million and killing 4,000. Ok, that doesn't sound frightening, but what if I pointed out it was Friday the 13th and said it in a spooooky voice? No? Fuck you anyway, we're all going to die. Might want to think about getting that flu shot.

Al-Qa'ida prefers U.S. to stick around
What would you say if I told you that the United States military and political establishment didn't really understand Al Qaeda or it's political and military goals in reference to Afghanistan. Would you say 'no shit' or 'no fucking shit'? Well, anyway, it basically boils down to how they really, really, really, want us to stay and keep sending troops in. Boy, good thing we're not going to do anything stupid like that. By the way, this is also one of the many, many things your shouldn't think about when we decide to send a bunch more troops over there.

China proves to be an aggressive foe in cyberspace
Hey, while the US is spending trillions on not having health care, building super duper fighter planes, missiles, and various things that Michael Bay totally beats off to, you know what China is spending their money on? Well, infrastructure, energy, and wrapping its tentacles around the world. But militarily? Mostly they're watching Hackers over and over again and taking notes. Aaaand they're pretty much countering any intelligence imbalances and could do major damage to us if we ever started a war with them. In fact they're pretty much already running an undeclared war on us. I'm sure this is a problem a few more F-22's that are built the districts of every congressman on an appropriations committee will solve.

Fun fact

As you hear wonderful new news about the Afghan/Pakistan region, like that interesting little tidbit about how Hamid Karzai's opium dealing brother is on the CIA payroll, or how a bomb ripped through Pakistan and killed 90 people...while Secretary Clinton is visiting there, or the Taliban storming a "protected" house in Kabul and killing 6 UN workers, or the bit about how the Obama Administration has decided that in regards to the Afghan War "the debate is no longer over whether to send more troops, but how many more will be needed", remember this: Troops already outnumber Taliban 12-1.

There are already more than 100,000 international troops in Afghanistan working with 200,000 Afghan security forces and police. It adds up to a 12-1 numerical advantage over Taliban rebels, but it hasn't led to anything close to victory.

Now, the top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan is asking for tens of thousands more troops to stem the escalating insurgency, raising the question of how many more troops it would take to succeed.
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The Taliban rebels are estimated to number no more than 25,000. Ljubomir Stojadinovic, a military analyst and guerrilla warfare expert from Serbia, said that although McChrystal's reinforcements would lift the ratio to 20-1 or more, they would prove counterproductive.

Well I can certainly see why we're so eager to put more troops in. 12-1 is hardly and overwhelming advantage. Better bump it up to 20-1. Fuck it, 40-1. Let's have more soldiers than Afghans, then I'm sure we'll be able to outwit and kill the 25,000 Taliban fighters. One thing I'm sure of is that occupation armies never piss off citizens and inflame insurgencies, especially not after 8 years of futility, and especially not in Afghanistan, with its long traditions of welcoming foreign forces with open arms. What do they call Afghanistan, the Welcoming Center of Empires? I'm sure this will go as well as every armed conflict has ever gone in Afghanistan. Good luck, get to work.

Cheap Blogging Crutch 10.22

Held By The Taliban
If you're interested in reading a great story, the New York Times has a a massive 5 part account of journalist David Rohde's 7 month long imprisonment by the Taliban in Afghanistan. Beyond the simple interest in the personal story of Rohde it also gives great insight into the way Afghans view our war on terror and what fuels the anti-Americanism and extremism.

AT&T hits Internet vote
In case you were wondering where the next frontier of the government's never ending battle to stand with corporations over the interests of the American people, look to the intarwubs. AT&T is engaging a full court press on net neutrality and gaining a lot of support for its attempts to be allowed to place restrictions on access to content an services. On the side of freedom: the President, the Google, Skype, and Facebook. But I can see why they're having trouble opposing AT&T. I mean who isn't for restricting information on the internet?

Rage Against Torture: Top Musicians Demand Records On How Bush Admin Used Their Songs Against Detainees
Trent Reznor, R.E.M., Pearl Jam, Jackson Browne, Rage Against the Machine, Rosanne Cash, Billy Bragg and the Roots have all joined together in a group called Zero db to protest the use of music during torture in the future and the use of music in torture during the Bush Administration. That's all well and good, but I think that Rage and Trent, maybe Pearl Jam, are the only ones who have to worry about their music being used in torture. I doubt Dick Cheney authorized the use of "Running on Empty" and "So. Central Rain (I'm Sorry)" on Khalid Sheikh Mohammed before telling them to put on Mermaid Avenue Volumes I and II and "just let it play all the way through."

Pay Czar to Slash Compensation at Seven Firms
Hey, turns out that after months and months and months of doing nothing of pay for firms that got bailed out (read: all of them), it seems that the pay czar, whose only job is doing things related to CEO salaries of bailed out companies, decided that he might as well put in a half day of work and push forward with a proposal that is popular with the American people. Of course the business community is outraged. I guess the people that set fire to the world's money will have to make due with half a million in salary with bonus compensation not to exceed $10 million. I hope they'll still be able to afford food with cuts that drastic.

Google's Android Allows Soldiers to Put Drones on Buddy List
Who here wanted a cell phone that could not only compete with the iPhone in terms of price, innovation, and technology, but could also sync up with a Predator drone on a bombing run in the mountains of Afghanistan and get streaming video of the attack. I know I have and those fuckers in the Apple apps store have not heeded my demands. Thankfully Raytheon is on the case and using Google's Android operating system to do so. So is this going to be in the Droid phone or am I going to have to join the military to get the app?

Cheap Blogging Crutch 10.12

A Dogged Taliban Chief Rebounds, Vexing U.S.
What the one thing you most wanted to hear about Afghanistan in the news? Was it the quote "he’s staged one of the most remarkable military comebacks in modern history" being made in reference to one-eyed Taliban leader Mullah Omar's Afghan resistance? I guess we're learning the famous lesson of war in Afghanistan: don't start a war in Afghanistan. Or maybe it's more: once you start a war in Afghanistan, don't completely cripple it by immediately starting a war with Iraq and forgetting about it for eight years.

Head of NFL players union opposes Limbaugh’s bid: Sports are meant to reject ‘discrimination and hatred.’
Wait, so you're telling me that a league comprised of around 70% black guys isn't all that thrilled with the prospect of a man with a history of racially charged (to put it mildly) statements about blacks, the black community, black leaders, black athletes, and especially black football players buying an NFL football team? I understand your objections, but you might want to consider letting him buy the team. Reason 1: so we can finally take him off the list of "people who we are ashamed are big Steelers fans." Reason 2: he's trying to buy the Rams. No good can come of that for Rush. He'll leave beaten and battered in a few years muttering "they're terrible...oh so terrible, my God the horror." Don't you want to see that happen to him?

Nasa's LCROSS lunar mission uses Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Sure the LCROSS mission didn't actually achieve it's scientific goal. One: it kicked of Moon War with a bang. Two: it was able to quote the existence pondering sperm whale from Hitchhiker's Guide while doing so. Far as I'm concerned that's a couple million well spent. Now crash something into Mercury while quoting Life of Brian.

Fur flies on 'Mr. Fox'
Turns out that if you want to direct a stop motion adaptation of a Roald Dahl novel not only do you not have to know anything about stop motion, but you don't even have to show up to get the directing credit or communicate to the people doing it in any other way besides e-mail. At least that's what Wes Anderson thinks. The other people on the film weren't really big fans of the process. Doesn't exactly raise my hopes for the film. But the article does reveal that the film is going to be cool-looking, detail-saturated, retro-leaning, and have a 60's era rock soundtrack. That's a shocker.

Afghan quits election panel, claiming foreigners are making all decisions
Well this certainly looks promising for the UN panel set to investigate widespread Afghan election fraud: one of the Afghans quit, citing problems with the way things were being run and decisions being made. Apparently he didn't like to be told to "shuuuuut uuuuuup" when he expressed concerns that Hamid Karzai wasn't the duly elected leader of Afghanistan. Seems he didn't get the message that this is the good kind of election rigging. Hopefully the next guy they put on the panel does understand that.

I think we can believe them

People, I fell it is my duty to pas on a message from the Taliban. I think that its important given that we aren't exactly thrilled with the war in Afghanistan, Generals are pushing for troop increases and escalation, and soldiers aren't exactly thrilled with the way things are going either. The message is this: except for attacks on soldiers, news reporters, fellow Afghans, and foreign nationals, suicide bombings, car bombings, and various assorted terrorist attacks, a partnership with al Qaeda, and forming an Islamic theocracy that foments extremist attacks through Islamic fundamentalism.....the Taliban claims they pose no threat to the west. Whew, I was worried there for a second.

The Taliban have issued an English-language statement claiming they pose no international threat – a move that will fuel the debate among US and European policymakers over whether the hardline Afghan insurgent group can be split away from the international militants of al-Qaida.
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"We did not have any agenda to harm other countries including Europe nor we have such agenda today," said the statement, which was posted on a known Taliban website. "Still, if you want to turn the country of the proud and pious Afghans into a colony, then know that we have an unwavering determination and have braced for a prolonged war."

/dusts hands off in a sufficiently reassured manner

Well, I think we can take these fellows at their word. I mean they do have trustworthy faces. Well, I assume they do under their keffiyeh head wraps and balaclavas....and if they would stop the suppressing gunfire so I could peek my head up and get a good look at those faces. One point of contention: we don't want, and never wanted, your country as a colony, we just wanted it as a place that stopped making terrorist attacks against us. You may not notice it having lived there your entire lives, but Afghanistan...is kind of a hellish sandy shithole that no one in their right mind would ever choose to visit, let alone live in.

"Except for all the attacks and hostility we foment against you...we won't attack or foment hostility against you". Fine. Sounds good to me. Whatever we have to believe to get us out of there and from getting into Iraq 2.

Afghan shenanigans

Afghanistan has been in the news a lot recently. From the President surprisingly (sarcasm) ruling out a reduction in troops today after he spent an entire political campaign running on an Afghan troop increase, to the GOP telling Nancy Pelosi that they were going to put her "in her place" just because she pointed out that House Democrats might not be so eager to support an Afghan troop increase just because Gen. McChrystal wants one. Plus there's this little matter of the UN firing it's #2 man in Afghanistan, Peter Galbraith. Why? Just because he had a little problem with the whole matter of Hamid Karzai stealing the recent election there.

The United Nations fired its No. 2 official in Afghanistan on Wednesday after the diplomat, Peter W. Galbraith, wrote a scathing letter accusing the head of the mission here of concealing election fraud that benefited the campaign of the incumbent president, Hamid Karzai.

“For a long time after the elections, Kai denied that significant fraud had taken place, even going to the extreme of ordering U.N. staff not to discuss the matter,” Mr. Galbraith wrote in the letter, a copy of which was obtained by The New York Times.

“And, at critical stages in the process,” he wrote, “he blocked me and other U.N.A.M.A. professional staff from taking effective action that might have limited the fraud or enabled the Afghan electoral institutions to address it more effectively.” U.N.A.M.A. refers to the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan

The UN then got even angrier because he decided to point that out in newspapers nationwide. I think what they want Galbraith, and the world, to understand is something we've discussed on this blog a few times: when an election is rigged to put or keep someone we like in power, then that's just an extension of the category we like to cal "democracy working". When elections are rigged to put or keep people we don't like into power, or even a legitimate election puts someone we don't like into power, that's what we call "a travesty of democracy", a "subversion of the people", and "something we need to invade over." This is the basic theory of democracy in relation to foreign policy and Galbraith should understand that as the UN's #2 man in Afghanistan. Excuse me, former #2 man.

So the leader is rigging elections, everyone is scrambling to cover it up, the Taliban is resurgent, we don't have enough troops, casualties are on the rise, and everyone stopped caring about this when everyone realized no noe in government cared about catching that "9/11 mastermind" guy. Yeah, this definitely sounds like a massive troop increase is the right and popular thing to do.

A sense of decorum must be maintained

Ahh the perils of fomenting a brutal Islamist fundamentalist uprising that seeks to return a oppressive religuous dictatorship back to power to rule with an iron fist. It seems that when you try to do that, and try to do it against the wishes of the populace, people can kind of start to think you're a group of assholes. So what's the solution? Try to become less doctrinaire religious pricks? No, Allah forbid. What you do is get yourself a new personal code of conduct policy.

The Taliban in Afghanistan has issued a book laying down a code of conduct for its fighters.

Al Jazeera has obtained a copy of the book, which further indicates that Mullah Omar, the movement's leader, wants to centralise its operations.

The book, with 13 chapters and 67 articles, lays out what one of the most secretive organisations in the world today, can and cannot do.
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Individual Taliban commanders have so far had a fair degree of autonomy, often deciding what operations to conduct and how to run the territory that they control.

Our correspondent said the regulations seem to be an attempt by Mullah Omar to bring all of the Taliban under his control.

Some of the provisions entail not killing so many Muslims in suicide bombings, only using suicide bombings to kill important targets, rules for prisoner treatment of members of the "slave government", no more ransoming hostages, only a ranking bearded fascist may decide to kill a "military infidel", no ethnic discrimination, and try to engage in proper treatment of the local population. You know, real hearts and minds shit. Bring back that religious dictatorialism with a smile, not the old stereotype of the dour imam issuing fatwas and stoning women who expose their wrists. Taliban 2.0.

No word from Al Jazeera if "The Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan Rules for Mujahideen" also includes more helpful tips for the jihadist on the go, or personal grooming tips to achieve that Taliban style they're so famous for. Things like "When fighting the Great Satan, robes are a must and don't forget your standard issue black market AK-47," "Despite the heat, the summer look still requires a beard, lest the flames of hell burn you for all eternity," or "Put a sprig of mint in your boot, so each step will bring a new smell of freshness to your quest to enslave the people of this desert abyss under the yoke of a fundamentalist dictatorship." These are all sound ideas. I think it's really going to make a difference.