Al Quada's image falters - except in America

Good to read killer elephants are being named after Osama Bin Laden. No small wonder he is held in disdain in India - they have suffered 10 Jihadist terror attacks killing 81 people this year alone.

But Al Qaeda's image is suffering in Muslim countries too. Deborah Haynes reports of young Iraqis who want to look like American Soldiers:

Elbow or knee pads strapped deliberately to ankles and goggles worn back to front over helmets, some Iraqi soldiers have a unique sense of style. Efforts to mimic their American mentors or simply spruce up and re-enforce their regular army gear result in a variety of different outfits whenever the troops are on patrol. Sejad Mehdi, 21, said that he habitually fixes a pair of goggles to the back of his American helmet – bought at a Baghdad market for 50,000 Iraqi dinar (21 pounds) – because he saw US troops wearing them that way rather than because he uses the mask in his job.

Richard Fernandez dubs this phenomenon the Ray-ban theory of History noting the similarity of Filipinos wearing MacArthur style sunglasses after World War II:

In the years after the Second World War the hot fashion item in war-ravaged Manila were Ray Ban aviator sunglasses. Not because people had any Hellcats to fly, but because everyone wanted to look like a "winner".

While Richard notes "In short, winning against al-Qaeda has been largely achieved by winning", I believe an element of foreign respect is also atributable to the way the American military conduct themselves overall.

Interestingly, Richard, like Anne, see the left replacing their Che Guevara caps with the keffiyeh:

It is significant that some members of the Western elite want to wear a keffiyeh at precisely the time when young Muslim men in Baghdad are saving to buy Wiley-X's

The common denominator underlying opposing style choices, however, appears to be America. One side wants to emulate it, the other wants to scorn it.

Originally posted in UNCoRRELATED May 31, 2000

Carter fails to lead again

Does Jimmy Carter think superdelegates will ultimately give the nod to Obama or is he just hoping?

"I'm a superdelegate, having been president before, and I think that a lot of us superdelegates will make a decision ... quite rapidly, after the final primary on June 3," Carter told Sky News. "I think at that point it will be time for her to give it up."

So why does superdelegate Carter continue to hedge his bet by not making a commitment now?

Ironically, it was President Carter's landslide loss to Ronald Reagan that resulted in the present Democrat superdelegate system. Gee, is it any wonder the process is flawed when you make superdelegates out of the people you wouldn't want to be your nominee?

Originally posted in UNCoRRELATED May 26, 2000

You talk'n about my Momma?

For a guy who ran around with the unrepentant terrorist Bill Ayers, it doesn't seem particularly smart to remind everyone you're also the terrorist appeasing fool George Bush is talking about. Obama's like the hapless kid in Bill Cosby's high school shop class who put a bullet in the furnance. After it exploded, the shop teacher tried to find out who did it. When no one claimed responsibility, the teacher remarked how such an act looked poorly on the mother of the boy who did it. That's when the perpetrater couldn't help himself defend his momma.

Originally posted in UNCoRRELATED May 14, 2000

Tough to do from Okinawa

The surge is more than putting more troops on the ground:

"One month ago, the patrols are back, and they are walking, not in Humvees. Different soldiers from the soldiers in the first patrols, but behaving like them – very courteous, very watchful.

"When the patrol knocks on my door, I say, 'Please come in – I would like some lubricant for my pistol.' The patrol leader looks at me with a funny look, then he smiles, then they all come in and drink tea and I draw a map of where the Wahabi are..."

h/t SDA

Originally posted in UNCoRRELATED May 14, 2000

Do You Have a Better System?

Edward Cropper located these salient remarks on capitalism from the master economist, Milton Friedman, who points out the term "self-interest" is a better term then "greed". After all, everyone has self-interest, but only "other" people exhibit greed. "The world runs on individuals pursuing their self interest".

This self-interest operates regardless of the capitalist, communist, or socialist society in place, however:

"In the only cases the masses have escaped from the grinding poverty you are talking about - the only cases in recorded history - are where they've had capitalism and largely free trade..."

In a capitalist society, self-interest has a way of producing fair results. My wife's American history professor demonstrated how self interest could lead to equitable results. He provided a student ten one dollar bills and told the student he could divide the money in two piles to split between another student. The second student, however, got to choose which pile to select. The first student invariably would ensure the ten dollars were split evenly.

Obama wants to raise taxes to make them "fair" (whatever that means) - even if the over all revenue to the treasury goes down. Clinton wants to tax "excess" oil company profits - does that mean she is willing to confiscate "excess" profits of other industries with higher margins? These aren't new concepts. There are plenty of examples to see how they don't work. For example unemployed luxury yacht and plane workers can tell you what happens when the self interest of boat and plane buyers kick in.

Where the economic policies of Senators Obama and Clinton depart from capitalism, society will be the worse for it.

Originally posted in UNCoRRELATED May 8, 2008

Statistical Oddity

If Obama wins the presidency, I'm going to pine for the days when Hillary was first lady.

Originally posted in UNCoRRELATED May 6, 2008

SUV vs F-16

A friend sent me this photo of the rental SUV attacked by an F-16 in the Utah desert. Wrong target, but as James Edwards would say "That's a good shot though..."

Fortunately the military occupants were not killed, but they were injured while escaping the vehicle. The F-16 fires 20mm rounds. This will make one interesting insurance claim.

Originally posted in UNCoRRELATED Apr 30, 2008

Hillary Goes for Broke

A year ago she was boycotting Fox, but Senator Clinton's face-off with Bill O'Reilly on the O'Reilly factor was a shrewd move for a number of reasons:

1. O'Reilly is no softball pitcher. If you can face him, you pretty much can face anyone. The not so subtle message to the Democrat super delegates is she can face down John McCain and any media onslaught. The other not so subtle message: "Did you see Obama fold during the last debate?"

2. The interview highlights Senator Obama's cowardice to debate her mano el mano, and she did it by taking on someone tougher than Obama. Did I mention his glass jaw at the last debate?

3. Next to Obama, Hillary comes across as a Republican (John McCain variety). O'Reilly, however, comes from the right which frames Hillary as a leftist. Good for the democrat image when you still got democrat primaries to win.

I only saw a few moments of O'Reilly's interview, but in that part Clinton held her own. The supers got to be wondering, can Obama do that?

By the way, this really irks the far left. But then again, if you don't support her she doesn't owe you a thing.

Originally posted in UNCoRRELATED Apr 30, 2008

Fear the Left More

I agree completely with Frank Cagle's column:

At the recent Associated Press convention, presidential candidates showed up to kiss the collective butts of America’s newspaper managers. They promised to enact a federal shield law. This is the Holy Grail of corporate newspaper financial officers everywhere, who really dislike spending money defending the First Amendment.

How will the government know to whom it will grant this federal shield? It will be necessary for the federal government to define “journalists.” It is, in effect, a federal license to practice the First Amendment. Won’t it be a comfort when your license to practice journalism is granted by the likes of John Ashcroft or Alberto Gonzales?

While I don't want any attorney general "licensing" journalists, I would expect a John Ashcroft or Alberto Gonzales to be more restrained than a Janet Reno. For some reason those on the left never seem to consider boogymen other then conservatives even when the vast amount of censorship in this country is conducted by left leaning Universities. One need go no further than our northern border to see where leftist political hate speech codes will take us.

h/t Instapundit

Originally posted in UNCoRRELATED Apr 24, 2008

If You Can't Win, Beat Em!

My high school hockey team's unofficial motto above fits the temperment of some in Congress who would overturn the Air Force decision to award an air refueling tanker contract to Northrop and the European consortium EADS:

"We're going to try to eliminate the funding," said Washington state Democratic Rep. Norm Dicks, a member of the defense subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee. "We're going to try to make a fight on the funding of this in the regular bill."

The comments were made at an outdoor rally on Capitol Hill attended by union leaders and lawmakers representing Washington and Kansas, where Boeing has a significant presence. Some attendees held signs reading "U.S. Workers -- Protect U.S. Military" and "Tax $$ for U.S.A. -- Not France!"

Originally posted in UNCoRRELATED Apr 22, 2008