Congratulations to the entire Esmay family!

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You ever notice......

Posted by: Rusty at 10:17 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Earlier reports had said that 3 British citizens were kidnapped in Iraq. It looks like it might have been 2 Americans and 1 Briton. But you know what they say: "All infidels look alike". Also, the Aussies have decided to send in the SAS, or Special Air Services. From what I hear, these guys mean business. It should be noted, though, that the Aussies have not been able to verify that any of their citizens are missing. News stories below.

Also on the scene: Jeff Quinton, Diggers Realm, Command Post, Slant Point more...

Posted by: Rusty at 10:08 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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So you decide to call it a day early and what happens? All hell breaks loose. Evil Glenn Reynolds pitches two softballs to Quinton and he instalaunches them out of the park. Way to go, dude! But where's my Instalaunch? What about Rusty? *sigh*

Well, let's see all the links I missed over night. We call this little bit, the morning breakfast link drop. What's for breakfast today? Bill Burkett and Dan Rather.

-Morning music: Iron Maiden. No, I take that back: the Ramones.
-Don't forget to say grace and thank Allah for all the links that matter.
-Green eggs AND ham? I do not like them Dan Rather-man. Quinton on the case.
-In Russia we eat kasha. Horosho deteknivi robotaet! And kasha casts a long shadow. Where did I eat kasha? In Moscow, moron. If you're ever there, I highly recommend heading to the Great Patriotic War memorial which is built at the spot of furthest advancement for the German Army. Is the Killian memo the equivelant of the Russian winter to European armies?
-Did you know that bear is a much loved meat of choice in some cultures? There's nothing like waking up to some good bear after an evening at a Broadway musical followed by long night of hedonism at the disco.
-In Virginia they eat grits. Grits are kind of like kasha, only you'll never hear Dan Rather say "Kiss my kasha" to the blogosphere. It just doesn't sound right.
-What do Kinko's employees eat for breakfast? Brauts.
-However, and as much as Jeff Goldstein would hate to admit this, in Abilene there is only one food group: Beef. And to drink? How about a hearty cup of Joe, but, er, they call it something different down there in Texas.
-At the other end of the political spectrum, in MA they eat cake for breakfast.
-How much does breakfast cost in Texas these days anyway? A buck fiddy.
-And last but not least, when it comes down to it, always be cautious when dishing out breakfast. You never know when your idle speculation will come back to bite you in the arse.

PS-always eat breakfast in pajamas. Always.

Posted by: Rusty at 08:43 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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1 Bear meat, bear steaks, bear breakfasts... always with the picking on bears thing. Lemme guess, it was either the "Muppet Jawa" thang that set you off, or else you're still pissed about being dead, huh?

Posted by: Ironbear at September 16, 2004 02:41 PM (EjXVN)

2 This breakfast thing is great, Rusty.

Posted by: Simon at September 20, 2004 04:12 AM (OyeEA)

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Jeff at Beautiful Attrocities asks what is on everybody's mind: What does Michelle Malkin wear to bed. Then he asks what is on Dan Rather's mind: What does Katrina vanden Hueval wear to bed. Then he asks what is on no-ones mind: What does Rusty Shackleford wear to bed. Shocking!

In related news I have finally been outted by the Llama Butchers. Here is a picture of me at the last APSA meeting.

Posted by: Rusty at 08:13 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Screw you guys, I'm going home.

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*

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Digby:

It an amazing thing to watch. From state troopers to lounge singers to homely office clerks to love story to swift boats, this country has been taken on a multi million dollar right wing funded fraud for over a decade and I still haven't seen even one "journalist" apologize, retract or even acknowledge it.

As I keep saying, though, nothing of importance, not even anything of importance about Bush's Guard service hinges on the authenticity of the memos.

Did CBS run with crudely forged docs? Here at THE HOWLER, we can’t really say. But how comical are the outraged squeals about “liberal bias” which are all over cable? Those squeals are very comical. What does this current episode show? It shows this: If you broadcast a shaky tale about Bush, the world will land on your head in an instant. Does this show the corps’ “liberal bias?” We’d have to say that it does not.

Have we now reached the point (courtesy of TechCentralShilling) where a significant portion of the conservative blogosphere actually believes that it provides a thoroughly reliable fact-check function?

We don't need the CBS memos to know that George W. Bush used family connections to get into the National Guard ahead of other young men, then skipped out on his Guard service prior to a medical evaluation (interesting, that, in light of Bush's non-denial denials of youthful drug use), then got his dad's "good friend" to pull strings once again, netting the future president an honorable discharge that he probably didn't earn.

May be forgeries, though strangely could be more like reproductions of originals.

One of the reasons I'm annoyed by the whole Killian memo fiasco is that even if they're real they don't really add much to the story. After all, here's what we already know: [long list of stuff based on the CBS Story]

A months-long investigation, which includes examination of hundreds of government-released documents, interviews with former Guard members and officials, military experts and Bush associates, points toward the conclusion that Bush's personal behavior was causing alarm among his superior officers and would ultimately lead to his fleeing the state to avoid a physical exam he might have had difficulty passing. His failure to complete a physical exam became the official reason for his subsequent suspension from flying status....

Questions have been raised about the authenticity of those memos, but the criticism of them appears at this time speculative and inconclusive, while their substance is consistent with a growing body of documentation and analysis.

John Kerry is a better leader, a better man, a better patriot than George Bush and everyone else on the left (and a few honest folks on the right) knows it.

I dont give a rats ass. Its over. Let's move on, unless you want to keep talking about this till Election Day. CBS blew it, they screwed up, a drunken monkey with 60 Minutes budget and persistence could get the goods on Bush. In fact the unasked question that no one seems to be putting out there is this. With 250 assholes willing to spout off their opinion about Kerry's leadership, isnt it amazing that not even the bartender at the freaking TANG officer's club has any Fond or otherwise recollections of Bush... Please!

Posted by: Rusty at 03:24 PM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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Just because....

PS-Sith mind control.

UPDATE: Flea ups the ante.

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The first indictment in relation to the Beslan school massacre has been filed against Nurpasha Kulaev, a Chechen national, on at least nine charges, Pravda reports. Pravda also reports that authorities have recovered the bodies of at least 30 terrorists. Ten terrorists, so far, have been identified by nationality. One hundred and twenty-two former hostages are still hospitalized. Fifty adults and 25 children are listed in critical condition. Elsewhere, Chechens downed a Mi-24 helicopter on Monday, killing two crew members. In news that is probably somehow tangentially related to Kitty Kelley, Pravda also warns of UFO clouds abducting humans.

CNN is reporting that it was a 'bribe' that got the two female Chechen suicide bombers on board a flight they later managed to blow up. The names of the two suspected terrorists are Aminat Nagayeva and Satsia Dzhebirkhanova. No word if that was cash or Visa.

Two illegally scalped tickets, including airline bribe: $69-$100.
The chance to blow up a plane full of infidels: priceless. more...

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Religion of peas update. Notice the last sentence. JPOST:

A British man was shot dead Wednesday in a parking lot outside an eastern Riyadh shopping center, a Saudi Interior Ministry official said.

An unidentified Interior Ministry spokesman gave no further details about the victim, who was shot near the Max discount shopping center in the eastern districts of the Saudi capital.

Earlier, Saudi-owned TV station Al-Arabiya said the man was shot dead with four bullets while in the shopping center's car park.

Police ringed the area looking for whoever was behind the killing as an ambulance removed the victim's body.

The motive for the killing was not immediately known.

Posted by: Rusty at 01:24 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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The Swifties have a new ad out, this time attacking John Kerry for throwing his medals away. Of course, John Kerry threw his medals away before he didn't....or something. Anyway, I saw it while watching Fox last night. View the video by clicking this link. Also, the Swifties have a new website here and are soliciting contributions to help run the new ad.

UPDATE: Could Rathergate be the result of Veterans for Kerry retaliating for the damage done by the Swifties? Bill Hobbs suggests that Bob Tuke, a Nashville area attorney and Tennesse state chairman for Veterans for Kerry may be Rather's deep throat.

Posted by: Rusty at 12:16 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Dear Sons of Pigs and Madonna,
May the coming year be as peaceful and blessed as the last, you ape-people, and may rocks and trees call out to reveal your presence to the brave shahids who will slaughter you before the Day of Judgement.
Love,
Yassir Arafat

PS-Please begin to follow peace plan, and Happy New Year. I mean it.

Posted by: Rusty at 11:48 AM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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****MPJ Exclusive must credit Rusty Shackleford***

Dr. Rusty Shackleford can reveal from reliable unnamed sources that while engaged in certain unnamed sexual behaviors, illegal in at least four Southern States, a certain unnamed 'author', who goes by the name of Kitty Kelley, snorted cocaine off the heaving bosoms of an unnamed blogger, who happens to go by the name of Anna Marie Cox (aka, Wonkette). How reliable are my unnamed sources that Kitty Kelley did Coke in the White House while giving Ashlee Simpson an abortion paid for by Oprah Winfrey? Very. In fact, my editor was in the room when Paris Hilton broke down and told me the whole sordid affair over the phone and my editor definitely overheard me saying such things as, "Wow, Paris" and "uh-huh, keep talking", thus proving the validity of the story.

It's Wictory Wednesday. more...

Posted by: Rusty at 08:41 AM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
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Just want to share a comment someone dropped with you. I actually get like one or two of these a day now, but mostly on old posts so it's not likely the regulars get around to see them. Let's just call this comment ironical:

GO F*CK YOURSELF, DUMMY - GOT A COLLEGE EDUCATION?PROBABLY NOT - STUPID REDNECK )!_HOW MANY MORE SHOULD DIE IN IRAQ ?_ JUST TO LINE HALLIBURTON'S COFFERS (SHOULD I DEFINE THE WORD FOR YOU?) PS IT'S LINING ALL THE REPUBLICANS WALLETS TO KILL MEN IN IRAQ _TOO BAD YOU'RE TOO STUPID TO SEE IT

Posted by: Rusty at 08:25 AM | Comments (12) | Add Comment
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UPDATE: Newer sources indicate the bodies were probably those of Arabs. Frequent commenter Cindy put two and two together and wonders about the fate of the four Iraqi policemen that were captured five days ago. Could thre of them have met this horrible fate? Oh, and PS: Beheading is unislamic.

Via the Drudge of the blogosphere, Jeff Quinton, this rather disgusting if not surprising news. Notice the allusion to the 3 bodies being those of foreigners. Perhaps the Australians or the French journalists? Which reminds me, I need to get on the murdered hostages update. What are we up to? 35 murdered hostages, since 9/11? Does any one have a running count of how many of those hostages have been beheaded?

The decapitated bodies of three men, their heads strapped to their backs and the corpses put in nylon bags, were found dumped by a roadside north of Baghdad Wednesday, Iraqi police and U.S. officials said.

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A German news report is about to break claiming that the genocide in Darfur is being helped by Syrian chemical weapons. Perhaps Saddam's missing WMD are being used after all? Just thinking out loud. Via Charles Johnson this really odd news. Note that the source of the story is an Arabic internet site. The credibility of this report is pretty doubtful:

Syria tested chemical weapons on civilians in Sudan's troubled western Darfur region in June and killed dozens of people.

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Still no word on Tom Harkin.

Posted by: Rusty at 06:16 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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****My Pet Jawa Exclusive, must credit Rusty Shackleford****

Many apologists for Dan Rather have asserted that the Killian memo *could* have been produced by certain high-end IBM typewriters available in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Possibly. But isn't it empirically verifiable whether or not the Air Force (through which the Air National Guard is funded) bought such typewriters?

I did a search of prime military contracts to see if the US Air Force bought any expensive typewriters in Texas from 1965-1972. The answer? Yes, they did. But the records only show a single procurement from IBM of typewriters during this period. If I am reading the page correctly, the US Air Force did pay IBM between $25-49 thousand for "TYPEWRITERS AND OFFICE TYPE C" in 1966. This is the only large contract between the US Air Force and IBM in Texas for typewriters during a period of time prior to the date of the memo in question.

Unfortunately for Rather apologists, that contract was executed in San Antonio, TX. San Antonio is home to Kelly AFB where the typewriters probably went. Could the typewriters have gone to a Guard unit? Possibly. There is a TANG unit at Kelly, the 149th Fighter Wing. The problem, of course, is that Bush served in the 111th Fighter Wing, located in Houston.

What are the odds:

a) the Air Force bought high-end typewriters from IBM. If you look at what procurement documents are online, they only give a general range for the contract, 25-49k. How expensive were the models in question? Is the IBM Selectric the only model that would produce anything near to this document? How many of these high-end typewriters could be bought with that amount?

b) after procuring the high-end typewriters, they are shipped from San Antonio to Houston. Does anybody out there know the chain of command? Would Killian report to someone in San Antonio? Maybe, but this is a real question that I just don't know.

c) after getting this high-end typewriter, Killian takes the time and effort how to use it. He then begins using it to keep personal notes on. Killians family says he could barely type.

Update: The price for an IBM Selectric Composer was $4,400 in 1966. It was the first year the model was produced. Given that the Air Force spent no more than $49k buying typewriters in Texas from IBM, how many Selectric Composers might have been bought? Eleven. The entire Air Force in Texas could have no more than eleven of these things! To put that into perspective, $4,400 in 1966 was equivalent to $24,535.58 in 2003. So, what are the odds that the Air Force would send a $25k machine to a TANG unit? Especially since there were only (no more than) eleven of them in the state? Sure, we could always come up with a more and more elaborate explanation of how the improbable could have happened--but this is getting ridiculous.

UPDATE II: My bad. IBM did sell the Air Force in Texas "TYPEWRITERS AND OFFICE TYPE Composing Machines" in subsequent years after 1966. None in 1967, but in 1968 they contracted with IBM for between $40 - $120 k for typewriters and other related equipment (presumably dictation machines). In 1968 they spent even more. Again, though, none of this is going to Houston Texas in 1968. A lot of the equipment is for Texarkana (??? no idea what base is even near here), Travis County which is home of the now closed Bergstrom Air Force Base (defunct SAC base), and San Antonio. Similarly, in 1969 several bases bought typewriting equipment, including whatever base is near El Paso--but none near Houston. 1970 produces no results for the Houston area either, but get's specific enough to say the Air Force contracted with IBM to supply typewriters to Borger, TX. You ever hear of 'Borger'? Me either. Fiscal year 1971 (which ends mid 1972) produces no results for Harris County, where Bush's wing was stationed either. So, it is possible that the TANG had a high end IBM Selectric, but still improbable.

So what does the archive search mean?

First, the military keeps pretty detailed records of the equipment they buy. A more thorough search of the archival data reveals that the military keeps records of equipment purchases, even when such purchases are for relatively unimportant Air Force offices (such as the ones in Texarkana or in Borger). There is no record of the Air Force, or any of it's subsidiaries, buying expensive typewriting equipment from IBM for any base near Houston between the years 1965-1972. Is this proof that the Killian documents aren't real? No. This is evidence that simply suggests Killian didn't have the right equipment to superscript th or kernal the lettering.

Second, Ace makes an important observations when speaking of this post:

I don't think his findings are anywhere near conclusive, but if an amateur one-man blogging operation is able to call up and read military procurement contracts, why isn't CBS News able to do so, and thereby actually prove their allegations?

What the hell is going on? Is the legitimate media now claiming for itself a lesser standard of evidence and fact-checking than they demand for one-man amateur internet bloggers?

If that's the case, they might as well come straight out and admit that bloggers are generally more reliable than they are.

I saved the onlined procurement page here for the 1966 fiscal year. The original online procurement acquisition page can be found here. For a description of the database universe, you can download the PDF file here.

Update, again: Allah, the all-knowing, tells me that Killian's secretery had a Selectric, but that she didn't type these memos. So I just wasted the last two hours of my life trying to find out if Killian had a Selectric for nought? I demand those two hours back!! *sigh* I probably would have wasted them anyway.

Another UPDATE, 9/14:Reader MrGrumpyDrawers notes that while Killian's secretary might have had a Selectric " Selectric and a Selectric Composer are (were) two different beasts. The Selectric was a fixed pitch machine - i.e. did not have proportional spacing. The main reason Selectrics were so popular is they did not have a moving carriage that used up a lot of desk space and made a terrible racket at every carriage return. The type ball made them much quieter than a standard typewriter, they were less prone to jam and they made good-looking fixed-pitch documents. The odds that Killian's secretary had access to a high-end Selectric Composer with proportional spacing would have been next to nil." Also, long time blog friend Rum Crook says "I was in the guard after I got out of the regular army, it is beyond credibility to me that they had anything other than a pretty standard ribbon typewriter. hell I left the guard around 92 and they were still using a regular typewriter." So, could Killian's secretary have had a Selectric by 1972? Possibly. The Air Force first started buying them in 1966, so she might have got a hand-me-down by that time. But, did she have the Selectric Composer? Look, if the regular Selectric was priced at near $25k in inflation adjusted dollars then how much did the top of the line model cost? And then what are the odds that in 5 years the Air Force would decide to replace a $25k piece of equipment and then send the 'old junk' down the line to the TANG?

More updates: From a reader Dave:

The TANG should have had a property division which assigned responsibility for all gov’t equipment to an individual, usually an NCOIC (non-commissioned officer in charge). The Property division should have had a “property book” which was a log of all government equipment. The NCOIC would have a ‘hand receipt’ which would be the list, monetary value, serial number and national stock number of each item the NCOIC was responsible for. There were probably several property books depending on the type of equipment – airplane parts would be accounted for separately from office equipment, I would assume.

The evidence just keeps piling up. Higher. And higher. And even higher. Now were just swimming in it. And it's pretty deep in there.

Posted by: Rusty at 02:13 PM | Comments (13) | Add Comment
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Is it time to leave Iraq? Yes. Our mission was regime change and making sure no WMD got into the hands of terrorists. Mission accomplished. Leave the nation-building to the Iraqis. If they are worthy of democracy and liberal consensual government, they will pay for it with their own blood. If they are not worthy of it, which I increasingly suspect, they will submit to authoritarianism and be glad to move on with their own business. What do we have to prove there now? We came, we saw, we kicked their asses.

I understand the long-term strategic vision of a democratic Iraq in the middle of a sea of hate and oppression. I think it's a wonderful notion to think of a kind of reverse domino effect. I want to believe it. I am just not sure that Muslim societies are capable of the kind of tolerance necessary for a democracy to work.

Let's take a look at Muslim 'democracies'.

-Pakistan. No longer democratic. Fine with me. Look at what their democracy produced: nuclear weapons and transfers of nuclear plans to rogue nations (such as North Korea and Libya), support for the Taliban, support for jihad against India, madrassas that produced jihadis sent around the world, etc. It seems to me that our national interests are better served by the present non-democratic Pakistan.

-Indonesia. Quasi-democratic. Perhaps the closest thing to a democracy you can expect out of the Muslim world, but not truly democratic. The former President of Indonesia has a long record of anti-Semitism and wacky conspiracy theories. Indonesia has long had authoritarianism with only the semblance of democratic institutions. Could it evolve into a democracy? Maybe, but see Pakistan as an example of an Islamic democracy. Do we really want that?

-Turkey. Turkey is not truly democratic, but is a quasi-democracy. Turkey was forced into becoming a secular state by a dictator, Ataturk. There is forced seperation of church and state in Turkey. If Turks were given the choice, would they change their constitution and adopt sharia? Quite possibly. Lucky for us the Turkish army periodically intervenes in elections. Turkey is an ally--and not the most faithful one at that--precisely because it's elites are Western oriented secularists.

-Iran. Iran claims to be a democracy, but I don't think any of my readers are buying that. Could they be? Well, many educated Persians in the diaspora certainly think that Iran was headed toward democracy before the Shah was ousted. But then again, think of how that path developed. The Shah forced Iran into a forward looking progressive state. Athoritarianism produced a segment of society that was secular.

So, tell me where I'm wrong. Is our present policy wise? Can we really transform Iraq into a semi-stable quasi-democratic state? Increasingly I fear that we cannot. Increasingly I fear that right-leaning bloggers have entered a state of denial--that we must be for the present Iraq policy (in some modified form or another) because the other side is against it. Increasingly I fear that I have been one of those bloggers. I have been cheerleading a policy which may not work. I have been cheerleading a pipe-dream: Arab democracy.

Do I believe with 100% certainty that we should cut and run? No. Call it 40% of me says to leave the mess to the Iraqis. 40% says to stay the course. 20% says I'm full of crap and I don't know either way.

If the Arab world wants democracy so bad let us see them build it themselves. Liberty may be ordained to man as a right given by God, but a right given is not the same as a right appreciated. We won our liberty through the blood and sweat of our forefathers. But it was OUR BLOOD and OUR SWEAT. Consensual government is a precious pearl. Never cast your pearl before swine.

Tell me that I'm wrong. I hope I am.

UPDATE: Some good comments. Check out my response.

UPDATE: Check out the responses by those who sent sandcrawler tracks below (the fatwas). Some good thoughts and rejoinders. It also earns you a place on the blogroll.

Posted by: Rusty at 10:09 AM | Comments (30) | Add Comment
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