COLLECTIVE MADNESS


“Soft despotism is a term coined by Alexis de Tocqueville describing the state into which a country overrun by "a network of small complicated rules" might degrade. Soft despotism is different from despotism (also called 'hard despotism') in the sense that it is not obvious to the people."

Sunday, December 10, 2006

Democrats Tying Down the Pentagon

Some things never change. Especially in politics.

This 1880 Harper's Weekly illustration portrays Democratic presidential nominee Winfield Hancock as tied down and controlled by "disreputable and dangerous forces of the Democratic party." Nast translates a widely recognizable motif from Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels (1726) into a commentary on the 1880 presidential race. General Hancock appears in uniform as Gulliver when shipwrecked, he awakes to find himself bound by the miniature Lilliputians. .

An article appeared in today's dead tree edition of my local newspaper which I suspect may foreshadow the next few years, especially now that Democrats control Congress.
Gates inherits money mess at Pentagon
by Eric Rosenberg, Hearst Newspapers

Iraq isn't the only pressing issue Robert Gates will face when he becomes the 22nd U.S. defense secretary later this month.

High on his to-do list will likely be the enormous task of cleaning up the Pentagon's finances that outside auditors lambaste as so chaotic that no one knows how much money is being spent on defense at any given time.

Rosenberg is reporting that the during Gates confirmation hearing it was evident that the Pentagon's budget woes are a bi-partisan concern shared by both Congress and the Executive office:
Senator Elizabeth Dole, R-N.C., told him that the White House's Office of Budget thinks the Pentagon's financial management systems are in such a mess "that independent auditors still cannot certify the accuracy of the financial statements."

"I'm interested in what plans you may have to address what appears to be a severe problem," she said.



The Senate committee is very concerned about the Pentagon's accounting and wants Gates to give it "priority attention." Senator Carl Levin, D-Michigan, incoming Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee told reporters that he will make financial oversight a top priority. No doubt he will be especially interested in the "surging costs of new weapons projects."

Of course, financial responsibility and proper accounting are absolutely required of any government agency but Carl Levin's oversight of the Pentagon is not a comforting thought in today's world. Knowing what the Democrats have done to the U.S. intelligence community creates a lot doubt about what they will do to the Pentagon and its ability to project U.S. power into the "remote nations of the world."

Let's us hope that the new Secretary of Defense, Robert Gates will not, like Gulliver, be tied-down by bean-counting Lilliputians and "disreputable and dangerous forces of the Democratic party."

72 comments:

  1. The Democrats are in the unenviable position of having to prove to the country that they will govern more like Republicans should have governed than the Republicans did. They have promised energy independence, maintaining the economy and being strong on defense. They still have to satisfy their base. They have six months before the presidential race starts.

    I can think of only one way they overcome that dilemma. They will have to dig out everything they can find and destroy the already heavily tarnished reputation of the Republicans. The mess on the pentagon budget should be a gold mine for them.

    The US went into the war with such a lean military,that they have gone through an unprecedented use of civilian contractors. Those books have been cooked re-heated, sliced and diced and doctored to hide the real spending. I'll wager anyone who cares a dinner for two at the nearest Ruth's Chris to your undisclosed location, that this is the case. No coincidence, those books are in a mess for a reason.

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  2. If the Democrats can do up numbers as well as their new Intelligence Chairman can identify Sunni from Shiite then we got nut'n ta worry about.
    One of the most useless wastes of time on the Hill are the pissing contests the parties get into on spending our money. It's the old Twainism about "lies, damn lie, and statistics"
    I remember the huge debate about LBJ's Great Society being built during the middle of the Vietnam war..Guns and Butter. Well that great Marxist money transfer has been displaced by an even more efficient, more caring, more amore...THE COMPASSIONATE CONSERVATIVE.

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  3. Somebody on the last topic had a meltdown. Please bring fire extinguisher.

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  4. The Pentagon is into selfbondage.

    The Democrats are just more pigs in the poke. Mr Murtha is the chief military money man in the House. He'll want to diminsish the flow? I think not, he may want it to flow into different areas, but his World is better when it's bigger.

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  5. The old "Cold Warrior" Pinochet is dead. He was, for a time, our SOB. How soon we forget.

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  6. Israeli officials want to know why U.S. Secretary of Defense-designate Robert Gates made a statement to Congress that Israel has nuclear weapons. The U.S. media generally reports that Israel has such weapons, but there has been no official confirmation.

    Haaretz reported that Israeli officials are worried about Gates' statement and want to know if it was a private statement or if Gates conferred with top U.S. officials prior to making the claim. They also want to know whether Gates was implying Israel could handle a nuclear Iran by itself.


    Worry in Israel

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  7. Allen,
    This is truly meant as a compliment. Your last post over on the other topic was funny.." give a new meaning to going long" or however you phrases it. I got a good laugh out of it....not laughing at you but with you.Good stuff.
    Semper Fi

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  8. growing up in Louisiana, i always heard that Mississippians wuz dumb, but never before have I heard a Mississippian confirm. I never believed it anyways, as they have to be able to spell the dang name of the state.

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  9. Few know it outside of Mississippi and Louisiana, but they know it weell there, that the Mississippi countryside was hit harder than any other state by Katrina, yet Mississippians have asked for only the teeniest smidgen of help, compared with, alas, the old home state Louisiana.

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  10. rufus,

    I didn't misquote because I made no attempt to quote.

    You can't have it both ways. Either stability is conferred through the attempted destruction of Israel or it comes from unleashing Israel. In any event, in an existential war, an Israeli nuclear response will guarantee perpetual instability. In the aftermath of such a conflagration, gasoline pricing will be the least of our worries. Think of it as the Humpty Dumpty dilemma.

    Using Mississippi's ACT and SAT rankings was done tongue in cheek, in response to your assessment of the consequences of Israel's being feed to the dogs - also tongue in cheek, I am sure.

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  11. rufus,

    re: Ramadi

    We NEED more troops. Indeed, we need more of everything other than generals. Ramadi can be taken as we please, but to hold it and mold it demands a PERMANENT presence. This continues to be our Achilles heel.

    Sometime ago, I had a question for you that was lost in desultory blogging. Would you support a 1% VAT dedicated EXCLUSIVELY to the military?

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  12. Talking about ACTs and SATs, that would be "fed" to the dogs. Duh.

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  13. Following are security and other developments in Iraq as of 1850 GMT on Sunday:

    BAGHDAD - Police found the bodies of 60 apparent victims of sectarian killings across Baghdad. Most of the bodies were found in western Baghdad.

    BAGHDAD - Gunmen attacked the homes of two Shi'ite families in the predominantly Sunni neighbourhood of Jihad, killing nine men, police and relatives said.

    BAGHDAD - Gunmen kidnapped well-known television director Hussein Rasheed al-Tikriti on Saturday on a road near Mishada north of Baghdad, his nephew said.


    December 10

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  14. rufus,

    The implication seemed fairly clear to me. Again, the US must pick a side. Either we stick (as opposed to stike) with Israel or we must be willing to accept the permanently ravaged landscape of a world gone nuclear. I cannot conceive of Israel passively laying its neck on the block.

    As I have written previously, much of the fault for Israel's plight is exclusively Israeli. A small country with a "big iron" must convincingly use that 44 to effect, from time to time. Olmert is not the man, and I have grave reservations about Netanyahu. As with the US, it will take a new order of leadership with a new perspective, unafraid of the value of projecting power. In this, Putin offers a useful model, in so far as he has plainly given notice of a new real politick.

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  15. rufus,

    re: tense

    I take and accept your point. To you and the fine people of Mississippi, my apology.

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  16. rufus,

    If the good Lord calls, DO let me know! Any stock tips would also be much appreciated. Should I go long or short the imaginario?

    By the way, that was damned good!

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  17. The pictures are with the dress, aren't they?

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  18. Other revelations rumoured to be in Lord Stevens' report include allegations the US secret service was bugging the Princess's telephone conversations in the hours before she died and confirmation she was not pregnant.

    His inquiry, estimated to have cost as much as £4 million, is said to bring together some 20,000 documents and 1,500 witness statements. Metropolitan Police officers used cutting edge computer technology to reconstruct the crash scene and examined the Mercedes in painstaking detail.


    Diana Report

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  19. sam,

    re: Diana Report

    No cruelty intended, but Diana remains dead.

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  20. Is this a new type of power, an information type of power?

    But Mr Hutton told Andrew Marr on Sunday AM that life should be made "as uncomfortable as possible" for parents neglecting their responsibilities.

    This is used against deadbeat parents, but this could also be turned into reclaiming the public space from subversive Islamists. Its perhaps an option other than internment camps and mass deportation. This could help reinforce the values of the commons, no?

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  21. re: imaginario

    In the '70s, Harry Browne, financial guru, recommended going long on the Lebanese pound. As things turned, the imaginario was a better bet. Just sayin'.

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  22. New enforcement powers to be outlined in a White Paper this week include the removal of passports, curfews and electronic tagging.

    Seems like an obvious tool for managing imams, sheiks and matrons of martyrdom, no?

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  23. Talking about shit for brains

    Moonbat Rabbi Banishes Christmas From Seattle Airport

    I particularly liked this comment and its presumed slip of the pen:

    “All the airport had to do was let the rabbit have his menorah and lighting.
    Instead, they panicked, froze up, and over-reacted.”
    ___L. Simon

    Rabbits and rabbis

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  24. Allen,

    Yeah, I know. Rufus just got me going on the Secret Service thing.

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  25. re: rabbit rabbi

    Without knowing the facts, I'm going to say the "rabbit" was not Orthodox.

    It just has to be the water. How else to explain all the "holey" grey matter?

    Jeez (no pun intended), but we don't have enough problems? Rabbi!!!, think: Christ, Christmas, Christmas trees, Christmas cards, Merry Christmas. Man, get a larger kippa and get a freaking life!

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  26. sam,

    You have to watch rufus carefully.
    ;-)

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  27. I wanna be loved by you,
    Just you, and nobody else will do
    ___Betty Fatima Boop

    Hundreds of Thousands Chant "Death to US and Israel" in Beirut!

    These are people we can work with. Negotiation R Us

    Here She Is

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  28. I think, based on his years of public service and his sell out of Israel time after time that Jimma Carter is a member or fellow traveller of the KKK.
    It would not be in the least out of character for a Georgian of that generation to have either known, had a relative, or actually been a member of the KKK.
    The directoe of his Library just resigned rather than be associated with Jimma's new book which I have not read but read reviews on.
    The Grand Wizard said,"Best book ever written against the Joos, we'll get the Catholics next"
    David Duke has remained under the sheets and hasn't made a statement.
    Allah Akbar Daily gave it five stars, as did stand up comedian Micheael Richards.
    Be a man join the Klan is Jimma warcry.

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  29. What all this demands of Bush is nothing less than the complete up-ending of his foreign policy. The goal of spreading democracy remains a noble one but a crude vision of a world in thrall to American military might must be replaced by one that recognises both the complexities of foreign policy and the limitations of US power.

    That may well be too much for this president to grasp. And it may, anyway, be too late for Iraq.

    Immovable Truth

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  30. If he had anything to offer, the article would've better. As is, it's just more "we're all doomed".

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  31. Looks like Blogger and Google have taken it upon themselves to fail at interneting

    Can we turn the world's muslims into server capacity? the little jihadis can be thin clients

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  32. Ollie North is in Ramadi--interviewing soldiers, officers and enlisted. They to a man think they're making progress, saying if only they're given time they can beat the shitheads. I know, they can't possibly know as much about Iraq as that Times writer, they're too close to the trees and all, can't see that ISG forest.

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  33. Looks like Blogger and Google have taken it upon themselves to fail at interneting

    Can we turn the world's muslims into server capacity? the little jihadis can be thin clients

    ReplyDelete
  34. Looks like Blogger and Google have taken it upon themselves to fail at interneting

    Can we turn the world's muslims into server capacity? the little jihadis can be thin clients

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  35. I hate you Blogger.

    BBC articles default to google's front page often, Rufus. Or Britophilia is sweeping the country.

    If you find kids saying "bodger" instead of "fuck up" you may need to head to desert rat's AZ apocalypto shelter.

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  36. Buddy,

    Rumsfeld visited a hospital. Soldier told him the same thing. If only the American public would give them more time.

    I know the South African article is garbage. But hey, I like to know what's going on in the defeatist's heads every now and then. I won't post that crap anymore.

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  37. I hate you Blogger.

    BBC articles default to google's front page often, Rufus. Or Britophilia is sweeping the country.

    If you find kids saying "bodger" instead of "fuck up" you may need to head to desert rat's AZ apocalypto shelter.

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  38. I hate you Blogger.

    BBC articles default to google's front page often, Rufus. Or Britophilia is sweeping the country.

    If you find kids saying "bodger" instead of "fuck up" you may need to head to desert rat's AZ apocalypto shelter.

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  39. I know what you're sayin, rufus. I have no idea what the hell is going on. I just know the guys talking to Ollie are asking for more time to do the job. It seems like a crazy disconnect from everything we're hearing from everybody BUT them.

    ppab, I wish I wasn't addicted to google. You're right--they've got loaded algore rhythms.

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  40. We might not be the MENSA State, but it would be a lousy invasion route

    Daily Award for best sentence on internet--my vote--
    :-D

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  41. long as a feller kin cipher enuff to do his moonshine tradin, whut else air they?

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  42. yep--esprit would keep those guys from questioning command. They really are a kind of outlier signal, I guess, with the election and all as it is.

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  43. One such step the report mentions is "equitable distribution of oil revenues." An excellent point.

    Since April 2003, I have been urging the creation of an Iraqi oil trust, modeled on the Alaska Permanent Fund, which would distribute a portion of oil royalties annually in equal amounts to every man, woman and child in Iraq.


    Barone on Iraq

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  44. Big Question--too big for tonite--but, wonder what whupped us? I guess the idea that the raqis would rather fight than switch.

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  45. That "oil-shares" idea was being talked up hard at the beginning--then it just went 'poof'. WTF?

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  46. More on that Alaska Permanent Fund

    Those economics could work with any of Rufus' technologies, although on a smaller niche. Be nice to have a secure money tree like that.

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  47. Buddy,

    We whupped ourselves. Well, the other 49% of us, anyways.

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  48. It's getting from here to there, will be the trick--we'll do it, though--we'll adjust. Have to, y'know. Hope Springs Eternal. for a reason.

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  49. "over-optimistic"--yes. I always thought that exposure to American kids would be our secret weapon--to 'sell' the west to the Iraqis. but--not enough I guess. shit.

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  50. I think we got whupped on the information front. Our defense is barely adequate, keeping only the most flagrant ideas from subverting. Our offense? Non-existant, by and large.

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  51. shirt collars as big as airplane wings--yep--we'll survive--

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  52. good points, all. The WWII brits got tired of the G.I. testosterone, too, but the germans kept it all in perspective for 'em--

    yep, ppab--it was the info war--the NYTimes, and all what cues off it.

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  53. newspaper's job, y'know--ruin presidents.

    War? what war?

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  54. well, we knew that a democracy next door would be lethal, intolerable, to Iran & Syria. In fact, that was the heart of the plan. They were supposed to vibrate to pieces.

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  55. no, i never went the shoes. Texas never went the shoes. Well maybe Houston & Dallas immigrants from NYC, come down for the Urban Cowboy silliness.

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  56. yep--maybe next time. you're right--a helluva fricken mess.

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  57. I keep having that feeling, too--like the shitheads have shot their bolt. ten days in Beirut, nada--Israel with blood in her eye, USA congress now with the screamin' meemies all inside--what do they got left?

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  58. be somthing if the trick all along was to let the fricken Dems up off the mat

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  59. we have that export F-16, lower capabilities than our top line. It's the cheapie.

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  60. KSA is the next target, bet on it.

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  61. well--starting to nod, here on the lone prairee--

    Monday, what will the world decide to chase tomorrow?

    Will it be gold, will it be oil, will it be chaos & sorrow?

    yuk--bedtime--

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  62. i think the KSA danger is, as we leave, KSA starts accomodating the price hawks--and 150 is the target.

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  63. rufus said, "The 'Looting' kicked it off; it showed everyone that we didn't have enough troops, and weren't brutal enough to keep order."

    No, it was all the hand-wringing after the looting that sent the signal we were weak. Do you think General Zhukov gave a crap about all the looting in Berlin when he was closing in?

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  64. Really useful piece of writing, lots of thanks for your article.

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