Comments Posted By Drongo
Displaying 131 To 140 Of 246 Comments
IS THE "SURGE" AN EXERCISE IN FUTILITY?
"These “successes†are reconciling with many of those very same insurgents who were killing our soldiers with IEDs and ambushes – and allying against the hard core jihadi types. It’s finally a more practical approach, but how long do you think this new detente will last?"
About until the hardcore Jihadis get killed, possibly long enough for a whole lot of ex-insurgents to go through the police training academy and get given shiny uniforms, new guns and access-all-areas passes, I would imagine.
Comment Posted By Drongo On 30.05.2007 @ 10:12
ELITIST SNOB DISSES THE AMERICAN VOTER
"But given the track record of the American voter over 219 years, they get it right a helluva more than they get it wrong."
(a) Given the vagueraries of the representative system in the US I would say that the "People" chose Gore (most votes) but the system chose Bush (how those votes affect the result). A minor point perhaps, but worth noting when talking about what people have chosen.
(b) Comparing what actually happened against your imagined version of history if it had gone differently is just comparing reality against your biased guesswork (all we have when judging what might have been). Hardly enough for the hard statement above.
(c) "No one knows which makes this whole idea of voter irrationality an elitist fantasy." Just acecdotally, you think more than, say, 5% of voters could tell you even three policies of their chosen candidate? It is like saying that someone saying "I like Thursdays best because they are more sunny" is acting rationally. Just because they have a reason does not mean that they are acting rationally.
Still, I'd rather representative democracy than any set of academics running things.
Comment Posted By Drongo On 28.05.2007 @ 02:00
MY 10 FAVORITE MOVIE VILLAINS OF ALL TIME
"Mr. Zorg – The Fifth Element"
Such a good film.
"although the remake of Manhunter with Edward Norton was pretty good"
Obscure claim to fame moment. When you're watching the blind girl in that film (Dana) you're watching Emily Watson pretending to be my wife :) She followed us around for a couple of days as prep for playing a VI person.
But no Alan Rickman in the top ten? Harsh...
Comment Posted By Drongo On 24.05.2007 @ 16:28
I must confess, I had assumed that this was already going on, along with some support for terrorist groups within Iran. I would have been surprised (though not that surprised given past performance) to have found out that this sort of thing wasn't going on.
While I'm in two minds as to whether the public interest in knowing what your government is doing outweighs the obvious security issues with publishing in this case, I doubt very much that the Iranians watched ABC and thought "By Allah's Beard! The Americans don't like our nuclear program and they are working to undermine us! Why did we not know about this?"
Enemies they may be, downright stupid they aren't.
Comment Posted By Drongo On 23.05.2007 @ 13:51
MUSINGS ON A LATE SPRING AFTERNOON
"What does Occum’s Razor say if there is no paperwork to support $1 billion of gov’t spending in Iraq? Criminals squirreling the money in Swiss bank accounts or hard pressed gov’t workers with incomplete files that don’t substantiate money that was spent for valid purposes?"
Occam's razor says nothing about it because the competing propositions;
1) Some people when offered the easy chance to be corrupt tend to be corrupt. (And lets face it, being able to take out a couple of blocks of $100s without signing for them is an invitation to corruption.
2) Some people were overwhelmed by the paperwork and failed to account for expenditure.
Have as few entities as each other, and both are widely observable human behaviours.
Thus the answer, by Occam (not really a suitable tool for the task) is "Probably a bit of both but who knows".
"These people are Americans – our brothers, cousins, uncles, aunts, school mates and neighbors – most of whom volunteered to work in difficult conditions away from their families."
Bad news for you, Americans are people just like everyone else and can be counted on to behave like people.
Comment Posted By Drongo On 21.05.2007 @ 04:30
ASSAD SHOWS HIS THANKS TO NANCY, CONDI FOR THEIR EFFORTS
"The level of cynicism it takes to engage Syria in any kind of “dialogue†while they round up and persecute those who expose themselves to extreme danger in order to affect democratic changes in their country is beyond me."
And yet we all deal quite happily with the thugs in charge in Saudi.
I reference the last post, and the words of Tony Blair;
"Ranged against us are the people who hate us; but beyond them are many more who don’t hate us but question our motives, our good faith, our even-handedness, who could support our values but believe we support them selectively."
This is a classic example of why people think that we support these values selectively. To most of the world it looks like we use human rights as a cover for control of the world. The Syrians are evil incarnate, the Saudis are our friends. The actual quality of regime in each is much of a muchness, our attitudes towards them are almost diametrically opposed.
(Note, for those who need it spelled out, no I am not saying that Assad is some sort of saint or that the points raised in the post are incorrect)
Comment Posted By Drongo On 10.05.2007 @ 10:24
"For Great Britain, it is almost a certainty that Blair’s deputy Gordon Brown will succeed him as Labour Party leader and Prime Minister."
Minor correction.
Gordon Brown is the Chancellor of the Exchequer, basically government treasurer and tax inspector.
John Prescott is Blair's Deputy.
May the Saints preserve us from the indignity of Prescott as PM...
Comment Posted By Drongo On 10.05.2007 @ 08:43
"It’s interesting you didn’t apply it to those on your side of the aisle who throw out polling data which at best is just a snapshot of people’s perception of what happens to be the opinion du jour."
I do.
"Well I maintain the war was won when we deposed Saddam’s regime and won in spectacular fashion."
Fair enough. I agree. Can we go home now?
"For instance, some would say even America isn’t at peace."
Forgive me but I think that the comparison is simply obscene.
"The left and the liberal media have on no less than seven different occasion in the last three years declared civil war yet there is no nation-wide war being fought on any ideo-political grounds. What we’re seeing in Iraq is both home-grown and foreign jihadists continuing their war against the forces of democracy in Iraq. It has in a very real way become another front on the war on terror. That is where the enemies of liberty have chosen to fight and fight them we must."
Oh for goodness sake. Most of the fighting in Iraq is about nationalism, collaboration, resistance to occupation, corruption or general thievery and power grabbing. Overlaid on that are the insane murderous urges of a bunch of 7th century idiots with modern weapons.
"BTW, do you believe, as did the American Founders, “that the rights of man come not from the generosity of the state, but from the hand of God�"
No, I am an atheist. As were at least some of your founders I believe.
I also do not believe that rights come from the generosity of the state. I think that the powers of the state come from the consent of the governed and that the limits to those powers are the limits that the people define.
"If not then we’re not even on the same page when it comes to the rights of man and the obligations we Americans have to destroy the chains of slavery when it is within our power to do so to the mutual benefit of many peoples and nations."
Messianic missions make poor strategic decisions inevitable. Still, it is a noble enterprise.
On the subject of democracy, freedom and self determination, how do you feel about the Iraqi parliament's recent vote in favour of US withdrawl?
Comment Posted By Drongo On 10.05.2007 @ 17:30
"The Moriah Group poll reveals a clear majority of Americans DO NOT want a premature withdrawal and in fact want to have a clear victory in Iraq."
Hell, I don't want a premature withdrawl from Iraq, and I was a clear victory for peace and democracy.
That means that I am in agreement with the clear majority of Americans. And yet I advocate immediate withdrawl from Iraq. These positions are consistent as I consider that time is long past to start withdrawing (so it is not premature) and I don't think that there will ever be a clear victory in Iraq, much as I might want one.
So much for that poll's results meaning much.
I'm increasingly coming to consider any and all polls worthless. I do feel the urge to quote Churchill here though, just because it is a great quote (and beats the "Lies, Damned lies and Statistics" one");
"He uses statistics as a drunk uses lamposts. For support rather than illumination."
Comment Posted By Drongo On 10.05.2007 @ 08:50
"NOBODY HERE 'CEPT US INCOMPETENT JIHADIS..."
"The direction is to everyone."
Any yet virtually no-one answers the call, do they?
What, population of 1.5 billion, total deaths in the US homeland 3000 odd.
If Rev.Phelps called for the murder of all homosexuals because the Bible justified it, how many Christians would respond? Not very damn many. Same with Muslims. Invade their country, yeah, they'll fight. Otherwise you get a few select nutcases.
This isn't optimism or hiding my head in the sand, it is observation of the last 5 years.
Comment Posted By Drongo On 9.05.2007 @ 13:49
