Confederate Yankee is literally as well as figuratively a resident of Buncombe County.

Unless Owens recently moved, he is still a resident of Raleigh. Sadly, that would be Wake County.

That’s great, now can someone point to an explanation of the Pelicans references?

Talk about obscure!

Ed

Yeah, the one that birthed the military-industrial complex…

I wouldn’t say “birthed”, more “cemented”. The M.I.C. was birthed, imho, during the Civil War. All the positive and negative effects of it were in evidence, and Lincoln bemoaned selling the country off to the corporations, but did it anyway. WWII really put it into high gear. Enough so that even a paleoconservative like Eisenhower could see it as a problem, and name it some fifteen years down the road.

All of which is a roundabout way of suggesting that the whole affair in Mess O’Potamia may have been an exercise in supporting industry.

Well, yah. What else? It sure as hell hasn’t been about doing something nice for the Iraqis, unless you think killing or turning into refugees a good one out of five of them a nice thing. Ridding the world of Sadaam Hussein? Please. Even as tin hat dictators go, he was hardly the worst there was. Oil? Right. That’s why gas is so cheap right now.

No, this cockup has been about money from the start. How to drain a trillion or three from the coffers and divert it into the “correct” accounts. That, and the fact that it is politically useful to be “at war”. That’s what more than four thousand Americans have died for.

If there is anybody who still hasn’t read this…

http://grace.evergreen.edu/~arunc/texts/politics/WarIsARacket.pdf

they damned well ought to. The author was the most decorated American military man in history, up to that point, a two time Medal of Honor winner. Not exactly a DFH, but someone uniquely qualified to speak on the subject.

WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED TO HIS CHIN?1!??1?

Who else remembers Reichfuhrer Bush doing some “prophesying” of his own, making repeated dire warnings as to how America had to “steel itself for the worst” in readiness for the wave of vengeful Islamic terror that would surely follow “on our soil” once the US went into Afghanistan & Iraq? The only domestic “terrorists” they’ve found since then have been a few clutches of stoned-out AMERICANS trying to be badass Muslim jihadis, & their level of fail makes even Bush look competant. Boy, that “prophecy” sure went down the Memory Hole mighty fast, now, didn’t it?

Y’all remember, the one we entered coming out of the Great Depression, with a scanty army and shit for a production base, and wound up kicking the shit out of (yeah, I know, not alone, but still) the two most advanced military machines in the history of the planet.

Yeah, the one that birthed the military-industrial complex – that big army and wartime mobilization got us near-full employment(draft + industrial ramp-up) for long enough to kick the Depression.
And the Cold War got Congress involved, the final leg of the Iron Triangle.
Didja know that GE is talking about spinning off its consumer appliances division, ’cause it’s a drag on their other production interests?

All of which is a roundabout way of suggesting that the whole affair in Mess O’Potamia may have been an exercise in supporting industry.

The poor don’t need more food. Obesity is a problem for the poor in America; except for people who are too screwed up to get food stamps (because they don’t have an address), food insufficiency is not.

Shorter Megan McArdle:
Let them eat Twinkies!

- hundreds of thousands of dead Iraqis
- the Kurds getting fucked sideways
- a global economic downturn
- expensive gasoline
- a Middle East plunged into conflict
- sectarian violence on the increase
- regional instability

As far as I can tell, that’s the exact same condition-set as staying in Iraq, except it would cost us less in terms of money and human life wasted.

Now will some explain the number on the Tarot card thing. Is that the one for The Fool?

The Tower would normally be #16, or XVI. If ya look close, the card above reads IX/XI, or 9/11, implying a different tower, or towers.

The Fool is #0, of course.

Two letters. A REturn to sectarian conflict.
When in the last 5 years – or 200, or 2000 – has sectarian violence stopped? I’m unaware of the whole day that this globe was free of it.

Tell us, oh wise one who knows what ‘hundred of thousands’ amount(s) to in real terms. Numerical AND grammatical genius from the conwank.
– MC

Liberal bloggers and journalists put their inability to focus on substantive issues on display yesterday along with a blind hatred for President Bush, thanks to a catalytic interview yesterday by Mike Allen of The Politico and Yahoo News.

Whereas conservative bloggers like CY showed their ability to focus on substantive issues by…blogging about liberal bloggers.

It just irks the piss out of me when these hydrocephalic sacks of wet fail prate on about the only solution being smacking your head into a brick wall repeatedly.

Your (not their own) being the operative word here. They also make the right fold/call decision every time when playing along with Celebrity All-Star poker. It’s a gift, truly.