Wednesday, May 30, 2007

Chicken fingers are apparently evil

In the New York Times, David Camp has declared that chicken fingers, as well as their smaller cousin the nugget are possibly end of the civilization as we know it. I guess I should remove them from my diet immediately. Though somehow I doubt I will be successful. I will probably give in to their siren song again one day.

Thursday, May 24, 2007

Immigration Policy

There have been many, many critiques of the immigration bill that John Kyl and Ted Kennedy are trying to foist off on the country. I particularly like Thomas Sowell's. Sowell argues that the bill is not designed to solve the problem of illegal immigration, but is rather designed to solve the politicians problems leaving the real problems to be dealt with by future generations. This is a popular modus operandi for politicians who would always rather be thought to be doing something useful rather actually solving a problem because that might upset someone.

I have a very simple solution to illegal immigration. Fine every employer $250,000 for each undocumented worker they employ. Very soon there would be no illegal immigration, because no one would hire them. Put the onus where it belongs, on the employers who are breaking the law.

Wednesday, May 23, 2007

Treason in Langley

ABC News' Brian Ross reported that covert action against Iran had been authorized by the President. This story was based on leaks of classified information from the Central Intelligence Agency. This is not the first time during the Bush Presidency that the CIA has been the source of leaks of classified information designed to make the President look bad or to undermine his policies. For the average citizen, there is no restriction on our speech, we can say what we want about who we want with little or no consequence. For individuals employed by the government with security clearances, this is not the case. They have sworn oaths to not divulge information. They are also forbidden to do so by law.

Apparently, the CIA doesn't really care about security any more. Some prosecutor in the Justice Department should call Brian Ross before a grand jury and ask for the names of his sources and when he refuses to answer throw him in jail until he changes his mind. At the same time the FBI should go out to Langley and rip the place apart until they find the individuals responsible and then see to it that they are prosecuted and when convicted sent to jail for a very long time. An object lesson on the consequences of treason should be made. We should spend at least as much effort tracking down these dirt bags as was spent on locating and then not prosecuting Richard Armitage for leaking Valerie Plame's name. After all, in this case, a real crime has actually been committed.

ESPN luvs the Yankees

When I got home from work today I sat down and turned on television and checked ESPN to see what they had on. On ESPN 2, they were showing Roger Clemons minor league start. My reaction was two fold. First, "What kind of load of crap is this?" Second, "Boy, ESPN might as well be referred to and the Yankees television network" It has really gotten old seeing the way they gush all over the Yankees (and the Red Sox to a slightly lesser extent). Maybe these guys should occasionally go on the road and realize that for many baseball fans, the Yankees and Red Sox are thought of either with disdain or apathy.

A Yankees-Red Sox game is only worth watching if one is cheering for career ending injuries. Otherwise, it is just not worth the time.

Do our Generals suck? cont'd

The Core Competence of America’s Military Leaders: Third in a series about a serious threat to America

Fabius Maximus weighs in. (Via Zenpundit)

Wednesday, May 16, 2007

Do the generals suck?

Lt. Col Paul Yingling called the general officer corps into question in an article in the May issue of Armed Forces Journal. This article has been widely discussed on the military blogs, but according to Fred Katz in Slate magazine has been largely ignored by the MSM. This is somewhat surprising as many reporters seem to enjoy any reason to slam the Bush administration and the conduct of the war in Iraq. They probably are skipping this one because either it is above their ability to comprehend, being more than knee jerk foam at the mouth criticism, or because it actually calls for constructive change in order to more effectively fight wars. Katz seems to suggest that Yingling, who has been on the fast track in the army, is right on the button and should be taken more seriously.

Who knows, now that Rumsfeld has been shipped off the wood shed maybe something could actually be done about the systemic problems in the Pentagon.