Diary of the Mad Pigeon

Thursday Open Roost

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Romney’s Spinal Disability & Attacking Big Mac from The Pink Flamingo

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Godwin's law and Palestine

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Mohammad Amin al-Husayni was the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem during the height of the Third Reich, and collaborated closely with the Nazi regime on an issue of mutual interest: the extermination of the Jews. He was particularly involved with Nazi operations in the Balkans, where Muslims from Bosnia and Serbia were actively recruited for the Waffen SS.

As a matter of interest, the Grand Mufti was also a cousin of Yasser Arafat, whose real name was Abd al-Rahman abd al-Bauf Arafat al-Qud al-Husayni. Arafat later shortened it for public consumption, in order to conceal his kinship with the old Nazi collaborator. However, he continued to revere his relative, referring to him privately as “my uncle”.

Granted, the sources are much in disagreement as to whether Arafat was an actual blood relation of the Grand Mufti or not, but there you go, one such source notes, Arafat may have been a counsin or nephew of the Grand Mufti, or merely refered to him as an "uncle" in the patriarchal social ties cultural sense (hey if my godson can call me "uncle" though we're not blood relations, or I can call close friends "cousin" this is something that makes perfect sense to me...)

So much for the Godwin's Law violation of a few days ago....if were going to talk about or even talk around Nazis, then let's at least talk about some real ones....

Palestine's history of bad leadership extends back much further than 40 years...

Spears taken to 'get help'

AP:  Britney Spears was taken from her home by ambulance early Thursday and escorted to the hospital by more than a dozen police officers in cars, on motorcycles and in helicopters.

The 26-year-old pop star was being taken to "get help," said a Los Angeles police officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak on the matter. The Los Angeles Times cited unidentified authorities who said Spears was being placed on a "mental evaluation hold."  CONTINUED

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Let me tell you a story about an impoverished lady in Colorado Springs:  by age 23 she had 5 kids, a divorce, and another husband who committed suicide this past fall.

On Monday she doused all five of her kids with gasoline and lit them on fire, killing one and sending the other four to the hospital.  Two have since been flown to a burn unit in Texas, with one having burns over 85% of his body.  The lady, of course, is in prison awaiting charges.

Before that, the only people who gave a [PIGEONED] about the lady's deteriorating physical, emotional and financial well being was an occasional Health Services functionary.  There was no Dr. Phil, no armed escort, no helicopters, no photographers, and no stock market movement.

So it warms my heart to see all the taxpayer's dollars in LA being allocated towards a wealthy patron rather than a "nobody" who really needs help. 

What Britney needs is for someone to fill her I.V. with an overdose.

Leadership: "The Lost Bomb" Revisited

Antitool called the other night, and we had a pleasant discussion on a variety of topics:  Palestine, work, books, beer, and a revisit of the August nuclear warhead debacle, despite the fact I have the phone personality of an antique bronze bookend--I don't converse well when I can't see someone's face (but I digress).

I've learned a few things since the incident, notably I know two of the relieved senior officers:  Col Emig and Col Westhauser.  The sorry fact of commissioned services is the extra pay and benefits comes with a Damocles sword.  That is, when you command, you take all the praise when the unit does well... and you get fired when the unit performs poorly, whether or not you had any culpability.

Both Colonels are sharp officers:  smart, gregarious, arguably destined for great things.  Hence their selections for command billets.  Unfortunately, Col Emig was the commander of Minot AFB for a mere 2 months before the nuke event.  He'd barely had time to hang bling in his office, visit all the units, and inspect their programs.  But that doesn't matter when you command, and needless to say, with an event as big as loose nukes heads were expected to roll.

Thus comes the sudden and violent end to an otherwise splendid military career.

Or is it?

After I got off the horn with Antitool I got curious about the fallout (pardon the pun), so I ran a search on "Emig" and found a recent update on Minot's former senior leadership's whereabouts:

"Where Are They Now," at In from the Cold
EXCERPT:  Three months after their dismissal, three Colonels who lost their jobs as a result of the mishap have settled into new assignments. Their latest postings speak volumes about how the Air Force handles the "firing" of senior officers, their potential for rehabilitation, and who is considered most responsible for the Minot incident.

Interesting read, although I wish there was more source documentation.  But if true, it looks like the only head still rolling is that of the former Maintenance Group Commander.  She's the one stuck in a "career killer" job, while those of Col Emig and Westhauser still have a ring of "hooah" to them.

The authors highlight how both Emig and Westhauser are accused of being "ringknockers;" that is, US Air Force Academy grads being given a second chance by the USAFA good ol' boy network.  I don't buy it:  once again, Emig was so new at the job you could still smell the plastic wrapping on him.  Based on knowing the guy I'd be inclined to give him a second chance, too.

But What about the MXG/CC, Col Lundell?  She was new, too, so where's her sexy rehabilitation job? 

It goes back to culpability:  the training that would've thwarted the fiasco was owned by the Maintenance Group, so the heat lamp's pointed right at her. So either she really doesn't deserve another go (which I doubt), or no higher ups have the balls to give her a chance given the seriousness of the event, her close proximity to the issue relative to the other leaders, and thus the questions other officers would raise if she were given command again.

Then again, the Operations Group isn't without fault, either:  with the limited public knowledge available I'm left scratching my head on how the pilots failed to notice.

To further ape the article, I'm also wondering where the noncommissioned leadership was in all this?  I understand the duties and responsibilities of the sergeants, having been a proud member of the NCO corps myself.  In short, officers command the military, but the NCOs--the backbone of the military--run things.  All the training and accountability rests on the shoulders of young junior sergeants, and the good senior sergeants regularly thrash the officer corps should they get too stupid. 

Somewhere in this instance training and accountability failed; and in the military, even a minor oversight carries potentially serious consequences.

Ultimately, there's simply not enough information at the public level to know where the blame really belongs, nor is there enough to judge who deserves a second chance.  In my mind, though, if the above leaders where good enough to command in the first place, than perhaps they deserve a re-look.  Use this instance as a positive training reinforcement for the leadership at all levels rather than just another "first strike and you're out" example.

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More Notes on Palestine

Remember the video I posted called , "The Wall?"  Well, check this [PIGEONED] out...

Israeli 'Economic Warfare' to Include Electricity Cuts in Gaza
Washington Post:  Saying they were waging "economic warfare" against the Gaza Strip's Hamas leaders, Israeli officials told the Supreme Court on Sunday that the military intends to start cutting electricity to the Palestinian territory and continue restricting fuel. The statements by Israel's state attorney, outlining Defense Ministry plans, came in response to a lawsuit filed by Israeli and Palestinian rights groups.

The organizations are asking the Supreme Court to make Israel end fuel restrictions that caused power blackouts in the Gaza Strip this month. The activists argue that the restrictions constitute collective punishment of Gaza's 1.5 million people and violate international law.   

The United Nations said the fuel cuts deprived about 40 percent of Gaza's people of running water and compelled Gaza to dump untreated sewage into the Mediterranean. Hospitals relied on generators.   CONTINUED

Hamas helps Egypt tighten Gaza border
CNN:  Egyptian and Hamas security forces began sealing parts of the Gaza-Egypt border Monday to stem the flow of Palestinians into Egypt, which has dropped off since last week's border breach.  The security forces erected barbed wire barriers and constructed metal fences along extensive stretches of the 4-foot-wide wall that separates Egypt and Gaza.  More Hamas security personnel manned the border area on Monday than last week. They took a more active role in policing the flow of traffic.

Thousands of Palestinians continued to cross into Egypt through other areas of the damaged border walls, but in much lower numbers than last week, when the border was overrun by tens of thousands of Gazans.  Palestinian militants, acting with the approval of the Hamas leadership, blasted through parts of the wall Wednesday. That allowed tens of thousands of Palestinians to flood into Egypt for supplies and medical attention unavailable inside Gaza because of Israel's clampdown on its borders.  CONTINUED

Abbas, Hamas seek upper hand in Gaza border dispute
Reuters:  The European Union on Monday raised the possibility of sending its monitors back to Gaza's breached border with Egypt and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas sought to rally Western support to sideline Hamas.

However, any such redeployment of EU border monitors seemed remote for the time being, as Hamas fighters cooperated with Egyptian forces to patch up the frontier barrier the Islamists blasted open last week to puncture an embargo tightened by Israel in response to rockets fired from the Hamas-run enclave.

Hamas's action at Rafah let hundreds of thousands of Palestinians pour into Egypt to stock up on supplies -- a coup for the Islamists in a factional struggle with Abbas that saw them seize control of Gaza in June, prompting the virtual sealing off of 1.5 million people and departure of EU monitors.

The European Union, along with other international powers, has voiced concern about the welfare of people in Gaza under the Israeli-led blockade and the European Union on Monday agreed to consider renewing the mission to oversee traffic.  CONTINUED 

Furthermore:

Antitool writes:  The Palestinians have no-one to blame but themselves. They had their chance--many chances, in fact, and squandered every one of them.  On a trans-state level, sympathy doesn't count for beans. The tired old victim card just doesn't do it for me.

Amal Retorts:  So what you are saying is that because of some serious radicals, a whole population deserves collective punishment?  Hmmm, sound like anyone in history I know?

Antitool returns:  No, I'm saying that this is the result of 40 years of bad leadership.

Look at what the Jordanians--most of whom are Palestinan emigrants--did in that time. Jordan is an example of great progress in rather non-cooperative conditions. Compare that to the rampant corruption in the governments of Arafat and Abu Mazen. Look at the rejection of the 1998 peace plan by Arafat, for no good reason. Consider the frankly ridiculous refugee status established for the Palestinians in the UN. It's the first time in history that descendants of refugees can also claim a protected status. Note the completely irrational demands of the PLO, the connection of Fatah, Black September, and modern counterparts.

Can you honestly say that the Palestinians have acted in a rational fashion here, that they've made a good-faith effort to improve their lot and hold themselves/their leaders accountable?

Nice bait. Your observations remind me of the Romans, who, like the Israelis and any other state actor in history, behaved anarchically to defend their own interests. Does that sound like anyone you know? Perhaps Andrew Jackson, or Theodore Roosevelt?   

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I agree with both Antitool and Amal.

First, I fully understand Israel's lack of strategic depth means Jerusalem can't depend on defensive doctrine.  It's easy to conclude Israel is prosecuting heavy-handed tactics on Palestine as a whole when our neighborhoods aren't within mortar range.

That said, continuous offensive action does not create the conditions for peace:  I'd be angry, too, if I were a young moderate Palestinian who couldn't find work, put food on the table, or drink sanitary water.  In fact, I've written before that Israel needs Palestine.  The most peaceful years between the two was--not surprisingly--when the walls were down and they had a joint economic engine.  Prosperity begets peace. 

But the Palestinians aren't doing themselves any favors, and as Amal said it's the bad apples causing problems for the rest of the crowd.  Palestine will never get her act together if they remain split politically down the middle between pragmatic and unyielding.

Unfortunately, it's Hamas who's getting the grassroots and overseas support.  The above-mentioned moderate Palestinian--the one without a job and nothing to lose--is likely to view Hamas as the political wing that's actively doing something.  And sticking with that train of thought, if Abbas can't maintain harmony between the Palestinian territories, then what good is he?

A long-winded means of saying both sides should be slapped around for failure to come to the negotiating table, let alone without some concrete olive branches. 

But how do you help parties who bring non-negotiables to the negotiating table?  If I could figure that out, I'd be a shoe-in for the Nobel.

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The Thumb in the Economic Dike

AP:  With unprecedented speed and cooperation, Congress and the White House forged a deal Thursday to begin rushing tax rebates of $600 to $1,200 to most tax filers by spring, hoping they will spend the money just as quickly and jolt the ailing economy to life. Rebates would be even higher for families with children.

The one-time tax rebates are at the center of a hard-won agreement to pump about $150 billion into the economy this year and perhaps stave off the first recession since 2001. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Republican leader John Boehner and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson worked out the details in negotiations that stretched into Wednesday night at the Capitol.  CONTINUED

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I'll admit up front I'm a hypocrite:  despite my below remarks I'm certainly not about to turn away free money.

That said... does anyone else see anything wrong with the Federal government bailing people out of their own bad judgment and bad corporate fiduciary responsibility (I'm taking to you, Countrywide)? I mean, before I bought my first house I thought only an idiot would sign up for an adjustable rate mortgage.

Apparently there are more idiots out there than I thought.

Furthermore, I'm no Alan Greenspan but I the way I see it our economy's based on two principles:  owning property and buying stuff.   Lots of stuff.  And what are we supposed to do with the tax kickback?  BUY, BUY, BUY!

Sure, I might finally buy some tools... or I might sock it away in savings or an investment, which apparently is NOT what the fed wants me to do.  I think blowing the wad on trinkets and baubles isn't a wise course.

But let's fast forward to May/June, when the checks should start arriving.  $1,200 doesn't do much for someone about to lose their house.

Apparently during the last kickback in 2002 most of the money was spent within 6 months, so sticking with that paradigm what does Nov/Dec 08 look like?  A potentially huge holiday windfall for the retailers, but still balanced out by consumers who've lost their shirts.

Maybe I'm just a pessimist, but as a new homeowner the situation frightens me.  No, I didn't sign up for an ARM, but thanks to the realty orgy of others my equity is on the line.  I might be moving as soon as July 2009, and planned on renting out my roost.  That made sense before the bubble, but how do I rent out in a glutted buyer's market?  My hope is in the reports indicating the rental market is good simply because credit is tighter for buyers, but hope isn't a plan (man, I sound like a grouchy old adult right now... someone pass me my dockers slacks and insurance policy).

My question, though, is this:  is an economy based on buying stuff sound, or is it a deck of cards?

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Thurday Open Roost

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The Difference from Rhymes With Right
If He's Astonished, Is He Fit? from Rhymes With Right
The Billary Clintons play the racecard from Wolf Pangloss
Wednesday's Hero: Staff Sgt. Jason Kimberling from Rosemary's Thoughts
The Queen of Earmarks from Adam's Blog
Mugger Pledges: Will Give Money Back from third world county
Global Warming Today: Less Hurricanes To Hit U.S.? from Pirate's Cove
Repeal The Twenty-Second Amendment from Rhymes With Right
NY Times Endorses A Bad Choice And An Echo from Rhymes With Right
Irrational atheists and their groupies from Mark My Words
Tom Cruise on Scientology from Blue Star Chronicles
Phelps Family Hate Cult to Picket Heath Ledger's Funeral from Blue Star Chronicles
Retired Green Beret Gets "Court Martial" After Shooting Intruder from Blue Star Chronicles
Global Warming causes FEWER hurricanes from Gulf Coast Hurricane Tracker
Super BowL: Gooooooo Giants! from Woman Honor Thyself
British Diva Katherine Jenkins Entertains British from Blue Star Chronicles
Why the Story of Dellon Tyler Ward Matters from Blue Star Chronicles
Ted Kennedy Endorces Barack Osama for the Presidency - Video from Blue Star Chronicles
Your Daily Political Post from Right Truth

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Support the Pigeon!

Timing the Celebrity Death Clock

AP:  It's never been a secret that when people die after long and distinguished careers, those detailed stories about their passing that major news organizations seem to produce almost instantaneously were, in fact, written well in advance.

Now news that The Associated Press has prepared an obituary for 26-year-old Britney Spears has focused attention on a debate transpiring within the business of reporting death: With people grabbing the celebrity spotlight at a younger age, and some of them living lives of obviously dangerous excess, is it time for news organizations to begin preparing for early exits from celebritydom's under-30 crowd?

"It's a complex issue, a complex debate," says Washington Post reporter Adam Bernstein, one of the news media's most respected obituary writers. "It's unclear to what degree somebody really is on the edge. So do you spend the time to put something together when you're wondering whether it will run now or 70 years from now?"

Of the approximately 100 prepared obituaries The Washington Post has in its files, Bernstein couldn't recall any on a person younger than 30. He also questioned whether an obituary on someone like the troubled pop star could be much more than a recitation of bizarre public behavior, as opposed to focusing on real accomplishment.

"Somebody like Britney Spears or Lindsay Lohan or Amy Winehouse, you could arguably put something together," he said, naming three young stars who have lately become more prominent for bouts of bizarre behavior than displays of talent.

"But it takes a significant chunk of your time to do it, and there are people who are incredibly more accomplished and in their 100s," Bernstein added.  CONTINUED

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I bet the media didn't see Heath Ledger's death coming, either.  I certainly didn't.

Don't get me wrong:  I still don't think anyone who makes a living pretending to be someone else deserves to make 10 or more times the president's salary just to make a film or cut an album.  But talent should count for something, and there's no justice when an adroit actor like Ledger dies by accident, but a talentless blight such as Britney survives a thousand deaths.

Indeed, my wife is betting on Britney kicking the bucket before 2009; and as the article states, what will the wires say about her, especially when others are far more accomplished?  They should let me write the obit: "Britney Spears becomes carbon neutral before 30, saving precious air for the rest of us."

Seriously.  If she died a fittingly savage death tomorrow thanks to her own lack of situational awareness, I think she'd set a better example for young 'uns than the rest of her life combined. 

So spaketh the pigeon.

Heh.

MOGS has it all wrong. Cthulhu is old and busted. If you want a villain god who plays with volcanoes, there's only one way to go. ALL HAIL XENU!!!!

On a totally different note, the Israelis are doing some pretty cool stuff with integrated air defense systems. It all kind of reminds me of Skynet. (which, by the way, is the actual name of a NATO satellite communications system.) The Chinese are innovating, but in a different way.  If this off-the-shelf stuff works, it would be rather embarrassing for--presumably--us, but you gotta wonder how easy COTS hardware and software is to hack and crash.