News – Silly Names and Dire Portents

A little extra gloom at the bottom of the entry, just before the pics, but I thought that it is something all Americans need to look at.

Huda Salih Mahdi Ammash, the only woman on the US capture list, is in custody. You know what I find amusing? These pointless nicknames that they make for these people. She’s called Mrs. Anthrax. Personally, I can see the worth in it because ignorant Americans(and those in other countries who pay no attention), will likely link the person’s capture with the Anthrax attacks on the US, thinking, “Well, they finally got the bastard”. When in actuality, they haven’t. And never will, likely. It makes perfect ‘dirty bastard’ political sense.

A small, unspecified group of ‘detainees’ are being released from Guantanamo Bay. Some might be juveniles, but they’re not giving any details on who and what nationality.

Bush is now appealing to voters to lay pressure on their representatives, in yet a stronger push for his tax cuts. Not only that, this is another subtle attack on one of the representatives by giving his speech smack dab in the middle of the state he represents, Arkansas. Or perhaps not so subtle if one such as myself can see the intent without a scorecard.

Further transcripts from the secret McCarthy hearings have been released, further showing how baseless and wrong his investigations and probes were, ruining lives of innocent people.

When it comes to North Korea, you have to wonder if Bush’s new “Fine, you can build nukes, just don’t sell them” strategy is mindlessly stupid or deviously clever. Personally, I think it could be either way, but either way it’s a gamble. Kim’s only asset right now is his nuke program. If he thinks that won’t get him anything as a bargaining chip, he moves toward the stance of desperation. And desperate men are at their most dangerous. A crazy, desperate man with a pack of nukes is not something I find conducive to confidence in the continuation of the human race. In any case, Bush did do one good with his wanton disregard for Congress and anyone else that defies him. He’s cutting into the Army Corps of Engineers’ budget. See, blunt instruments have their uses.

On the SARS front, a Swiss firm is starting research into a vaccine. I wish them luck. Taiwan is stating that its exclusions from the WHO is a gaping hole in the battle to fight SARS. I dunno about that. SARS continues to be a royal pain by mutating, which leaves docs unsure if it will be a good or bad thing. It is possible it could mutate into a less deadly form, as it behooves the virus to keep the host alive for a time, but in the meantime the mutations continue to make treatment more difficult.

This is a rather remarkable piece that explores the strange success of Carrot Top as a spokesman for AT&T’s collect call service and the man’s general success despite the fact that he’s not really that funny. Quick survey, do you find Carrot Top to be funny?

International Papers has two main foci, one being Powell’s visit to Syria. There are positive and negative opinions of the veiled threat of sanctions if Syria doesn’t act on certain things. The second main focus is the possibility of Iraq reconstruction being ‘internationalized’ with mention of a plan to subdivide the country in three, with three separate powers overseeing each sliver of the whole. I doubt this would be a permanent division. Today’s Papers has a lot to say on the Iraqi administration that may be coming mid-May. A few views on it distributed between them. It also notes a Post article that shows southern Iraq is still without purpose, direction or improvement. Saddam’s government is gone, but nothing has yet risen to take its place and the people languish without purpose or supply for what was lost in the looting. People are happy about Saddam’s downfall(as they should be), but without the hyped new era developing, that happiness will wane and be replaced by suspicion. And without a plan or the civilian/engineering manpower to work over the country, the Bush administration likely won’t stop it from evaporating. If the US opened the operation up to international groups, the UN and other countries they could likely get hundreds of thousands more on the ground to dig in and help, but.. well, grudges don’t allow.

This is why, I think, the US Should have taken an area by area liberation, taking and securing an area before moving on to the next with reconstruction and aid rolling along in their footsteps. No serious disruption of life, no extended void of worry and anarchy. It would have taken longer, but it would have won the war and the peace at the same time, likely shortening the entire operation(war/peace) from start to end. Of course, in that scenario a council would have been formed already, administering to the territories taken as they are rebuilt.

Today’s Papers go on to look over some of Qusay’s nastiness, the release of detainees and the opinion of intelligence officials that alQueda is crippled. After all, no attacks during the Iraq war, they point out. Personally, I wouldn’t take chances. I’d want to know 100% that they’re not only crippled, but destroyed. Crippled terrorist organizations regenerate.

Meanwhile, where are the WMD? Have Bush officials said their likely weren’t any? Is it possible the prime reason for starting this whole thing will evaporate, even as the liberation continues to sour? Good questions all.

Lastly, this is why the Patriot Act must be repealed. If you can read this top to bottom, word for word and not come to the same conclusion, then I truly and honestly pity you.

But enough of that. Lets end with some levity.

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