On Fecklessness

The PM has spent the day with the troops for Anzac day.

In Bagdad.

Philip Adams (pompous windbag, plaigarist,and socialist millionaire):

The likes of Tim Blair and Imre Salusinszky, of Gerard Henderson and Andrew Bolt, ignore Bush’s long history of mediocrity and mendacity. They and their ilk turn deaf ears to documented accounts of his sleazy business affairs and seem indifferent to the fact that, as governor of Texas ("all Stetson, no cattle"), he set an all-time record by approving the executions of 150 people.

In Phil's world less murderers and rapists is a bad thing.

Number 210 on the list of 213 Things Skippy is No Longer Allowed to Do in the U.S. Army:

"Must not make T-shirts up depicting a pig with the writing "Eat Pork or Die" in Arabic to bring as civilian attire when preparing to deploy to a primarily Muslim country."

Goodonyamate!

PRIME Minister John Howard has congratulated Stuart MacGill on the "strength of his character" after the cricketer made himself unavailable for the tour of Zimbabwe, citing moral concerns.

And the PM is right on the money too. Bit of a disappointment that the rest of the team isn't following his lead.

It's an "I'm a bit of a lefty but I can think for myself" moment over at Johann's place.

But what are the facts? The Human Rights Centre (HRC) in Kadhimiya has been set up by Iraqis themselves from the ashes of Baathism. They have been going methodically through the massive - and previously unexplored - archives left by the regime, which document every killing in cold bureaucracy-speak. The HRC have found that if the invasion had not happened, Saddam would have killed 70,000 people in the past year. Not sanctions: Saddam's tyranny alone.
"Even once you factor in the war and everybody who has died since, it's not as many people as that," Sama explains. "So this war has indisputably saved lives over the past year. Saddam's victims might not have been appearing on your TV screens, but they would be just as dead."

War=good! Well, gooder than the staus quo anyway.

It's another of those "wish I had that guys talent" posts:

"You seem to really know your way around cocktails," my sister said disapprovingly. "I guess you're some kind of a lush now."
I don't know that much about cocktails, just for the record. But I do know that jokes that start "Man walks into a bar..." don't normally continue with "...and orders a decaf coffee."

Where are all the chicks like this round these parts?

Certainly not Mark Latham.
" LABOUR today defended its plan to pull Australian troops out of Iraq by Christmas, despite a plea by the Iraqi Governing Council.
Council member Ahmad Chalabi told ABC TV Australian troops should remain for at least 12 months to help stabilise the country and said it was a shame the issue had become politicised."

It's also significant that the comments were made to the ABC and were made public (rather than being filed Sir Humphrey Appleby style).

Only there's no naming going on.
"THE Hamas group named a new Gaza Strip leader today, but declined to reveal his identity as part of a new policy launched after Israel assassinated - for the second time in less than a month - the group's leader."

How is the new guy going to get his 72 virgins if the Israeli's don't know who to kill next?

John Howard is leading this country to be a world leader again. This time toward a better corruption ranking by abolishing ATSIC.

The Kiwi's are number 1. In other news New Zealand has discovered currency and goverment.

"There is no place on God's earth, throughout all of history, where Muslims and non Muslims have had a peaceful coexistence."

Of course he's wrong, there have been civilisations where various flavours of infidel have led lives in peaceful coexistence with Muslims. They were called Dhimmi.

Mark Steyn on the recent goings on in Fallujah.

Ok, it's more of an editorial. Sue me.

I'm a bit late off the blocks on this one but this story and the various copies give me the shits:

A senior Defence adviser has been sacked after refusing to write media briefings that supported claims that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction.
Engineer and analyst Jane Errey was an adviser to former Chief Defence Scientist Dr Ian Chessell and wrote briefings for Defence Minister Robert Hill. Her job at Defence gave her access to secret intelligence on Iraq's weaponry from the Defence Intelligence Organisation and the Office of National Assessments.
Ms Errey claims that on the day before the Iraq war started, she was asked to write what she believed was "sexed-up" propaganda about Iraq's capabilities.
The next day - March 20 last year - she went on holiday rather than write what she claimed would have been a misleading briefing.
But she was sacked last Monday, after more than nine years at Defence, on "performance grounds".

A few points omitted by the impartial media that I'd like to make;

The DSTO is not in the intelligence business,
Ms Errey is also a senior member of the Australian Democrats,
Why was Defence Minister Robert Hill having his briefings written by a senior member of the democrats?
When asked in a time of war to do her job she took a holiday instead,
Did she actually get asked to exaggerate in her report?

So to summarise: A senior member of a political party that opposes the war, refuses to do her job in a defence department during that war. She is fired. She goes to the press.

The only thing sexed up here is the story itself.

Update: People at the Courier Mail read blogs (or do their own research)!

I learned recently that Tripitaka WAS a woman. Thank God; up till then I had thought HE was hot and damn the kittens.

What do you get when you apply an ignition source to 233 rockets?
Apparently no rocket scientists were invited to oversee this ceremony.

Dickhead student gets an arse full of chrome. Darwin cheers.

1. Print this out.
2. Wrap it around a cricket bat.
3. Educate lefties in the head with it.

Ten days later, Reagan bombed Libya, despite our dear ally France refusing the use of their airspace. Americans bombed Gadhafi's residence, killing his daughter, and dropped a bomb on the French Embassy "by mistake."