A Second Hand Conjecture

At least according to this website.

Why are we blessed with this scandalous rating?
This rating was determined based on the presence of the following words:
* suicide (9x)
* bomb (5x)
* torture (4x)
* dick (3x)
* gun (2x)
[…]

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Cross-posted on The Conjecturer.
Defense

A really good look at what happens when the military and intelligence functions of the federal government are outsourced to the private sector.
Plastering our cities with CCTVs doesn’t deter crime, as London has found quite to its chagrin. But especially when it comes to terrorism, spy cams won’t stop anything, because […]

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Good question, and I happen to agree with what Ed Morrissey says today…
So what should happen now? The problems of immigration did not disappear with the failure of the cloture vote a few moments ago. Congress needs to act to resolve them — but they need to do so in a manner that respects the […]

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Or at least, investigate them to death. That does seem to be a central theme with the Democrats overarching strategy.
For being the “party in power” they are still operating as the “opposition.” They’ve yet to pass much with any real substance. Their leaders are prone to illogical outbursts at nearly anyone. […]

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Defense

It saddens me to see that a general neglect of our soldiers has a long and storied tradition in this country. I honestly think us to be better than that.
Uh-oh, is our new strategy in Iraq geared for cutting and running? Those defeat mongers at the Pentagon must want Al-Qaeda In Iraq to win. Except […]

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You’ve seen LOLcats. Then there was loldogs and lolhamsterz. Now there are even lolterrorists (or lolterizt if you prefer). So it seemed to me that the next logical progression was lolpolitishunz:

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Fred Thompson ruminates on the Captain’s Quarters blog talk radio spot:

Thompson answers attacks on his past work as a lobbyist. Short, but worthwhile to check out.
Technorati Tags: Election 2008, Fred Thompson, presidential campaign, politics

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Cross-posted on The Conjecturer.
Defense

A look at the operations in Baquba, with entire blocks of booby-trapped houses wired to explode for the troops. These kinds of delays are just what happen in warfare. But it speaks to how the insurgents are once again switching tactics: is this a new scorched earth-type policy?
Related to this is David […]

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Lee at postpolitical has video of Fred Thompson speechifying at the Nashville Airport.

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It seems that a would-be pick-pocket chose the wrong mark:
Bill Barnes says he was scratching off a losing $2 lottery ticket inside a gas station when he felt a hand slip into his front-left pants pocket, where he had $300 in cash.
He immediately grabbed the person’s wrist with his left hand and started throwing punches […]

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The Senate voted down an amendment to the much-maligned immigration bill that would have required adult illegals to return home before being able “to qualify for permanent lawful status” in the US.
The vote was 53-45 to table an amendment by Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, that was one of several proposals designed to […]

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I missed this report from earlier in the week about a young boy whom Taliban operatives attempted to employ as a suicide bomber:
The story of Juma Gul [a 6 y.o., Afghan boy], who says he thwarted an effort by Taliban militants to trick him into carrying out a suicide bombing against U.S. troops provoked tears […]

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Closely following the third assassination of a senior Iranian official in two months, Tehran is suddenly burning. The long smoldering tension between citizens and tyrannical mullahs shows no signs of abating, with the latest development being riots over gasoline-rationing [HT: Insty]:
Following the rationing of gasoline in Iran, many people waited in lines to fill […]

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Cross-posted at The Conjecturer.
Defense

Declassified documents reveal one of the CIA’s biggest fears during the Cold War was the illicit wiretapping of American citizens—precisely what has happened under Bush’s war rules. All for freedom!
An absolutely fascinating look at the insurgent media machine. It’s not as efficient or as effective as you’d think… yet remarkably, it still […]

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This is not the binky you are looking for…

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Cross-posted on The Conjecturer.
Defense

(HT: the ever-excellent Bonnie Boyd) The way we treat the disabled veterans we create is our shame. What’s worse is, war supporters tend to write off these kinds of stories as “anti-Bush lefty shilling” or some such, while the left tends to see it as another way to twist the knife—the end […]

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Instapundit links to an article in Reason about how the increased production of ethanol is leading to higher prices for food.
I also think it could lead to increasing reliance by America on foreign grain. Which, as we saw with the pet food recall, could mean a riskier supply. You can poison grain, but […]

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Michael Totten has some interesting thoughts on the changing state of affairs in the Middle East. Well worth the read.
Arab governments are finally taking notice that the Islamist radicals they have been tolerating, appeasing – and sometimes even nurturing – are clear and present dangers to them. Their winking and subtle support for Israel […]

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Confederate Yankee counters Greenvalds meme that the military is blowing smoke in its press releases…
It’s getting too easy to counter these claims. The internet doesn’t forget.

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Cross-posted on The Conjecturer.
Defense

Air Force planes are being used to scour for IEDs. This is related to the Inside the Air Force piece I mentioned a few months ago, about the use of “show of force” operations to hopefully dissuade insurgents. Only, it seems now AF Gen. Keyes, who didn’t buy the F-22 for Iraq, […]

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That’s not even according to me, but instead an accusation leveled at The New York Times and The Washington Post by … wait for it … Reuters:
Hamas scores publicity coup in U.S.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Shunned by the U.S. government as a terrorist organization, the Islamist group Hamas scored a publicity coup this week by defending […]

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I think the trio of Hersh, Fisk and Crooke might best be termed an axis of bias.
– Stephen Pollard, The Spectator Blog
I’ve never been a fan of Seymour Hersh, and am somewhat mystified as to why he’s considered such a great reporter. Sure he uncovered the My Lai massacre and cover-up, but he’s been […]

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McQ catches Speaker Pelosi touting increased aid to veterans, highlighted with picture of soldier … a Canadian soldier.
Seriously folks, if you can’t tell ‘em apart, just keep your yap shut.

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Yep, there were valid reasons for investigating the CIA in the 70’s. I think the direction the agency went after those investigations and the resulting oversight and laws put on them, was overly reliant on technology, and less on getting eyes, ears and brains on the ground where they could learn about what was […]

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Bill Roggio has an excellent synopsis of the scope of the current operations.
Basically, anywhere the enemy has previously had a safe-haven is now being squeezed, either with the large scale operations in and around Baghdad, or smaller intelligence directed missions elsewhere.
Operation Phantom Thunder, the name of the overarching operation to secure the Baghdad Belts, is […]

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Cross-posted on The Conjecturer.
Defense

Follow up to the story on the pathetic number of fluents in Arabic currently stationed at the Baghdad Vatican-Embassy (and shame on me for not noticing this): the 3/3 proficiency level is virtually useless—both because it is not advanced enough for technical or legal matters, and it of a sort not actually […]

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Send a letter of support to [email protected]
http://www.blackfive.net/main/2007/06/roundtable_with.html
GRIM: Is there anything that you and your Marines need that we could send you?
COL. SIMCOCK: (Chuckles.) I’ll tell you what, the one thing that all Marines want to know about — and that includes me and everyone within Regimental Combat Team 6 — we want to know that […]

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Well, all the attention crashed their web servers, so they’ve hosted the simulation on YouTube.
I must say I’m impressed with the animation. You can certainly see why a collapse was near inevitable with what looks like 1/3 of the major inner columns destroyed or damaged. And this story makes me wonder how some […]

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Gee, parts of N’Awlins are still under sea level (and unlikely to change.) You would think the above headline was a given.
And why does it NOT surprise me that what the local leaders were most concerned about…
As part of the report, the corps plans to make available a Web site that allows New Orleans […]

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According to the current headlines, (see below the fold,) the only thing worth mentioning in Iraq, is a suicide bomber that killed 13. Gee, I wonder what Michael Yon and Bill Roggio are getting all worked about then. I mean, it’s only being described as the biggest offensive operation since the spring of […]

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