As the saying goes...

Boys, don't mess with a sister.  Specifically, this sister.

Paging Mr. Powers....Mr. Powers, please report to the love shack, please...

So, you are a US soldier or Marine going through Baghdad, checking out houses in an area known to be the residence of high Baath Party and Iraqi officials...And you find a place that looks like somebody's idea of home deco while they are in their swinging college bachelor days....

(Before you mention it, the troops thought the same about Austin Powers.)

Here is a classic. No doubt this residence will serve as visitor's accomodations for when Michael Moore or Martin Sheen stops in Baghdad.

Then again, some of the Saddam's inner circle might actually want to be in college. While most of it is the usual stuff you would find in an official's home, what the heck is this doing here? "A Princeton Review test preparation book, titled "Cracking the GMAT," is marked with notes in the margins.""

    After reading Mark Steyn's latest special for the Daily Telegraph, let us indulge in a bit of fantasy for a moment:

    The place: Hollywood.  The scene: the 2003 Academy Awards.

    Days before, a command decision was reached in the highest levels of the US government to send B-52s to attack, not Iraq, but Hollywood when the entire Fifth Clown Column of America is assembled for its annual act of self-congratulation.  A B-52 flies high over Los Angeles, timing the release of its payload of ordnance so that the 750-pound bombs would impact the award ceremony just as Susan Sarandon and her cohabitating sperm donor Tim Robbins come walking out onto the stage for a Kumbaya moment with George Clooney, who has just finished-up his usual denunciations of the administration of President George W. Bush.

    Or try this scenario: A F-15E let loose a GBU-28 precision guided munition at the center holding the award ceremony.  Unlike other GBU-28s, this bomb (Nicknamed "Deep Throat" for its ability to punch clean through layers of reinforced concrete that could laugh off lesser bombs.) is specially modified to carry a video camera in the nose of its guidance package, instead of the usual laser.  The Mr. and Mrs. Insomniac America who tuned in to the Oscars that night will be greeted with a split screen on their TV, one side carrying live shots of Sean Penn (Him of the incomplete sentence construction.) and Janeane Garofalo (Who obviously has been memorizing talking points fax to her by the Iraqi intelligence service in between public appearances to accuse Fox News Channel of getting talking points from the Republican National Committee.) warbling on about the "evils" of the Bush administration, cheerfully ignoring the evils of the Hussein regime (That would be so contrary to the talking points Ms. Garofalo been getting on Saddam's personal stationery.), the other side of the TV showing the footage being sent back by the camera in the GBU-28.  Just as Ms. Garofalo gets to the obligatory references of "no evidence" showing Iraq's development of weapons of mass destruction to the "uh-huhs" coming from Mr. Penn, the GBU-28 enters the ceremony vertically and, for a brief moment, gives the viewer a chance to compare the quality of two cameras filming the same scene, side by side.

    If only they could be true...

Today's "Christened Herself/Himself/Itself An Idiot" Award Goes To...

    Starting today, a Friday that is the 7th of March of the year 2003, this weblog will start handing out "Christened Herself/Himself/Itself An Idiot" Award every day to the individual that best examplifies:

A total lack of common sense;

Complete absence of knowledge no matter how much education they might have had;

Utter unawareness of reality;

Absolute dependence on nonsensical cliches and mantras in the place of well-informed argument;

Nonexistant ability to tell right from wrong, or to distinguish any difference between the two concepts;

Believing that known liars with histories of duplicitous behavior, outright deception, and treachrous activities should have greater credibility then honorable people of integrity and fidelity for the truth;

Willling to protest against the alleged "evil" actions of the democratic federal republics of the West in general and America in particular, while Simultaneously ignoring or even applauding the actual "evil" actions of authoritarian, totalitarian regimes and Third World tinpot dictators.

    And the first ever winner of the "Christened Herself/Himself/Itself An Idiot" Award goes to.....Crystal (Or did your parents decide to exercise flower power and spell your name "Krystal"?) from New York!   Crystal managed a double header, first by having her statement that "The money could be better spent on better education, health care, child care, training or jobs or anything" appear on Thursday (3/6/03) Rush Limbaugh Show, and then proceeding to call Rush on Friday and - mouthing a flood of cliches, platitudes, and feelings - removing all doubt as whether she deserved the "Christened Herself An Idiot" Award.

    For her achievement in going above and beyond the normal bounds of stupidity and/or ignorance, Crystal will receive a plane ticket, one way, to Baghdad for a meeting with Saddam Hussein, along with a radio transmitter that Allied avaitors can use to target...I mean, avoid targeting you when the liberation of Iraq begins

    Bravo!

Update - Well, it appears Crystal spells her name with a "C" instead of "K."  Good.  If her parents were sensible enough to refrain from getting overly creative with their flower power when they had to name their child, then maybe there is hope for the young lady that she will grow-out of her current state.

Turkish Musings

    As predicted, the Turkish stock market went into a tail-spin on Monday, after it watched the Turkish parliament effectively deny permission for American military forces to deploy in Turkey for the liberation of Iraq.  They ended down over 12 percent at the close of market, and unless the government can pull a rabbit out of a hat (And allow US forces to deploy within the next week..), the market will keep going down no matter how satisfied the IMF may be with Turkey's latest budget.

    An awful lot of ink and electrons have already been used on the matter, so maybe it is time to turn on another facet.  Historically, Turkey's political maneuverings have been partially dictated by the military, and specifically, the Army, which actually has a constitutionally-mandated responsibility to maintain the secular nature of the nation.  If a government falters in that regard, the Army can step in and either tell them to change, or replace the government entirely.  The Army, naturally enough, wields enormous amounts of power in Turkish politics, society, and even the economy.

    Another thing to consider is the nature of the current government in Ankara.  The Wall Street Journal speculated that the Turkish military failed to tell "speak-up" for the US deployment as part of an effort at embarrassing the administration of Prime Minister Abdullah Gul on the eve of parliamentary elections.  Given the antecedants of Gul's Justice and Development Party (A pro-Islamic party whose immediate predecessor was banned by the pro-Army Turkish courts for being too Islamic, and which required a certain amount of retooling to be acceptable under the Constitution.), such an attempt would not be surprising.  However, the lack of a public voice by the Army may also be a result of attempts at trying to improve Turkey's chances at getting into the European Union.  The republic is currently at its closest point to being officially on the membership track for the EU (Many Turks regard membership - And therefore part of non-Islamic Europe - as sine qua non of modernity, advancement, and progress.), and one of the criticism blocking such a move has been over the active role the Army takes in Turkish politics.  Hence, a quieter military would offer a chance to impress the EU about Turkey's qualifications, though why the republic wants to be part of the Union is now something of a mystery.

    All of this devolves down to an overlooked aspect - military procurement.  Put simply, most of the equipment that arms the present Turkish military comes from the US, a legacy of the European distaste over Turkish actions in the 1974 Cyprus Crisis.  The odd spectacle of an armed conflict between two members of NATO caused most of the Continent to slap arms embargoes on the republic.  That distaste has largely disappeared in recent years, given the HUGE volume of sales in modern military equipment to the second numerical largest military in NATO, and one that has seen (As part of its modernization program.) considerable growth in its procurement budget at a time when the rest of Europe has cut their defense budgets to the bone.  However, because the US was more willing to supply Turkey in the intervening time, the Turkish military now has a heavy reliance on American equipment, from frigates for the Turkish Navy, F-16s for the Air Force (Turkey has the second-largest aircraft factory ever (And the largest non-US plant.) used for the manufacture of F-16s, a plant that was built specifically for that purpose.), armored vehicles and Multiple Launch Rocket Systems (MLRS) for the Army (Oddly enough, the Turks are, along with the Greeks and South Koreans, the only non-US user of the latest and most capable version of the MLRS.).

    That dependence gives an enormous, albeit relatively subtle, leverage for the Americans.  Simply put, not only is Turkey dependent on new equipment from the US such as the Joint Strike Fighter currently under development (And a program that Turkey has a financial stake and is actively participating in.) and US financing for future procurements (Through the Foreign Military Sales office of the Defense Department.), but also material and technical assistance for a wide range of American equipment they currently have in service.  From the American point of view, it would be comparatively easy and discreet to hold up shipments of parts and spares, push back the arrival date for technicians, add more red tape at the FMS office for current procurement requests.  More importantly, even implying such actions would be quickly and clearly understood by the Turkish military for the message they are carrying.  The potential problem that would pose is no doubt causing a great deal of discussion between members of the Turkish military and government right now.  While I doubt there will be an overt move by the military, I would not be surprised to see a shift in the government's policy (Which apparently has already started.).  While such a military angle would be only part of a motivation for a change, the power of it can not be underestimated.

    The only question that now remains is whether Turkey can change enough and fast enough to matter?  If it does not, the consequences will be severe for the republic.

Other Weblogs of Note

For those who want to see other weblogs (At least, weblogs updated with a fair degree of regularity.), check out Steven Den Beste's USS Clueless, Charles Johnson's Little Green Footballs (A wonderful weblog - check out the different titles for the page!), Tim Blair from Down Under (Full of an Australian-perspective, common sense view of the world.), Bjørn Stærk's weblog from Norway, and Clayton Cramer's weblog (The man who helped expose anti-gun "historian" Michael Bellisle's Arming America as a fraud of research and historical analysis.).

News in Realtime

Opinionjournal.com had a link to a thread on the FreeRepublic.com messageboard covering the expected landing of shuttle Columbia on Saturday.  There are still interested in the shuttle missions, and the thread was covering the landing of the space shuttle as it began its entry into the atmosphere on its way to Florida.  It makes for chilling reading as people posted in realtime on the appearance of the shuttle, the flames of the reentry burn, and than when Mission Control lost contact with shuttle and afterwards.

"A Fiery Chariot Riding Across the Sky"

I was going to update the log this past weekend, but I could not...What happened on Saturday left me without anything to say, and most everything else really pales in comparison.  The only thing I could really add are the quote from Isaiah used by President George W. Bush in his address to the nation on Saturday:

Lift your eyes and look to the heavens.  Who created all these?  He who brings out the starry hosts one by one and calls them each by name.  Because of His great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing.

And the poem President Ronald Reagn quoted from in his speech to the nation after the shuttle Challenger exploded shortly after launch in 1986, "High Flight" by American Pilot Officer John Gillespie Magee Jr. of the Royal Canadian Air Force during World War Two:

Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings
Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds--and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of--wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence, hov'ring there
I've chased the shouting wind along,
And flung my eager craft through footless halls of air.
Up, up the long, delirious burning blue
I've topped the wind-swept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, or even eagle flew
And, while with silent lifting mind I've trod
The high untrespassed sanctity of space
Put out my hand and touched the face of God.