Military

A White House Run By Generals

White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee-Sanders tells the press that criticizing generals is "innapropriate."

When Trump appointed Kelly, Mattis and McMaster to high posts in the government, a chill went through me. There's a solid, history-based reason for insuring civilian control of the military. There are only a few thousand good histories of the phenomenon, available in any University library, or I suppose these days, online. We now have an ignorant president, with a childlike admiration for high ranking military figures. Far too many commentators took solace in that fact, imagining that they would bring intelligence, discipline, and common sense to an otherwise chaotic administration. There is no reason, no reason whatever, to believe that's true. Trump hiding behind generals means we're in deep trouble in this country. Those are totalitarian techniques, and I think it will get a hell of a lot worse in the next few years. 

Three Media Blackouts

Just wanted to point-out three recent events that have not been covered in the mainstream media - two big and one small.

1. You may have noticed that pictures, videos, and coverage from Galveston, TX have not been plentiful. Ike was a devistating hurricane - on-par with hurricane Andrew and close to Katrina in terms of the cost of damage. In terms of how many homes were destroyed, it was on-par with Katrina. But you probably didn't see much of the aftermath. That's because Galveston's mayor, Lyda Ann Thomas, kicked the press out and prohibited city employees from talking to the press.

2. Glenn Greenwald at Salon is one of the only journalists to point this out: For the first time since the end of the Civil War, a US Army brigade has been assigned for duty in the US mainland. Didn't hear about that? Read about it here.

3. And in Anchoridge, AK, back on September 17th, there was a good-sized anti-Palin rally. Hundreds showed-up. Pictures below.



A Risky Plan


This seems like a crazy idea, but then again, it is the solution "preferred by the Bush administration." The Pentagon is going to attempt to 'shoot down' its disabled, experimental spy sattelite, which is due to re-enter Earth's atmosphere in March. Rather than let the odds play out and let it come down to an unpopulated area or ocean, we're going to blow it up into fragments of dangerous orbital debris / space junk. Bravo!

China proved that it can be done in January 2007, and they successfully made a lot of dangerous orbital debris, which of course, can damage other satellites, spacecraft, and possibly the International Space Station.

I'd love to see the missle miss its target. Let's see how this clever idea plays out...

Robert Gates: Army Tours to be Extended to 15 Months in Iraq & Afghanistan

I actually thought the tours were already more than a year. But this makes it official, effective immediately.

Now I'm not naive enough to think that this will turn more Americans against the occupation of Iraq. But I do think that those Americans who stop and think about this will realize that extending tours is another sign that Bush is breaking our army. He's breaking it. Watch Joe Biden address this during a brilliant moment of rage from March 14th:

Update: I was right.
"Some units had already been extended beyond 12 months by varying amounts. The new policy will make deployments more equitable and more predictable for soldiers and for their families, Gates said."

Predictable? If you mean that families now know to lower their expectations of seeing their loved ones soon, then yes, it makes things more predictable. The comments at the BBC are piling up, and the families posting comments sound pretty damn pissed.