An interesting question indeed. I wonder whether the Canadians are logging every call in the country, and watching all the clicks and e-mails on the Internet.

... and I wonder that the Milblogosphere will say about it in the U.S. if and when Hillary takes over on Jan. 20, 2009.

Holy FBI Files, Batman, now she can listen to all our phone calls!

Yes, Robin, she can. Be careful what you wish for.

If they were smart, they would be doing the same that our NSA is doing here: gathering a database of info for quick reference when terrorist activity is identified, and cross checks can be made of the phone numbers, e-mail addresses and web visits.

According to this, internet monitoring did help track these people down and prevent the attack, which was apparently imminent.

"If you haven't done anything wrong, you have nothing to worry about. We will show just as much concern for your privacy as the last administration did."

Hillary Clinton
June 11, 2009

I'm sorry, I made a mistake with the title

Presidentrix Hillary Clinton
June 11, 2009

To WW:

I don't come here very often and I rarely blog about the war. But I've been reading the posts and comments here for the last few days and I must admit, I'm impressed.

Of the last ten posts here you've commented on nine of them. Not just that, you've been the first commenter on seven of them, and never later than the third. That bespeaks a level of commitment and stamina that one just doesn't see very often in this era of instant gratification and short attention spans. If I sat in front my computer for as long as you must I'd have saddle sores the size of dinner plates.

And your ability to stay on message is truly awe-inspiring. To paraphrase, "Bush lied, the war's a debacle, we've lost, the Army and Marines are covering up atrocities, the milbloggers are propagandists and shills for the war..." Man, that absolutely wozzles me. And you keep saying it over and over and over and over and over no matter what anybody says in reply. That shows a single-minded determination that I could never hope to match.

One caveat though: the word Presidentrix is definitely sexist. You really want to watch that.

See you around, and have a nice day. ;)

fatman, you really should give a presidentix a try sometime. $300 an hour, $350 with spiked heels. She doesn't care how much you weigh.

What If They Gave A War And Nobody Came?

Remember that old peacenik slogan? Well, maybe you're too young to remember it. I'm not. It was popular in the late '60s and early '70s.

Well, guess what? It's true. They gave an Iraq War and nobody came.

Let me explain. We've got about 140,000 troops there, many on their second and third tours. In a country of 300 million, that's not much of a footprint. We're putting the bill on the national credit card. Those soldiers and marines are volunteers, so they must want to be there.

When they're killed or wounded, they are shipped back home in the middle of the night. That's to avoid photographs. The military doesn't talk about the wounded, and therefore the news media don't talk them. Oh, a story here and a story there. But not that you'd really notice. If anyone should begin mentioning the casualties, the right-wing calls them unpatriotic. As if we really needed to be encouraged to ignore them.

Face it, the Iraq War is a blip on the national radar screen. The news media talk it about some, but even their coverage is fading. Apparently it's a ratings-killer. No one wants to watch.

And what about those yellow ribbons? You know the ones you can buy at the post office for 15 bucks. Take a good look next time you're in your car. Do you notice how many of them are so faded as to be unreadable? Support the troops. Hoo-rah.

The Iraq War is like a specialty channel on TV. One of the 200, somewhere between the Comedy Channel and Home Shopping Network. People who care about it care about it, but they're a pretty small group. To the extent that the war registers with the public, it's mainly through the perceived correlation with gas prices. Before Bush invaded Iraq, gas was a buck and a half a gallon. Now it's three and a half bucks a gallon.

Hey, wasn't this thing supposed to be about cheap gas? That's why people want it to be over. It's costing too much to drive these days. Not that there's any logic involved. Any statistics professor will tell you that correlation doesn't equal causality, but thinking it through isn't in style these days. We go on gut feel, and in the national gut, if we get out of Iraq the price of gas will fall. So let's get out. That's about the extent of the national concern.

The Haditha Massacre? It's a scene on the specialty channel. People who care about it care about it. Everyone else says, hmm, the Haditha Massacre? Isn't that the newest video game?

One of the so-called "milbloggers" on the Internet proposes a hierarchy to use in judgment the credibility of comments about the war. In his taxonomy, those with direct combat experience have the most credibility, civilians the least. In his own tiny way, the "milblogger" reinforces the trend of isolating the military from the society it supposedly protects. You haven't been there? Shut up and let us military guys figure it out.

Well, okay, as they say at Burger King, have it your way. But don't be surprised that those stickers have faded, and don't be too shocked that no one really thinks or cares much about the dead or the wounded or the hardships of war. You see, we haven't been there. We can't understand. So we'll butt out. And don't call us. We'll call you.

The moral of this story for everyone concerned: Be careful what you wish for. Did you really want them to give a war and have no one show up?

I'll save the fifty bucks. I don't like spiked heels. They're murder on the upholstery.

As for "What If They Gave A War And Nobody Came?", yes, I'm old enough to remember that moldie oldie. I'm still trying to figure out what it, and everything you posted after it have to do with what I posted, but maybe I'm just being dense.

And thank you for your prompt reply. Fourteen minutes! (*nods head in admiration*)

I'm on a roll. I'll get tired out. Don't worry about the spiked heels. They'll wear rubber-cleated baseball shoes if you ask far enough in advance. Or so I've been told.

Guess what? Turns out the Canucks didn't get them by scooping up all the Internet traffic throughout all of Canada, or by tracing every phone call made in Canada.

Instead, the Canucks spied on radical Islamist websites. Imagine that. Those slow-witted dummies up north decided to fish where the fish are. Idiots.

http://w3t.org/u/qo6

'You see, we haven't been there. We can't understand. So we'll butt out. And don't call us. We'll call you.'

Who is 'we'? Do you pretend that your delusional rantings in any way represent even a simple majority of American voters?

'Those slow-witted dummies up north decided to fish where the fish are. Idiots.'

Yeah. Don't let them listen to your perverted phone calls. Just use racial profiling. We know how you left-tards like that.

Consider troll fed.

Do you pretend that your delusional rantings in any way represent even a simple majority of American voters?

I hate to interrupt your delusions rantings with facts, given how much the retired nut-scratching Republicans of the Milblogosphere hate facts. But I feel I must:

- 61% of the public disapproves of your president's (sorry, I don't consider him "my" president) handling of Iraq. That's a Quinnipac poll. A Washington Post/ABC poll put it at 66%. CBS 67%. Newsweek 62%. NBC/Wall St Journal 62%.

- 56% of the public thinks going to war in Iraq was the wrong thing to do.

- 29% of the public thinks the U.S. should withdraw completely, and another 28% thinks the U.S. should cut troop levels.

- 62% of the public doesn't think Iraq is worth fighting

- 76% thinks there has been an unacceptable number of military casualties

- 51% think the Iraq War has not contributed to the long-term security of the U.S.

- 52% think the Bush administration intentionally misled the public into war

- 60% of the public thinks that things are going badly in Iraq ("somewhat badly" 33%, "very badly" 27%)

- 57% think that the war won't succeed

- 47% think Iraq is like the Vietnam War; 35% think it's like the Korean War. Only 11% think it's like WW2

http://www.pollingreport.com/iraq.htm

Still waiting for some evidence that your feelings about the military, VA funding, etc. are shared by other Americans (term used very loosely in your case).

Still waiting for some evidence that your feelings about the military, VA funding, etc. are shared by other Americans (term used very loosely in your case)

I think all of those things are captured in the Liar-in-Chief's dismal ratings, and the war's unpopularity.