Intensive Purposes

“If It’s a Muslim Problem, It Needs a Muslim Solution”, and Then Some…

July 27th, 2005

As long as I’ve been a student of Middle East history and politics, I’ve noticed that those of us on the Left have an automatic negative reaction to the New York Times’ Thomas L. Friedman. He’s the guy whose name invokes sighs and rolls of the eyes. But why? I have to confess, I never really went along with the knee-jerk Friedman critiques because I never actually *read* any of his articles. I don’t regularly read the New York Times.

(more…)

8 Comments » Add

Link, Politics, News

Find a local coffee shop

jlacivita

April 7th, 2005

Are you settling for Starbucks when you’d rather find a local coffee shop?

Check out Delocator.net, originally called the Starbucks Delocator, but now under legal pressure from the coffee giant.

1 Comment » Add

Link, News

Outdoor Adventures of a Taiwanese Woman living in America

jlacivita

April 5th, 2005

you should all go visit LittlePo.com for interesting views on life as a taiwanese adventurer living in the states.

1 Comment » Add

Link

Don’t Support Our Troops?

jlacivita

February 23rd, 2005

In the same ~~vain~~ vein as my recent post on the yellow ribbons, theOnion is running a story about supporting the war, but _not_ the troops.

They recently had a funny one about a power point presentation left as a suicide note, too.

ps: its my birthday.

2 Comments » Add

Link, Funny

Support our troops

jlacivita

February 14th, 2005

Heard this on NPR while driving home today, and I had to go find it online so I could post it. This commentary hits the nail on the head for my feelings of these “Support the troops” yellow ribbons on many cars today.

Support our troops

11 Comments » Add

Link

Lawsuit gets Bush Guard papers out

jlacivita

September 7th, 2004

Not that anyone should be surprised, but I’ve got to keep fighting the good fight. They’ve finally found the records that prove Bush was AWOL in 1972.

Full Story

21 Comments » Add

Link

21 Responses to “Lawsuit gets Bush Guard papers out”

yamin says:
September 8th, 2004 at 10:37 am
Interesting but I believe pointless. It’s pretty clear that Bush is not truthful (nor is Kerry). It’s clear that both he and Channey did not attend the war that they should have because of the leverage their families had. Regardless they are hawks and America is afraid.

I hate to be a party pooper but I believe the major media will never report this in a effective way and if they did it would have little to no impact.

People believe in the goals Bush is setting not who he is. I suppose a yellow bellied hawk would make for a nice political cartoon
yamin says:
September 8th, 2004 at 12:22 pm
OK…. so it made it to the front page of CNN today.
Yamin says:
September 8th, 2004 at 9:20 pm
Also MSNBC:

Here
underdog says:
September 8th, 2004 at 11:48 pm
http://www.hillnews.com/york/090904.aspx

http://www.suntimes.com/output/elect/cst-nws-banal11.html
yamin says:
September 9th, 2004 at 9:04 am
Thanks for the laugh Underdog! Thats was some good shit. You just can’t make this shit up. Can you believe these people believe that shit.

I’m with you! these morons actually think Bush served willingly and makes a good president. I love your tounge and cheek postings… they really add cheer to my day… Man you must have dug for those URLs… where they linked off of the onion?
jlacivita says:
September 9th, 2004 at 9:31 am
“The Pentagon and Bush’s campaign have claimed for months that all records detailing his fighter pilot career have been made public, but defense officials said they found two dozen new records detailing his training and flight logs after The Associated Press filed a lawsuit and crafted new requests under the public records law”

this equals bush being untruthful.

“Significantly, it showed the unit joined a ‘‘24-hour active alert mission to safeguard against surprise attack” in the southern United State beginning on Oct. 6, 1972, a time when Bush did not report for duty, according to his pay records.”

The salon.com article pretty much mirrors the second link you posted underdog, describing bush’s numbers. however, the article you found left out that interesting bit. Now i don’t know how often that happens in the guard, and I don’t know how common it is for a decent guardsman to be honorably discharged for getting lazy during his last year, but it seems to me that he was not serving during a period he was supposed to be, and it looks like they could have used him.
underdog says:
September 9th, 2004 at 10:03 am
Yamin, if you were actually interested in knowing what happened, you wouldn’t be so flip. I have experience in dealing with military beauracracy and can understand how files can get lost and how the press generally doesn’t know its ass from its elbow when reporting on military matters.

J,
Actually, the fact that they claimed they had made public all the records and subsequently found them doesn’t necessarily equate to Bush being untruthful. As I’ve mentioned before, paperwork in the military is infamous for getting misplaced. When you’ve got, literally, 100’s of millions of files in a beauracracy the size of the DoD, things get lost. I can believe that Bush and the Pentagon genuinely believed all the paperwork had been turned over.

As to what happens in the last year of service… well, you’d be surprised at how lazy even active duty servicemembers can become in the last year of service.

But regardless, what the first article I posted pointed out was that Bush had received permission from his commanding officer to leave for 6-months to go work in Alabama in May 1972. This was not uncommon.

“In 1972, there was an enormous glut of pilots,” Campenni says. “The Vietnam War was winding down, and the Air Force was putting pilots in desk jobs. In ’72 or ’73, if you were a pilot, active or Guard, and you had an obligation and wanted to get out, no problem. In fact, you were helping them solve their problem.”

That would mean in Bush’s mind, he wouldn’t have to report to duty until at least November. If he was given permission to leave duty, by his commanding officer, for 6 months, that does not equal AWOL. Gigging him for that 24-hour readiness force is patently unfair since how could he have been aware that the 147th would join that 24-hour mission on October 6th in May?

This is a non-story.
yamin says:
September 9th, 2004 at 10:24 am
Ahhhhhh I C so let me get this strait… you really do believe that Bush has an aceptable military record? I just want to get this strait.

Your willing to say: “I Underdog believe Bush has a fully acceptable military record”

come on! entertain me!
yamin says:
September 9th, 2004 at 10:27 am
Jlo…. you have to fix that mang… I posted above without a name again… Now Underdog looks all emotionally imbalanced… can the form require a name please? Being the busy and forgetful fellow I can be it would help greatly.
Yamin says:
September 9th, 2004 at 10:31 am
I’m in a posting Frenzy!!!!!! BTW UD your non story (much to my surprise) is being carried by:

NYtimes
cnn
msnnbc
foxnews
bbcnews
worldnews
intensivepurposes

I’m sure I could drag up a few more…. I don’t suppose that fits the defenition of nonstory. Perhaps you would be better quoted as saying “for me this is a non story”
pives says:
September 9th, 2004 at 10:44 am
I agree with UD, This is a non-story for me

I so don’t give a shit. It’s all hazy at best.

What’s a story is that Bush barely shows up for his Presidency. His speech at the RNC was all about what he’ll do if he’s elected President. Excuse me W, you’ve been president for 4 years now. 4 years with your party being the majority in the house and senate.

WTF? You haven’t done shit except your tax cut. Why? Because you’ve had to use all your time justifying this war.

You’re more fiscally irresponsible than a socialist. Record deficits, bigger government. (That’s not a republican platform)

You’ve filed amicus briefs against the rights of California to reguluate its own environmental policy. Taking power from a state is not a republican value. That’s giving more power to the Fed.

You’ve talked about ammending the Constitution to redefine marriage. Ammending the Constitution is not a conservative position, Especially when you are speculating on the outcome of judicial decisions that have not been made yet.

Sir, I’m not a republican, but if I was, I don’t see how i could vote for you.
underdog says:
September 9th, 2004 at 11:48 am
Yamin, What I meant by non-story is that it doesn’t have merit. The fact that you are unable to counter my statements without resorting to immature banter is telling.

Pives,

Thanks. I agree with you that Bush has been fiscally irresponsible and I was heartbroken when he came out in support of the Musgrave FMA. In short, his domestic policy has sucked. I go against the norm here in that I like the foreign policy route he’s taken.

I’m registered independent, but it’s no secret that I lean towards the Conservative (as in economically Conservative, socially Liberal) position on alot of issues. Whatever anyone says though, Bush is no Conservative. He’s a conservative. Meaning that he likes big government and he likes using it to enforce social agendas. (This is akin to the distinction between liberal and Liberal).

For myself, I don’t want to vote for Bush, but I also don’t want to vote for Kerry. If the Dems wanted to swing people like me, they chose the wrong man to do it. Lieberman would have been my personal choice, but during the primaries he seemed unelectable. I think if he were the candidate now, the story would be different. Bush may be polling strong, but he lost alot of people like me in the past few months.
pives says:
September 9th, 2004 at 1:02 pm
I’d vote for Bush over Lieberman. But that’s because I think Bush has a hair-thin better policy on the Israel-Palestine issue. maybe half a hair.

BUT I can’t see how someone could agree with Bush’s foreign policy. It’s bereft of thought and planning. It’s immature at best, and has proven to be a disaster.

I can’t see how the war in Iraq has made the US safer. Also, I’m one of those few Americans who counts the civilian casualties as ‘as important’ as US soldiers. and there is no sign that the casualty count will stop ticking any time soon.

If we had to stop Saddam (and I don’t think that case was ever made) we should’ve done it with our allies. And Bush’s leadership on the world stage is a complete joke.
jlacivita says:
September 9th, 2004 at 1:43 pm
UD you got me, yeah, i’m just being a bush hater, here. I agree that his service in the national guard isn’t really an issue of merit. It might be interesting to see if his family was able to get him in the guard, but this is speculation as far as I know, and while interesting, there’s more important things in the world.

Of course, i’ve only been taking a page from the W’s handbook, and saying whatever it takes to get the people to do what I want, which is use intensivepurposes.com. Make no mistake, i’m not a journalist, i’m a publisher

Pives, as for W’s Israel policy being a pubic hair better than lieberman’s. I don’t know. bush made me believe that that was his one good front a while ago, and he seems to have flipped. I’d rather have consistency, so I know what the real state of things is. I think the palestinians are in a worse position now because they tried to work with him than they would have been if they knew for sure up front he wasn’t going to do anything to forward the peace process.

One thing I think we all share here is a feeling that there is no viable candidate running for president.

I hope bush wins, and resigns for some reason, leaving us with Cheney in charge for 4 years. then we might get two things: people will get realy angry at the fukt up agenda he would likely persue; and people would think twice before voting for “someone i’d have a beer with”

Hmmm this whole thread makes me want to beef up the comments system here (starting with adding an ‘Anonymous’ label, yamin) to make the comments more part of the post and interactive, rather than an after thought. However, i’m to damn busy for that now =P
Yamin says:
September 10th, 2004 at 1:03 pm
The story doesn’t have mnerit in your opinion UD. Thats the point I’m making. Obviously major news sources at least fealt that it was a relevant story. I think many Americans would agree with them.

In my opinion a man that is unwilling to serve in war should not be allowed to bring us into one. W was obviously unwilling to go to Vietnam. His record in the gaurd is relevant only in showing his value as a soldier. In this he failed.
pives says:
September 10th, 2004 at 1:43 pm
Yamin,
I disagree . With your general point :

“In my opinion a man that is unwilling to serve in war should not be allowed to bring us into one.”

I think if one never served in the military, was elected president, they still get to be Commander-in-chief.
However, the Constitution says that only Congress can declare War.
So, one of the major problems that brought us to all this is that Congress didn’t do it’s job. It authorized a blank check war.

Now, that this National Guard stuff has come out, I do believe there should be a special prosecutor appointed, and a full investigation.
That probably won’t happen given the Republican majority in the Congress.
underdog says:
September 13th, 2004 at 1:46 pm
Yamin,

I disagree. (1) Bush did serve. In the Air National Guard. The fact that he didn’t see combat doesn’t detract from this. It’s a fact that many guard units, including the one Bush was in were sent to Vietnam. Soldiers, by and large, do not get a choice in where and when they are sent. Kerry signed up for Swiftboat duty knowing that, at the time, their employment was not in a dangerous role. That changed two weeks before he got there and suddenly, their missions were much more dangerous. Do either of these facts detract from their service? No. In fact, many soldiers who serve do not ever see war or battle. Does this mean that they did not serve adequately in your view?

(2) There have been several presidents who never fired a shot in battle, yet have sent the US into war. Among them are: Thomas Jefferson, Martin Van Buren, Woodrow Wilson, Warren Harding, Franklin Roosevelt, James Madison, James Polk, Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush.

There have also been several presidents who served in war AND sent us into war:George Washington, James Monroe, Andrew Jackson, William Henry Harrison, John Tyler, James Buchanan, Abraham Lincoln, William McKinley, Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, John Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, George Bush.

Take a second to look at Truman and Kennedy. They got us involved in Korea and Vietnam, respectively. We know how those turned out. Those who served DURING those wars are: Eisenhower, Johnson, and Nixon.

All have military experience in which they saw action, yet they presided over two very messy and disasterous wars.

If you’re going to use military experience as a rubric for qualifications to be president, you’re barking up the wrong tree.

(3) Consider that being a good soldier or good junior level officer or even general does not necessarily qualify one for the post of President. The President IS CiC, but he is also many more things.

Pives,

Did you believe that there should have been a special prosecutor appointed to investigate President Clinton’s draft dodging? I’m asking this not as an attack. It’s an honest question.
pives says:
September 15th, 2004 at 4:57 pm
Underdog:
well, i’m not as familiar with that specific allegation against Clinton. There were many. And I recall that Starr investigated many,many things that Clinton Allegedly did.

If Clinton was suspected of criminally dodging the draft, then yes.

The office of President is relatively immune to criminal charges. But the investigation brings the truth out. and we can tell our congressman/senator to vote to impeach or not.
sleeper says:
September 26th, 2004 at 3:08 pm
i know this isn’t the point and i’m sure its real, however does anyone else have a problem w/ the subtle scaling and some shadows w/ this shot? it was cleaned up, or it was something.. the levels were altered somehow atleast (still say the scaling of his head is a little wonky) but .. that is just me. that is all.
sleeper says:
September 26th, 2004 at 3:21 pm
i know this isn’t the point and i’m sure its real, however does anyone else have a problem w/ the subtle scaling and some shadows w/ this shot? it was cleaned up, or it was something.. the levels were altered somehow atleast (still say the scaling of his head is a little wonky) but .. that is just me. that is all.
jlacivita says:
September 26th, 2004 at 3:48 pm
you’re right! I think his head was pasted onto some other guardsman who showed up for duty.

We’ve come a long way

jlacivita

December 8th, 2003

While reading this story on the National Review I couldn’t help but see the irony… You could use the same exact similarity as a sign that both of these situations are occupations, undesired by the people there. (The story compares the Israeli wall to the barbed wire fences uses by US soldiers in Iraq in case your are lazy)

Sometimes modern colonialism frustrates me, but then i remember: Hey, I’m a white american, and i’m even baptised, so I got nothing to worry about. Then it seems much less significant, and I can even make a game out of it.

But seriously, we’ve certainly come a long way. It wasn’t too long ago when the various native tribes were trying to resist our occupation on their land. We didn’t bother with a pussy-foot solution like a wall. We scalpt damn near all of them, and put the rest of em in concentration camps (i think its been mentioned here before that the nazi’s studied how we “dealt with” the natives; and its also been mentioned how we started the scalping… what was it, 50 cents a scalp?)

So to all of you oppressed people around the world: be thankful you still got the skin on top of yer head.

2 Comments » Add

Link

Math is fun

jlacivita

July 9th, 2003

I just read that the symbolic 100 settlements that Israel removed from Palestine were more symbolic that I thought… It seams they just removed them, and then built them else where, all except for one. So the total number of settlements removed is a whopping 1:

Washington’s call for removal of additional illegal outposts is intended to widen the scope of Israeli gestures to the Abbas government beyond expected prisoner releases. The Americans have told the Israel that on balance, a total of one outpost has been removed, taking into account new outposts erected after each old ones were evacuated.

Of course, as we’ve discussed here before, I didn’t see this on an american news site. No, not on the BBC either, or some crazy A-rab news site. It was on none other than Haaretz, an Israeli news site. Its actually a pretty good site, if you want a good balance of articles that don’t lean too far either way.

5 Comments » Add

Link, Rant, Politics

Tip the domino

jlacivita

April 14th, 2003

I thought I’d keep track of all the negative consequences of this war, besides the human and economic damage, that were predicted, as they start to come true. notice i said “start to come true.” I’ve decided to use some preemptive journalism, but i think its pretty clear that while these example’s may not fully play out, they are certainly so much more likely to thanks to our Middle East policy:

India contemplates preemption against Pakistan, cites US attack of Iraq as precedent, and claims their own case is stronger than the US case for Iraq.

Syria openly threatens Israel after US has all but put them into Iraq’s spot on the Axis of Evil list. (shouldn’t it be the Triangle of Evil anyway?) This actually shows two points: 1) we’ve set the precedent for the “Why not?” philosophy of war 2) we’ve worsened our relations with the Arab world, rather than set up a “beacon of democracy for the Arab world”

2 Comments » Add

Link, Politics, I was bored so i posted

Apple might buy Universal Music Division

jlacivita

April 11th, 2003

pretty crazy, huh?

i hope they keep making computers, too.

5 Comments » Add

Link

A Sign

jlacivita

March 27th, 2003

Blair’s Plane touched by god on the way to visit governor Bush.

49 Comments » Add

Link

Freedom Fries!?

jlacivita

March 11th, 2003

ok, this has got to be the lamest thing i’ve heard in my entire life. The cafeteria at congress has renamed “french fries” and “french toach” to “freedom fries” and “freedom toast,” in order to slap france in the face.

not only is this wicked* fucking petty, but its also very ironic, since neither of these dishes came from France, but are from the land of the grease and the home of the lard, USA.

I’m sure France is actually happy that those horrible sample’s of american food no longer bear their country’s name.

Actually, i think french fries were invented in Belgium, and i forget where french toast came from, but you can thank us for over doing it and making them both staples of the standard diet.

I think i’ll start calling them “Fatah Fries” and “Dictator Toast”.

^{*I’m from the Boston area, in case you didn’t know}

Pages

Archive for the 'Link' Category

8 Responses to ““If It’s a Muslim Problem, It Needs a Muslim Solution”, and Then Some…”

One Response to “Find a local coffee shop”

One Response to “Outdoor Adventures of a Taiwanese Woman living in America”

2 Responses to “Don’t Support Our Troops?”

11 Responses to “Support our troops”

21 Responses to “Lawsuit gets Bush Guard papers out”

2 Responses to “We’ve come a long way”

5 Responses to “Math is fun”

2 Responses to “Tip the domino”

5 Responses to “Apple might buy Universal Music Division”

49 Responses to “A Sign”