New Freedonia

Overheard yesterday:

“I can open a two-liter of Mountain Dew with the armored ridge of my taint.”

Happy Thanksgiving everybody.

Back when I did stand-up, I did this bit on animal necrophilia. (You had to be there)

How do you plead on animal necrophilia? ‘I’m sorry your Honor, I didn’t know the parrot was dead when I was fucking it.’

How often life imitates art.

OK, I can recall reading a few dissenting opinion pieces in various military publications back in my day…but this…this is huge:

Time for Rumsfeld to go

“So long as our government requires the backing of an aroused and informed public opinion … it is necessary to tell the hard bruising truth.”

That statement was written by Pulitzer Prize-winning war correspondent Marguerite Higgins more than a half-century ago during the Korean War.

But until recently, the “hard bruising” truth about the Iraq war has been difficult to come by from leaders in Washington. One rosy reassurance after another has been handed down by President Bush, Vice President Cheney and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld: “mission accomplished,” the insurgency is “in its last throes,” and “back off,” we know what we’re doing, are a few choice examples.

Military leaders generally toed the line, although a few retired generals eventually spoke out from the safety of the sidelines, inciting criticism equally from anti-war types, who thought they should have spoken out while still in uniform, and pro-war foes, who thought the generals should have kept their critiques behind closed doors.

Now, however, a new chorus of criticism is beginning to resonate. Active-duty military leaders are starting to voice misgivings about the war’s planning, execution and dimming prospects for success.

Army Gen. John Abizaid, chief of U.S. Central Command, told a Senate Armed Services Committee in September: “I believe that the sectarian violence is probably as bad as I’ve seen it … and that if not stopped, it is possible that Iraq could move towards civil war.”

Last week, someone leaked to The New York Times a Central Command briefing slide showing an assessment that the civil conflict in Iraq now borders on “critical” and has been sliding toward “chaos” for most of the past year. The strategy in Iraq has been to train an Iraqi army and police force that could gradually take over for U.S. troops in providing for the security of their new government and their nation.

But despite the best efforts of American trainers, the problem of molding a viciously sectarian population into anything resembling a force for national unity has become a losing proposition.

For two years, American sergeants, captains and majors training the Iraqis have told their bosses that Iraqi troops have no sense of national identity, are only in it for the money, don’t show up for duty and cannot sustain themselves.

Meanwhile, colonels and generals have asked their bosses for more troops. Service chiefs have asked for more money.

And all along, Rumsfeld has assured us that things are well in hand.

Now, the president says he’ll stick with Rumsfeld for the balance of his term in the White House.

This is a mistake.

It is one thing for the majority of Americans to think Rumsfeld has failed. But when the nation’s current military leaders start to break publicly with their defense secretary, then it is clear that he is losing control of the institution he ostensibly leads.

These officers have been loyal public promoters of a war policy many privately feared would fail. They have kept their counsel private, adhering to more than two centuries of American tradition of subordination of the military to civilian authority.

And although that tradition, and the officers’ deep sense of honor, prevent them from saying this publicly, more and more of them believe it.

Rumsfeld has lost credibility with the uniformed leadership, with the troops, with Congress and with the public at large. His strategy has failed, and his ability to lead is compromised. And although the blame for our failures in Iraq rests with the secretary, it will be the troops who bear its brunt.

This is not about the midterm elections. Regardless of which party wins Nov. 7, the time has come, Mr. President, to face the hard bruising truth:

Donald Rumsfeld must go.

From the freaking Army Times!

Nigel Kneale has died.

If you don’t know the name, he’s the man who created Quatermass.

At one time, the entirety of the UK would shut down to get home for Quatermass night. I’ve many friends and family that recall everything from markets to pubs being made into ghost towns on those nights.

Quatermass made all sorts of adult science-fiction possible. While the pulp trade had enjoyed such stories for awhile, it remained “pulp”. Kneale’s efforts truly helped to elevate it. Quatermass remains a seminal work in the genre. It pulled no punches, it held little back. Yet, no matter how dark or grisly the situation, Bernard remained a gentleman.

To say, “If not for Quatermass…” may sound a bit hollow, as we tend to hear things like that a lot. But if not for Kneale and Quatermass, we’d not have had work like Doctor Who or possibly even Star Trek…or those that followed. Quatermass changed things.

If you’re not familiar with Quatermass, you’re in for a treat. You can find fiction and vid for most of it. There were also some radio plays you can find during some time with Google.

I’m sure the BBC will be releasing a lot of material for the public over the next few days. They have a lovely setup for such things, making most of their content available online (in their country at least).

I owe quite a bit to Nigel Kneale, as I’m sure most of what I enjoy watching and reading would be very different or absent without his influence.