Master of the Obvious I

There has been a setback in the recent battle in Afghanistan.  Two NATO rockets flew off course and killed 12 civilians.  One story can be found here.


It appears "Master of the Obvious Award" for 15 February 2010 goes to British Chief of the Defense Staff Air Marshal Sir Jock Stirrup.


Here is his quote:

He . . . "called the off-target strike a "very serious setback" in efforts to win the support of local communities.

"This operation ... is not about battling the Taliban. It is about protecting the local population and you don't protect them when you kill them," he said in an interview with the BBC.

I hereby award Master of the Obvious distinction to (insert long British title here) Jock Stirrup.  Thank you for the  input. 

The End of Food

Label found on a recently produced can of Mayan chili:

For best value purchase and eat before December 21, 2012

Now I know what to do with the food I hoarded for Y2K.   


Eat it.

Solitaire

Do you cheat at solitaire?

What's the point in that?

Do you win when you cheat at solitaire?

Really?

Do you cheat at solitaire when someone is watching?

Does it matter?

Gives a new perspective to Plato's remark--through Socrates--that the most moral person would become the most immoral, vile, deceitful person when given the power of invisibility.

One final question:

Is national security the ultimate cloak of invisibility?

Maybe we're playing solitaire.

Let's Plant a Money Tree

If money is the root of all evil,

what kind of tree are we growing today?

Dennis A Carroll, 14 Dec 09

Romans Eliminate Christianity

The U.S. is NOT making the same mistakes in Afghanistan that it made in Vietnam.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

The U.S. is going out of its way to make new and more modern mistakes.

On Wednesday, 9 December, BBC News reported that General Stanley McChrystal told Congress:

"I don't think that we can finally defeat al-Qaeda until he's (Osama bin Laden) captured or killed."

"Doing some fancy mouthwork he went on to say that killing or capturing Bin Laden would not spell the end of al-Qaeda, but that the movement could not be eradicated while Bin Laden remained at large." (BBC quote)

Link to the report can be found here.

How times change. Imagine the lambasting General William Westmoreland would have received if he had suggested the Vietnam War could not be won without killing Ho Chi Minh. Ho Chi Minh died in 1969. The war raged on for half a decade.

Additionally, remember the Galilean Herald-Tribune's headline in 30 AD

Pontius Pilate Squelches Christianity With Seditious Jesus' Elimination

Maybe the U.S. isn't making a modern mistake at all.