Quote of the Moment - 03-20-13

"The people who are most persuasive aren’t necessarily the people who are actually right. Argument is a skill. Authority is a position. Trusting too much in either can lead you astray." 

 Ezra Klein, in his Bloomberg article reflecting on the 10th anniversary of the Iraq War, but illuminating a more global truth.

SOMEONE PLEASE SHUT HIM UP!
So, any true fan of Ian Fleming's seminal superspy knows that James Bond's cover when he travels around the world is that he's a business executive for Universal Exports, a fictitious company that serves as a front for Her Majesty's Secret Service.

In the same vein, Joseph Wilson's wife, a real-life intelligence agent under non-official cover, used to travel on missions regarding WMDs under the cover of being an energy expert in the employ of a company without a real office or telephone - i.e. a facade to hide her real employers, the C.I.A.

Now, why do I know about this?

BECAUSE ROBERT NOVAK NAMED THE FREAKING COMPANY ON CNN!

Novak, in an attempt to prove that this whole scandal is just a left-wing witchhunt, looked up the Wilson's political contributions, and saw that Wilson's wife gave to Gore's 2000 campaign under the name of said company. Novak went on to say that, since it wasn't a real company, she clearly wasn't undercover because, as far as he knew, they're not supposed to give the names of a false employer.

So, now, the North Korean, Iranian, Pakistani, and Libyan intelligence services can see if there were any other American citizens doing business in their countries for this company and can reasonably assume than those people are CIA operatives and any natives associated with them are probably spies for the Americans. Those agents will get kicked out, and those people will be killed. And the CIA will have to retire that company front and start a new one.

Is he such a stupid conservative lap dog that he doesn't understand he's jeopardizing national security every time he opens his mouth?!?!?!

Standing Up In The Face Of Madness
Well, say what you will about Colin Powell (let's not get into that whole Harry Belafonte thing again), he proves, once again, that he is the voice of reason in this lunatic asylum they call the Bush Administration. This Washington Post report details how Powell engineered yet another coup to bring the UN into Iraq, over the protests of Don Rumsfeld & the neo-con civilian leadership in the Pentagon.

This is interesting to me for three reasons:
1. Notice that the military brass themselves knew that this was poorly planned, but were promptly silenced by Rumfeld & Co. until the bombs started going off.

2. Why is the President giving more credence for military planning to political appointees instead of generals? Is anyone surprised that this has descended into chaos?

3. Why is it so important to the Administration for the United States to have complete and total control in Iraq? Is it really because they're just arrogant & stubborn? Or could it possibly have to do with the fact that we're holding all of these high level Iraqi officials and that the UN, once involved, may actually want to conduct their own interrogation of these guys? Consider that, to date, none of the Iraqi leadership have confirmed the existence of the WMD arsenal that the White House said they knew had to be there. After all, if any of them knew anything to support Bush's case, they would have been paraded before the public long before now. What other secrets are the US hiding?

Most Terrifyingly Appropriate TV Quote of the Day


"It's happening...... again."


- The mysterious Giant, warning FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper that a new murder, reminiscent of previous killings, had just occured in Twin Peaks.

Dr. David Kelly, a former UN weapons inspector who may or may not have been a source for the BBC on reports that Tony Blair's government had "sexed up" reports of Iraq's WMD capabilities, was just found dead three days after testifying in front of a Foreign Affairs committee. The committee had given him five days to consider his next round of testimony. No cause of death has been determined.

Irony abounds. Just last night, I watched a little indie thriller called Interview With The Assassin, about a old man who claims to be the 2nd shooter on the grassy knoll who actually killed Kennedy. The DVD details all the people associated with the assassination who died under mysterious circumstances in the following decade.

Word of advice to George Tenet: try not to end up like your predecessor, William Casey, did during the Iran-Contra Affair.