Friday, June 10, 2005

New Crazy Anti-Hillary Conspiracy Theory   Billionaire right-winger Richard Mellon Scaife financed dozens of people who were researching various Clinton conspiracy theories while President Clinton was in office.  My personal favorite is he gave a guy who thought Hillary Clinton was a man hundreds of thousands of dollars to check it out.  So far, no smoking gun.  In a new book, a writer, Edward Klein, seems to attempt to top that old absurd theory by suggesting that Senator Clinton is a lesbian.  After all, the Senator knows some women who are lesbians...and you know how those lesbians all like to hang out together.  Hey, how about this?  Maybe Hillary is a man...who digs chicks. 6:01:06 PM    comment []

The Triumph of the Won't   Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld took office with visions of radically remaking the US Armed Forces.  He wanted a smaller, more mobile, more technologically advanced military.  The war in Iraq has demonstrated that his vision was fundamentally wrong.  The military doesn't need more advanced smart bombs.  It needs a plate of armor on the bottom of its Jeeps so they're less vulnerable to mines and bombs.  The military doesn't need more speed.  It need soldiers to watch other soldiers' backs. Meanwhile, in no small part because military planning has placed a higher priority on technological advancement than on making soldiers as safe as possible, military recruiting is having its toughest time since the end of the draft.  For four months running, military recruiters in every service have fallen short of their quotas.  This occurs at the same time that military needs exceed the size of the military.  Instead of the military being reshaped by some grand design in a Rumsfeldian triumph of the will, it is being quietly reshaped by a triumph of the won't:  graduating high school seniors and other historically likely candidates are refusing to enter the military.  This has lead to changing standards:  the age of potential recruits has been raised upward from 34; the physical condition required to enlist has been loosened; failure of a drug test is no longer enough to eject someone from the military; and more and more, women are allowed to serve in combat roles.  It has also lead to enormous emphasis being placed on encouraging serving soldiers to re-enlist, including paying them tax-free bonuses.  The enhanced focus on re-enlisting soldiers has been a welcome and successful move, exceeding expected results, and leading to a more professional military.  At the same time, raising the age of possible recruits allows people to join the military as a second or third or even fourth career. 10:19:47 AM    comment []

Quote for the Day, 6/10/2005   "It's less trouble to feel sorry for her than it is to teach her anything better."   -Anne Bancroft, The Miracle Worker 8:07:15 AM    comment []