I tweet, therefore I am

Ego tweeto, ergo sum

Margaret Wente
Globe & Mail

If you thought Facebook was banal, try Twitter. It makes people who write their thoughts on Facebook sound like Shakespeare.. Twitter and Facebook are creating a new world of digital intimacy

Why, then, do people tweet? Is it really hunger for community? Is it, as one Twittering friend suggested, a safe substitute for talking to yourself, something that other people tend to find disturbing? Is it one more symptom of mass attention-deficit disorder – yet another excuse to distract ourselves from the dull or difficult tasks at hand?

Is it really fear of dying, as my colleague Ian Brown suggests? Maybe Twittering is just another way (like getting and sending e-mail) to reassure ourselves that we exist: Ego tweeto, ergo sum

"Afghanistan's not worth a mullah's hemorrhoid."

Ralph Peter's sounds off on Obama's "comprehensive new strategy" for Afghanistan and Pakistan. Where's the hope and change? Not in Obama's AF/PAK strategy....or lack thereof.

Putting the bulk of our effort into Afghanistan amounts to attacking a crisis in California by rescuing Nevada. It's Pakistan that lies (and lies and lies) at the heart of this problem.

We're such good buds that, while the Pakistanis protect the worst elements within the Taliban, manipulate our key supply line and pander to terrorists, Obama wants to guarantee Pakistan's stunningly corrupt politicians $1.5 billion in aid every year. Plus military aid.

Why on earth should the Pakistanis help us when we reward them lavishly for screwing us?

Read "BAM Channels LBJ"

Afghanistan: The War Obama Now Owns.

Obama now owns Afghan war and will be judged by it

JOHN IBBITSON
Globe & Mail

Mr. Obama's troop-surge-in-all-but-name attempts to duplicate the success of Iraq in Afghanistan, bearing in mind that they are two very different countries, and that the challenges in Afghanistan in many ways are more formidable: a difficult terrain, few natural resources, opium rather than oil, a history of chronic internal strife.

Equally important, Mr. Obama's war is the first, and will doubtless prove to be the biggest, test of the new President's commitment to multilateralism. Success depends on the co-operation of others: persuading India to ease tensions with Pakistan so that the Pakistan military can shift troops from its eastern border to fight in the west against the Taliban; getting Russia and China and Iran to be part of the solution, rather than part of the problem; keeping America's NATO allies committed to the cause, even as the United States assumes greater responsibility for that cause.

Ironically, the President is employing in this war the lessons Mr. Bush learned in Iraq: flood the zone with troops; concentrate on building up the local military and police; invest heavily in the infrastructure of government and civil society.

Mr. Obama now owns this war. The American people and the world will judge him on how he runs it.

15 Democrat & Republican representatives are already opposing the war. That sounds familiar!
Hope and Change.... My Ass!

Read More

Related:
Obama's Stronger, Smarter War

There is little new in the plan at the strategic level, the president's rhetoric notwithstanding. Compare his approach to the “Five Pillars” of the 2004 Afghan counterinsurgency strategy — defeat terrorism; enable the Afghan security structure; sustain area ownership; enable reconstruction and good governance; and engage regional states. Mr. Obama may employ slightly different language, but the strategic concepts are the same.

But President Bush gets credit for the most significant strategic shift when he authorized expanded Predator strikes against terror targets inside Pakistan in August 2008. Since then, nine of the top 20 al Qaeda leaders in Pakistan have been killed, almost half the command group.

Michele Bachmann: Earning A Buzz, Energizing GOP

Minnesota Congresswoman Driving Dems Berserk

She called for an expose to root out members of Congress who are “anti-America.” She gave President George W. Bush a public hug and a kiss so famously awkward one paper called it the “death grip.” She claimed to know of a secret plan to partition Iraq and carve out a “terrorist save haven zone,” and then backed off the statement.

“For what pisses off the Democrats, it really energizes that conservative base she has,” said Lawrence Jacobs, a political professor at the University of Minnesota. “This is not a strategic politician. This is a movement conservative. She’s a true believer.”

The larger party infrastructure is about winning elections, and Michele Bachmann is about saving America,” he said.

“Michele Bachmann is a microcosm of the tension between the Republican Party that wants to win elections and conservatives who want to fight and win policy battles. That is the core of it.”

I'd love to see her as Minnesota's next Governor.

H/T Pat Dollard

Gary Sinise & Lt Dan Band

CSI NY, Operation Iraqi Children, Brothers At War documentary, The Lt Dan Band, Summer USO Tour & solo trips to Iraq & Afghanistan.

Gary has been supporting troops for more than two decades not just in word, but in a long stream of deeds

Base dates & more from Michael Yon
with photos from William G.S. Smith

Gary Sinise on Late Night w/Fallon

Gary Sinise appeared on Late Nite w/Fallon last week where he discusses the Brothers at War documentary, CSI NY, and jams with the House Band. He also shows off his comedic side.

Pt1 ( comes in at 6:32)
http://tinyurl.com/d8rtur

Pt2
http://tinyurl.com/cfeeey


**April 25*** NBC has seen fit in their fucking stupidity to remove these two clips from YouTube.
They can be viewed on Hulu, but only if you live in the US.

TOTUS - Teleprompter Of The United States

The Official Seal of the Teleprompter of the United States

From The Moody Blog