More Good News from the Sunni Triangle?

Though I am naturally inclined to the blood sport that is national politics, I don't want to neglect the real war. This piece, by Michael Totten, who is another free-lance journalist totally committed to writing about the war from the war, and not just from a quick, Katie Couric-style week-long visit. Not that I am criticizing Katie - she did a helluva lot more reporting in that week than any other major network has been willing to do.
Between Michael Yon and Michael Totten, you can get a very good sense of what is happening and what is not.

Beacons of hope

I loved this. We 50 year old fat moms can really make a difference!This is great, too. An excerpt below, but the whole article is fascinating.

"'Earlier this year, I wrote that although terrorists could get inside the decision curve of slow, hidebound bureaucracies, they'd have a tougher time dealing with American civilians:



"But no sooner did the first plane strike the World Trade Center than the hijackers had to confront someone with a swifter learning curve. As Brad Todd noted in a terrific column written just a few days later, American civilians, using items of civilian technology like cell phones and 24-hour news channels, changed tactics and defeated the hijackers aboard United Airlines' Flight 93, overcoming years of patient planning in less than two hours. No one has successfully hijacked a civilian airliner since - and, as "shoebomber" Richard Reid illustrates, those terrorists who threaten civilian airliners now tend to emerge rather the worse for wear. Against bureaucracies, terrorists had the learning-curve advantage. Against civilians, they did not.

This should come as no surprise. American civilians, perhaps more even than their counterparts in Europe, Japan, and the rest of the industrialized world, are used to making rapid changes based on new information. Accustomed to a steep learning curve in business and in life, we should be able to out-adapt those who, after all, are ultimately committed to returning the world to a simulacrum of the 12th century.'"

This kid goes to MIT???

Admission standards at MIT have clearly headed south.

As Ellie used to say - Buggerflies!

Haven't posted photos in a while. Here are some recent butterflies I shot. The first, a Buckeye, is a migrating visitor who summers in Canada and winters in Virginia. If you are lucky, you can see huge flocks(do we say flocks for butterflies?) much like monarchs. 
The second is a Tiger Swallowtail. 
This one is a Giant Swallowtail. Terribly dramatic coloring and truly huge - one of the largest butterflies in N. America. As broad as a man's hand. 
The last, though fairly common, is so lovely I had to include it. It is a Red Spotted Purple, in the swallowtail family - spectacular colors. 

More Hillary

This is a neat little piece that says it all. Read all the way to the bottom and also scrutinize the vote tally - Obama, clinton, Biden, Dodd - all presidential candidates. Scathing.

Enough!

I have been waiting patiently to dive into the presidential election discussion - waiting, mostly, until what I would discuss would reflect not just my political views, but also my personal ones. But the vote today in the U.S. Congress on censuring MoveOn.org for it's ad in the NYT was too much, just way too much. I mean really, Hillary Clinton votes NOT to censure them? Just how out of touch is she? The presumptive nominee for her party, she will at some point have to appeal to the middle. Just how many people "in the middle" are comfortable with a president who insults his or her generals for lying to Congress and then sides with a group like MoveOn? This won't hurt her? I don't think so.