Things I’d Like to Post About Today ….. (120908, Morning)

….. But I Don’t Have Any Time For:

• Large Bill does a great job dissecting “The Biggest Boondoggle” claim made by John Arquilla at Forbes. Arquilla believes that aircraft carriers are obsolete and that new spending on them should cease. LB puts up some very good contrary arguments, especially in regards to deterrence. That’s all fine, but I still find Arquilla’s assertion that a traditional carrier fleet will be useless in a China-Taiwan conflict compelling. So what do we bring to that fight so we can win it — or better yet, keep the Chicoms from starting it?
• Yeah, there is hope — William Jefferson (D-La) lost his re-election bid (HT Best of the Web) to Republican Anh Cao. The linked New York Times article attributed Jefferson’s loss to “white anger,” and waited until the second-last paragraph to tell us that “Mr. Cao, 41 and known as Joseph, fled Vietnam at age 8 after the fall of Saigon.”
• News-twisting as just mentioned explains why the New York Times has to borrow against its headquarters building to stay solvent. The journey towards becoming Manhattan’s quaint little alternative newspaper continues.
• Great catch — GM told the public 5 years ago that it had messed up in the past and that it was on the “road to redemption.” Not exactly. A full-fledged attempted “redemption” at taxpayers’ expense is a bad, bad, bad idea that has the potential to cost $125 billion.
• Speaking of which, they don’t want to utter the word “nationalization” — but that’s what appears to be happening in the Big 3 Bailout.
• So you tell me — Why did Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four others involved in the 9/11 attacks agree to confess on the night Barack Obama won the presidential election?
• It’s easy to make too much of this …..
  

  MR. BROKAW: ….. Have you stopped smoking?
  PRES.-ELECT OBAMA: You know, I have, but what I said was that, you know, there are times where I’ve fallen off the wagon. Well…
  BROKAW: Well, wait a minute.
  OBAMA: …what can I tell…
  BROKAW: Then that means you haven’t stopped.
  OBAMA: Well, the–fair enough. What I would say is, is that I have done a terrific job under the circumstances of making myself much healthier, and I think that you will not see any violations of these rules in the White House.

  ….. but it’s all too reminiscent of someone else who lied even when he didn’t have to.