For what?

As of July, 2010, 1,822 coalition troops have been killed in Afghanistan - and it's getting worse. June was the deadliest month ever for Americans in Afghanistan - but that record didn't last long. July was even worse.

Our wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have already killed over twice as many coalition troops as people killed by al-Qaeda in the September 11th attacks. And that's not including the wounded, disabled and disfigured soldiers. It's not including the wrecked marriages and ruined lives of soldiers and their families. The Army averaged one suicide per day last month. At this rate, we'll lose more soldiers to suicide than roadside bombs very soon. And a lot of soldiers are killing themselves unintentionally, too.

Nor does it include the hundreds of thousands of dead Iraqi and Afghan civilians.

You know what we need more of?

Entrepreneurs. This guy makes the case.

Will the anti-war crowd finally say something now?

"WASHINGTON – Defense Secretary Robert Gates is predicting that only a small number of U.S. forces will come home from Afghanistan when a presidentially mandated withdrawal begins a year from now." -AP article, via Yahoo!

According to the Congressional Research Service, there are over twice as many US troops in Afghanistan as when Obama took office. According to the AP article linked above, there will be well over three times as many by the end of this summer.

This is like a shady oriental rug store doubling its prices right before having a 50% off sale. Actually, that's not fair to the rug dealer. This is more like the rug dealer tripling his prices before advertising a minor, but undetermined discount.

I'm thirty years old, and we've been at war in Afghanistan for one-third of my life. My college-age sister was in fourth-grade when we invaded Afghanistan. In 2010, the year in which Afghanistan became the longest-lasting war in American history, we have three times the number of troops as when Obama was swept to office by an American public already tired of war.

The Education Bubble

Sounds about right.

It literally took fewer guys to destroy the secret Nazi nuclear weapon program than the number of TSA employees manning the security checkpoint I just went through.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norwegian_heavy_water_sabotage

At least fifteen, and there was no line.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Just went through security in Kansas City

Condemned Utah killer will face firing squad

"Weak."

"Ronnie Lee Gardner, 49, was given the choice of being killed by lethal injection or shot by a five-man team of executioners firing from a set of matched rifles — a rarely used method of execution that harkens back to Utah's territorial history." - AP article, via Yahoo!

When reached for comment, Scottish national hero William Wallace was unimpressed. "Pfft. Kids these days have it too easy. Back in my day, we had to be executed by getting pulled on by horses...both ways! I'd have jumped at the chance for a firing squad! It was bad enough when these whippersnappers started getting all worked up about electricity...and pants. Now all these punk kids can do is complain about their evaporating home equity, global warming, and being shot to death."

Progress

Gotta love it.

Now maybe they can get started on re-designing the shape of ice cream molecules to be more filling.

Is Facebook worth it?

Facebook is making some changes. See here: http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/how_to_delete_facebook_applications_and_why_you_should.php

This isn't new, but the recent news revived my interest in the issue. I'm struggling with the decision over whether to delete my Facebook account. I realize Facebook can only exist if it can turn a profit, and this is the only viable mechanism yet discovered.

If I could avoid the problem by opting out, I'd definitely keep it. But it's truly terrifying that if ANY of my friends have a single app like Farmville or Mafia Wars, all my data is shared anyway. As long as that's the case, my privacy won't improve even if I avoid all apps. It's a perfect example of the prisoner's dilemma.

Although I hate the privacy implications and nefarious way this scheme works, it sadly might actually be worth it to me.

That being said, I'd greatly prefer the option to pay an annual fee to opt-out of all data collection. If your privacy isn't worth $30 per year, that's your decision. But it's very troubling that a high school classmate I havent seen in a decade can essentially trade all my personal information for a new barn in Farmville.

-- Post From My iPhone

The regulators failed spectacularly...

...yet again. Government regulation lulls people into a false sense of security, thinking that they don't have to look out for themselves. This actually makes problems worse, and fools people into thinking Bernie Madoff was a good investment opportunity, the economy was sound, adjustable rate mortgages are smart decisions, when common sense should have told them otherwise.

This isn't helping

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100412/ap_on_re_as/as_afghanistan

And they want us to give them Predator drones

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100413/ap_on_re_as/as_pakistan

Can anyone justify this?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100412/ap_on_go_ot/us_tea_party_crashers

Two wrongs don't make a right...

...but don't tell that to Congress.

I've complained again and again* about how government involvement in student loans has been an absolute disaster to those it supposedly helps. Can you guess how I feel about the attempts to combine two of the worst ideas around into a special, hybrid blend of mega-disaster?

It's as if Dr. Evil decided sharks with lasers on their heads weren't destructive enough, so he lobbied Congress to merge a healthcare bill with a student loan bill.

And again. And again. And again.

Who writes these things?

"PATERSON, N.J. – A New Jersey man with apocalyptic visions is accused of years of terrorizing his family, raping his five daughters and impregnating three, beating his children with wooden boards and even moving at one point to avoid child welfare investigators." -AP via Yahoo!

Notice anything wrong with that sentence? How about this?

"My life in the dungeon was terrible. They branded me with red hot irons, drove spikes under my toenails, broke all of my fingers, and even refused to certify that my daily cup of gruel was organic."

Topeka Changes Name To Google For All Of March

Ah, Topeka. What a great idea. Unless, of course, Google gives them a trademark infringement suit instead of a free fiber optic network.