‘It’s the Economy, Stupid’
February 24, 2009“Why ain’t they turning?” — Frederick Fleet, in the crows nest of the Titanic. (Illustration found here). As President Obama prepares for a major speech tonight to a joint session of Congress — a State…
Author Archives: Bruce Maulden
Afghan Rabbit Hole
February 22, 2009A lot of verbiage was tossed about last week on President Obama’s approval of 17,000 more US troops for Afghanistan, and even the country’s president declared “We have opened a new page” in the conflict.…
After the Precipice
February 20, 2009A now-no-longer-forgotten war, the ponderous grind-down conflict in Afghanistan is getting some payback time in the press. Although economic news played up front in the US — President Obama announced Wednesday his homeowners bailout plan,…
Corrupted Culture
February 18, 2009Corruption rot spawned from lies. The entire Iraqi misadventure is a horror-shame of an affair. From UK’s The Independent on Monday: In what could turn out to be the greatest fraud in US history, American…
Drone Ownward
February 14, 2009The future is still here — “the first time a combat vehicle has used a laser to shoot down a UAV.” (Illustration of General Atomics Predator UAV found here). This morning another report of yet…
Timing the ‘Shadow Army’
February 12, 2009Wednesday’s seemingly-fearless, intricate attacks in Kabul by a way-over-resurgent Taliban should be very much a sign-post of an eye-opener on the bad road ahead in Afghanistan. Apparently, a near-identical Mumbai operation with its seemingly random…
News Bytes Dog
February 11, 2009Today has been what’s most-definitely called a big news-event day, from all things financial — the ongoing stimulus package finally passed Congress, bank CEOs were grilled on Capitol Hill, more fallout came from yesterday’s unveiling…
‘Nobody Knows Anything’
February 11, 2009“When it comes to backs, nobody knows anything.” — Peter Paul ‘Paulie Walnuts’ Gualtieri, The Sopranos One of the most-frightful aspects of this extremely-current financial meltdown is its seemingly incoherent complexities, made worse by dumbfounded,…
Requiem for the Graves
February 10, 2009Dying in Iraq is down: In January, 138 civilians were killed in violence across the country, compared with 238 in December, according to the figures, based on data collected by Iraq’s Health, Defense and Interior…