Target Centermass

Category: General

  • Are the Media Finally Hearing the Swiftvets?

    Working on a project tonight so there may be no original posting.

    Check back later but, for now, a tip of the CVC to Captain’s Quarters for finding a hard-hitting editorial about Kerry and the Swiftvets. It looks like the walls around Fortress Kerry may be showing some cracks.

    With his campaign being pounded by the very “band of brothers” that John Kerry invoked time and again on the stump, his advisors have been working overtime on two tracks: discredit the veterans he once presumed would wholeheartedly support him and keep the story out of the mainstream press.

  • Feel-Good Story: Iraqi Olympians

    Target Centermass is now, with this post, hitting its century mark, 100 posts and I’m sticking with it. I’ve decided to devote this post to the Iraqi soccer team’s surprising 4-2 win over Portugal.

    “This victory will be received with happiness by my people, who have suffered through much,” said Iraqi coach Adnan Hamad, whose countrymen were already taking to the streets of Baghdad, lighting up the night sky with streaks of celebratory gunfire.

    The stunning victory over a team that made it to final of the recent Euro 2004 tournament brought a rare moment of joy for Iraqis plagued by violence, chaos and constant power outages.

    Across their homeland, they watched the game on television at home and at cafes. Even people at a Baghdad barbershop took time out of their late-night haircuts to celebrate the goals.

  • Reciprocity II

    I don’t know how he found me, but this guy linked to Target Centermass. After checking out his site, I recommend anybody who wants to really understand Texans check out this guy. For what it’s worth, I plan on hitting this guy’s camping business up some.

    The Fat Guy

    I’d love to sip a brew with this guy at a Rider’s game. Comments section is wide open, Scott.

  • The Captain Nails Kerry Again

    Read this. Then make your friends read it.

    This major flip-flop has handed George Bush a belated endorsement of his Iraq policy, even while John Kerry has said he’d do everything else differently — but has yet to actually say what that would be. Even his secret plan wound up being a rehash of what Bush has already done, except for the transfer of sovereignty, which his European friends insisted on and which Bush himself recognized as a must. (Kerry wanted a UN “high commissioner” to run Iraq indefinitely.)

    Captain Ed is very quickly pushing his way up my list of favorite bloggers.

  • Olympics … Yawn

    Never in my life have I felt so underwhelmed about the Olympics, and I can’t put my finger on why that is. Is it the loss of USA vs USSR? The influx of our professional athletes, as opposed to the days of old when it was our amateurs against the Soviet and East German so-called amateurs? Is it the drug scandals? Is it the fear of possible terror? Is it the move to have the Winter games offset so we now have an Olympiad every other year? I just don’t know. Maybe I’ll get into whatever remains of the Olympic spirit after the games start.

  • Kerry Chooses Raising Taxes Over Funding War

    In his latest spinning of his vote against the $87 billion in funding for the troops and the Iraqi campaign, John Kerry said today that his nay vote was really against Bush’s tax cuts.

    President Bush says you can not negotiate with terrorists; they must be brought to justice. The president again criticized Senator Kerry for opposing an $87 billion supplemental appropriation for the U.S. military last year, saying American troops sent into battle must have the best equipment.

    Senator Kerry says he voted against that money because he wanted it to come from the president’s record tax cuts instead of adding to the federal deficit.

    This is stupid on so many levels. Does this mean that he actually voted for the tax cuts before he voted against them? A presidential candidate should never say he played politics while trying to withhold support from the troops and the war effort. This statement just begs to be publicized to the voters and those in uniform.

  • U.S. Demands Najaf Militants End Fighting

    While it is a somewhat interesting twist in an ongoing story, I felt driven to post this just because I love the quote I’ve put in bold.

    U.S. forces adopted a new tactic Tuesday in their sixth day of battles in this city south of the capital, sending patrols armed with loudspeakers into the streets to demand that militants loyal to a radical cleric drop their arms and leave Najaf immediately or face death.

    The call, broadcast in Arabic from American vehicles, added a psychological component to the U.S. offensive. It came as U.S. helicopter gunships pummeled a multistoried building 400 yards from the gold-domed Imam Ali Shrine with rockets, missiles and 30 mm cannons — one of the closest strikes yet to what is one of the holiest sites in Shia Islam.

    Plumes of thick, black smoke rose from the building, which serves as a hotel for visitors to the shrine. Witnesses said insurgents were firing from inside it and that U.S. forces returned fire.

    “We’ve pretty much just been patrolling and flying helicopters all over the place, and when we see something bad, we blow it up,” said U.S. Marine Maj. David Holahan, executive officer of the 1st Battalion, 4th Marines Regiment.

    Nearby, Bradley fighting vehicles swept through a huge cemetery, pursuing small pockets of militants hiding in elaborate concrete tombs. Choppers provided support, firing rockets from above, witnesses said.

    I’m thinking Maj. David Holahan would’ve made a good tanker.

  • Grab a Drink and Read This

    Doffing the CVC to the greatness that is Vodkapundit for his look at strategies going forward in the war against radical Islam based on lessons learned from the Cold War.

    By now, you probably know where I’m going with this little history lesson: How do we define victory in the Terror War, and what will the peace look like.

    Let’s get the second part out of the way first.

    What will the peace look like? I don’t have a damn clue. And neither do you. And if you meet anyone who claims to know, feel free to laugh at them really hard. So hard, you get a little spit on their face. Sometimes, justice can be small and spiteful – ask a meter maid. Anyway.

    When peace comes, it could look like whatever Mecca, Tehran, Damascus, Riyadh, Pyongyang, Khartoum, Kabul, Cairo, etc., look like after being hit by big city-busting nuclear warheads. Or it could end with the entire Arab and Muslim world looking like the really well-manicured bits of Connecticut. My best guess is, somewhere in-between. But that’s only a guess.

    NOTE: It’s a sad state of affairs (their affairs, not ours) that the first scenario, no matter how repugnant and unlikely, still seems more likely than the second scenario, no matter how virtuous.

    Now that we know that we don’t know how we’ll win, that leaves the question (and the oxymoron): How do we win?

    Go. Read. Learn why Stephen Green is one of my favorite bloggers.

  • Palestinian Inquiry Blames Arafat for Anarchy

    It seems that even the Palestinians have figured out that Arafat is the Palestinian problem personified.

    A Palestinian Legislative Council investigation says the Palestinian Authority, and its president Yasser Arafat, are to blame for failure of the Palestinian security forces to restore law and order in the Gaza Strip. The committee also calls for the resignation of the Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia’s government and that new general elections be held.

    The panel’s report follows a month-long inquiry in which dozens of people were interviewed, ranging from Prime Minister Qureia to leading commanders of security forces, and activists from the mainstream Fatah faction from all over Gaza. Their blunt testimony charged that the Palestinian leadership failed to build state institutions and as a result used clan loyalties instead of law to deal with out-of-control armed factions.

    The five-member committee was made up of both Arafat loyalists and those advocating reform with the Palestinian Authority.

    The report lays the blame for the failure of the security forces to restore law and order to what it calls “the total lack of a clear political decision” and to no definition of roles for security forces “either for the long term or the short.”

    Unfortunately, the Palestinians haven’t figured out the true first step in repairing their problem, which is the abandonment of Arafat the terrorist. Peace and prosperity for the Palestinian people cannot be attained under Yasser, as they would only lead to his eventual loss of relevance in the region and on the world stage. Arafat knows this and will not allow it.

  • Rock’em, Sock’em Banner

    Kudos and a tip of the CVC to A Small Victory and Sekimori Design for the new banner.

    Man, I loved Rock’em, Sock’em Robots as a kid. One small issue: in today’s political arena, I’d be rooting for the red states’ robot.