Outside the Perimeter

Interesting Documentary

I reactivated HBO tonight, just in time to catch part of a "Diary of a Political Tourist" (I'll watch the rest later in the week) by Alexandra Pelosi. Alexandra is the daughter of House Minority leader Nancy Pelosi. (Nancy, if you don't know, is much in the liberal wing of the Democratic Party. Also, whenever I see Nancy, I always suspect she has a Dalmatian puppy fur coat hidden away in a closet somewhere.)

Alexandra had previously made "Journeys with George" about George W. Bush's 2000 Presidential run. "Diary" is a behind the scenes look at the Democratic candidates seeking this year's Democratic Presidential Nomination.

Pelosi the younger provides her own commentary for the documentary, and some of it is pretty funny. The video by itself is funny also. For example, she goes from a scene where John Kerry is campaigning on a pig farm. While looking a pen full of pigs, his question to the farmer - "How many head are in there?. Pelosi's voiceover says, "It's a looooong way to Pennsylvania Avenue".

She moves next to "check out the competition" at the 2003 White House BBQ. Pelosi the younger has her camera and is standing next to her Mom and who I think are her brothers. The President is working the line and eventually makes his way to the Pelosi clan. He is having his picture taken with the Pelosi the younger brothers. He is the transcript of that part:

George W. Bush: Let me say hello to your mother, boys. Thank you for coming, Nancy. Nancy Pelosi: Mr. President. My pleasure. You see Alexandra. Alexandra Pelosi: Hello, Mr. President. George W. Bush (jokingly): Alexandra. Would you please get rid of the camera? Once and for all. I made you famous once. I'm not going to make you famous again. Alexandra: Don't you miss me and the camera. (Bush takes the camera away from Alexandra and turns it around on her.) Alexandra: Don't you miss your old friend? Your old friend. Don't you miss it? George W. Bush: I do miss you. And furthermore, how much money did you make off of me. Alexandra: Well, that tax ... I am going to be a real beneficiary of your tax cut. Bush: That's good. Tell you mother that.

Bush came off as charming and quick witted. I have only seen part of the movie, but it looks like Pelosi the Younger made an interesting documentary. I also understand from watching her on Hannity and Colmes tonight that the Dems are not happy with her movie.

In other words, I'll probably enjoy watching the rest of it as soon as I have time.

Back to Work

I was in a cubicle farm day for the first time in a bunch of years. Commuting kind of sucks. But considering the alternative, the ever shrinking bank account, I think I'll deal with it.

The other good news, for an early riser such as myself, is that I can work 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. That way I can miss traffic and spend more time with the piglets in the afternoon.

The other part that sucks is that I don't have too much time to surf the net to feed my political junkie habit. I'll have to make due with Special Report with Brit Hume for the the major stuff, and fill in later in the night with Instapundit and The Corner On National Review Online. I'll still read the AJC in the morning, if only to know what the other side is thinking.

Speaking of the crappy local paper, I think I have their rule sorted out for which news they print and in what order: The likelyhood of a story making the front page is in inverse proportion to the degree to which it will help President Bush. Two examples: First, I don't remember reading anything about John Howard's election victory in Australia. Howard is a stanch supporter of Bush and his victory at the polls is a good omen for the President. Sure, there might have been an article, but it was probably buried somewhere and I missed it.

Compare that to the banner headline on the front of Sunday's paper: "Afghan election in turmoil." Bush's plan to spread democracy is working, and these weiners are making a tempest in a teapot.

But, it pretty much goes along with the inverse proportion rule of the AJC. If it were not for the Sports page, I am pretty sure I would not bother.

Darn!

I was offered a contract yesterday for a technical writer position, which my wife told me I had to take. (Tip: The true secret to a long lasting marriage is doing what your wife says). Reluctantly, I will be giving up the carefree life of an unemployed technical writer to live the life in the cubicle fast lane.

The upside is that we will be able to revert to the lifestyle to which we had become accustomed. Which in essence means we will be able to reactivate HBO so I can watch The Wire and hopefully catch up with Six Feet Under.

The downside is that my touch-typing skills will now be devoted more to something that pays. That will probably mean less blogging.

There are a few upcoming events that I am going to be sure to cover. First, the PWers in Atlanta are getting together again to watch the next Presidential debate. If I can have WIFI access, I am thinking about liveblogging our reaction. I'll also be watching the VP debate tonight, if only to see Edwards proposal for a class action suit against of Al Queda. Next up will be election eve.

Later in November, PW will be attending the big protest at Fort Benning at the School of the Americas. Once again, I'll be covering that event and should be able to come up with some interesting video and stills.

Of course, I'll still be posting as the muse requires, but I am not sure how often that is going to work out with my rejoining of the rat race.

Kerry Fails the Global Pop Quiz

I watched the debate last night with some of the Atlanta Protest Warriors. We loved how President Bush nailed Kerry on the "Global Test" thing. I thought this analogy by Kerry was a little odd:

The terrorism czar, who has worked for every president since Ronald Reagan, said, Invading Iraq in response to 9/11 would be like Franklin Roosevelt invading Mexico in response to Pearl Harbor.

First, I don't think we had tens of thousands of troops stationed to keep an eye on Mexico during WWII. I certainly know that Mexico was not trying to actively shoot down our airplanes.

More to the point, Kerry's comment betrays a certain lack of knowledge about WWII. True, we were attacked by the Japanese and that led to our entry into the war. Subsequently, Adolph Hitler declared war on the United States.

President Roosevelt made the decision to concentrate our efforts on the defeat of Germany, to the detriment of our effort to avenge Pearl Harbor. The de-prioritization of the Pacific theater also led to some of our worst defeats of the war. Troops that could have been used to defend the Philippines were diverted to the European theater. Ships, airplanes, and Marines were on their way to assist with the defense of Wake Island . They were turned around and Wake was lost, despite the valor of the American troops on the island.

So while it is true that we did not avenge Pearl Harbor by invading Mexico, we did respond by invading North Africa. And Sicily. And Italy. And France.

President Roosevelt realized that we were fighting a global war to make the world safe for the United States of America. That being the case, we had to fight the war not just in a passionate way, but also in a smart way. We had to be able to engage against several enemies at once to achieve the final victory. We did.

President Bush has the same type of global vision. He knows that the war will not end when Osama Bin Lauden is caught (assuming that UBL is still alive). Bush knows the only way to a final victory is to not only confront terrorists, but to call those nations who assist with terror to account:

And not only will we find the terrorists, we will enforce the doctrine that says if you harbor a terrorist, you're a terrorist. If you feed a terrorist, if you fund a terrorist, you're a terrorist.

John Kerry's argument seems to be that he is upset that the President did what he said he was going to do. I can see how the President not advocating the expedient thing would confuse John Kerry, master of the politically expedient.

There is another two things that Kerry said that demonstrated his lack of understanding of the military. In the first case, Kerry was complaining that we used indigenous troops to attack Tora Bora. In the second, Kerry said he was going to increase the number of Special Forces troops.

It is obvious that Kerry does not understand that one of the major roles of Special Forces is to command indigenous troops. This was done to brilliant effect in our effort in Afghanistan. To quote from "American Soldier" by General Tommy Franks:

"Tiger 02, the Special Forces team supporting General Abdul Rashid Dostum (a Northern Alliance commander) - led by a young captain, a seasoned master sergeant, and a lanky sergeant first class, whose noms de guerre were Mark, Paul, and Mike - fought one of the most tactically skillful and courageous small-unit actions in American military history. Facing determined enemy resistance, terrible weather, and mounting casualties among their indigenous troops, these Green Berets used maneuver and air power to destroy an army the Soviets had failed to dislodge with more than half a million men."

You caught the right?

The number of Soviet Troops required to fight an army in Afghanistan and lose: 500,000.

The number of American troops required to fight an army in Afghanistan and win: 3.

The cost of the ignorance of John Kerry on military matters outside the environs of a little boat: Not a price we can afford.