anna missed

This is good. The Obama administration will announce today that it will abandon the Bush era (so called) missile defense system in Europe. Of course this system was never anything but an attempt to intimidate the Russians through a policy of encirclement – under the auspices that Europe needed protection from non-existent Iranian nuclear missiles. But nonetheless it’s a good sign, and a not insignificant, step in the right direction that the current administration (and Hillary at State) is capable of easing international tension in a proactive and non-quid-pro sort of way, as the Russians are making the point that no deals were made in exchange for removal of the system.

One does then, have to wonder, that in spite of the expense, the nonsensical purpose,  the self defeating consequences, and the likely political blowback of the program, why axe the program now?

In all likelihood, we’ll have to keep an eye on the response from Israel and the upcoming U.S./Iranian negotiations to get the answer to that question.

Fred Reed has a steller post up concerning the recent controversy surrounding AP’s decision to publish a picture of an American soldier dying in Afghanistan. I couldn’t agree more with everything in his post. Sarah Palin of course, twitters today that she joins Secretary Gates’ condemnation of the decision, calling it evil.

If showing a tiny slice of the actual truth of war is to be considered “evil”, how does that compare to the decision to hide that truth?

These charlatans, having never experienced war,  know nothing about war, and want to keep it that way – for everybody else – so they can continue to order others to do it for their own political gain.

But then again, black is white for the armies of the right.

For the culture of denial.

I guess it was the buzz bomb, that became (in)famous for telegraphing its approach before delivering its final devastating impact. Many Londoners described the sound it made as a sort of long continuous “farting” sound, as it arched across the sky toward its destination.

Back in July I wrote a short post on the resignation of Sarah Palin, where I outlined a speculation that said resignation could only be the result of something big if not earth shaking was approaching. The only thing that seemed to me to warrant such an unlikely act of political hari-kari, the one thing that could totally destroy her career in politics – would be evidence that she lied throughout the entire 2008 campaign, about the birth of her (apparent) child Trig.

Today, Vanity Fair has a preview of an interview they did with Levi Johnston, Bristol Palin’s daughter, in which among other sordid details he lays claim to the following:

According to Johnston, she had a plan for how to handle her daughter’s unexpected pregnancy.

Sarah told me she had a great idea: we would keep it a secret—nobody would know that Bristol was pregnant. She told me that once Bristol had the baby she and Todd would adopt him. That way, she said, Bristol and I didn’t have to worry about anything. Sarah kept mentioning this plan. She was nagging—she wouldn’t give up. She would say, “So, are you gonna let me adopt him?” We both kept telling her we were definitely not going to let her adopt the baby. I think Sarah wanted to make Bristol look good, and she didn’t want people to know that her 17-year-old daughter was going to have a kid.

It’s of course interesting that he makes no mention as to which baby he is referring to, The secret/adoption scenario could be interpreted either way, as it could be applied as a proposition concerning Trig as it could be to the uncontested birth of Tripp. At any rate, the issue is being raised again and the farting noise is getting louder and louder – which could culminate in either one of the most spectacular political explosions in U.S. history, or just more of that familiar old funky smell that pervades most of that political history.