Maniac

Sighted, 6/23/06:

1. 3:30-ish AM. I notice that the Carbon Monoxide Nazi Bitch has willingly parked her car far away from me so as not to be affected by the miniscule amount of emissions from my vehicle. I decide to let my engine idle, as is my habit, while reviewing my route list before heading out. Five minutes later, I've completed the review (beats spending 10 seconds per address en route like a newbie Camera carrier). I notice out of the corner of my eye that Miss Carbon Monoxide is peeking around the corner of the door to check on my (in)activities. As I pull away, the five seconds of elapsed time has been enough for the invisible cloud of Carbon Monoxide that I have created to dissipate so that Miss Carbon Monoxide's alergies won't be activated, and she can safely cross the parking lot to her vehicle. All is well.
   
2. 4:30-ish AM. I turn onto Blackbird Road, drive 3/10 mile, get into turn lane to turn onto Femur Road. Notice that Maniac #2 is tailgating me, trying to pass on left to get into left-hand turn lane around me. Cut off said tailgaiter. Tailgaiter continues to tailgate another 2/10 miles until my next turn. Speed estimated to be 5 MPH over speed limit. Distracted by the tailgaiter, I neglect to use turn signal, knowing that my brake lights will indicate an impending maneuver. As I turn, the tailgaiter honks his horn, blasts past, accelerates to an estimated 20 MPH over speed limit. Let me guess. "OHMANOHMANOHMAN IGOTTAGOPEEREALBAD!!! JESUSCHRISTIGOTTAGETHOMEIGOTTAGOSOBADICAN'TSTANDIT!!! WHYISTHISGUYGOINGSODAMNDESLOWJESUSCHRISTJUSTGET OUTAMYWAY!!!!!"
3. 6:30-ish AM. A fat walrus-like figure, apparently female as evidenced by a pair of breasts, fluffy Bozo-like hair sticking out of the sides of a ball-cap, chasing my truck down the street like a rabid dog. Shouting something, mostly unintelligible, but something like "BLAAAH! BLAHBLAHBLAHBLAAAAAHHH! BLAH BLAH!!! I SAW YOU BLAAAH!!! BLAAAH! BLAHBLAHBLAH!!! YOU BLAH! BLAAAHH!! YOU JUST BLAH BLAH!!! GET BACK HERE YOU BLAHH BLAH!!!!! BLAH! BLAAAHH!!!" You saw me what? Delivering newspapers? Driving down the roadway? Massacring some microbes upon the roadway with my vehicle as I drove over them? I drive away from Maniac #3 unscathed, but wonder to myself, "What am I, flypaper for freaks? Is there a Freak Vortex here in GumWrapper?

NY Times: Useful Idots

The New York Times proves yet again to be the definition of the term "useful idiot." Within hours of publishing the story leaking classified info about tracking movement of terrorist funds, the same story was published on the terrorists' Al Jazeera web site. The Al Jazeera article discusses details of how banking data is obtained, and what types of data is obtained. Al Jazeera also describes the ever-shifting nature of the Global War On Terror, and how strategies are constantly adjusted.

"We know the terrorists pay attention to our strategy to fight them, and now have another piece of the puzzle of how we are fighting them," (Deputy White House press secretary, Dana) Perino said.

"We also know they adapt their methods, which increases the challenge to our intelligence and law enforcement officials."

The White House had asked that the story not be run, but the NY Times and the Los Angeles Times both ran the story any, in spite or requests not to do so "for national security reasons". Conservative bloggers, Fox News, and other news entities have been actively speaking out against the publishing of the story.

Useful Idiots

The term "useful idiot" was used during the Cold War era to describe the Soviet attitude towards Soviet sympathisers within the US. The actual origins of the term are obscured, but are strongly rumored to have been coined by Lenin. In a private memo during the Genoa conference of 1922 considering post-WW I economic reconstruction, Lenin wrote

Henderson is as stupid as Kerensky, and for this reason he is helping us.

It suits us that Genoa be wrecked... but not by us, of course.

In effect, when an opponent takes a position to "be fair", an unscrupulous individual, group or government finds it useful to take full advantage of their opponents compromised position. Just as the Soviets found comments by American peace activists and Soviet sympathisers to be useful to their cause, so to stories by the NY Times and LA Times which disclose classified security operations are useful to the al Qaeda terrorists.

In WW II, the slogan was "loose lips sink ships." Today, it's quite the opposite.

UPDATE: I know it's been a while since I've been actively blogging. Oh well, life happens. I feel that this is important enough to write about, and draw some supportive attention to. Thanks to the following:
Cao's Blog
Blogs For Bush
Dr. Sanity
The Daily Brief
Neo-Neocon
Michelle Malkin
Moonbattery
Outside The Beltway
The Nose On Your Face