Author: COB6

This is interesting on a couple of levels and begs at least two initial questions.

1. Why does McChrystal clearly see a need to refocus the REMFs at Bagram and Kandahar?
2. What the hell was all this bullshit doing there in the first place?

KAISERSLAUTERN, Germany — Gen. Stanley McChrystal, commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, has ordered many Army and Air Force Exchange Service facilities closed as a way to focus on the war and to provide space for the U.S. troop buildup.

According to a “fragmentary order” issued earlier this month, concessions such as Burger King, Dairy Queen, Orange Julius, Pizza Hut, the Oakley stores and Military Car Sales must be closed within 60 days, with the possibility that each concession could get a 30-day extension.

“With all the resources and personnel coming in, you just don’t have the space (for the facilities that are being closed),” one U.S. military official said.

The amount of canned goods and bottled goods coming into Afghanistan as well as first-run movie showings and non-United Service Organizations shows will be scaled back as part of the order, U.S. Army Command Sgt. Maj. Michael Hall, the top U.S. enlisted man in Afghanistan, wrote on his blog.

“This is a war zone — not an amusement park,” Hall wrote.

The order does not require the closure of some quality of life facilities and programs, the official said. Internet access, including the ability to talk to loved ones on Skype, and library services will remain, he said.

AAFES stores will stay open along with barber and beauty shops, USO operations and services such as checking out recreation gear, movies and board games. The order also exempts Green Bean coffee shops, AT&T call centers, cell phone activation services, alterations concessions and Afghan bazaars that operate one day a week.

The major bases that will be affected by the closings will be Bagram and Kandahar air bases, Camp Phoenix and Camp Salerno, the military official said.

A lot of this kind of stuff started popping up at bases in Saudi Arabia during Desert Sheild/Storm. The problem is that the men doing the fighting never see this shit.

I know that neither Jonn nor I saw anything close to electricity or running water for seven months.

Now don’t get wrong, I’m all about doing everything that makes sense to take care of the folks “down range” but Orange Julius? Gimme a frigging break.

Those of you who know me know that I am a borderline fanatic about sports. I mean all kinds of sports; everything from NCCA football to MLB Baseball to Australian dick wrestling. Suffice it to say that I love sports.

There is not a bigger single sporting event in the United States than the Super Bowl and I feel compelled to offer my insights. Hopefully I won’t get beat up as bad as I did with my 2010 Senate election predictions.

Last I checked the Colts were favored by 5 ½. That’s significant because it’s less than one touchdown. Given Super Bowl history a one TD swing from the kickoff line is hardly an upset worth noting.

The biggest point spread upsets were back in the day when odds makers still couldn’t manage a spoonful of respect for teams from the JV AFL. In SB IV the KC Chiefs were laying 12 points against the vaunted Minnesota Vikings. Minnesota’s Purple People Eaters however laid a massive egg and went into halftime down 16-0. While the Vikings didn’t do a very good job eating people in the first half, Hank Stramm’s Chiefs did a masterful job of eating the clock in the second half.

The result was a 23-7 victory for the Chiefs and a whopping 28 point swing from the line.

Of course the most famous upset was SB III when Namath and the Jets defeated the Baltimore Colts 16-7. The Colts entered that game with an advantage in the spread by 18 points and even 20 points on some Vegas lines. The Jet victor translated to a 27 point swing from the kickoff line.

So how does the underdog pull off an upset in the biggest game of the year? The answer to that is fairly simple if you look at the games where it happened.

In SB IV the heavily favored Vikings turned the ball over five times; (3 interceptions and 2 fumbles) while the Chiefs turned it over only once. The other key to that game was being able to sustain a drive and thus keep the Vikings offense on the bench. The Chiefs converted on 7 of 15 third downs and stymied the Vikings to 3 of 9.

The exact same thing happened in SB III. The Colts quarterback tandem of Morrall and Unitas threw four interceptions and the Colts lost a fumble. The Jets turned it over only once. The Colts also struggled mightily on third down going just 4 of 12 while Namath and the Jets had far more success converting on 8 of 18.

Having said all that, is there a person on the planet that believes that with two weeks to prepare Peyton Manning and the Colts are going to turn the ball over five times? Or that the Saints barely above average defense will hold the Colts to 30% on third down?
Just look at the Saints last game against the Vikings. In spite of enjoying four turnovers from the Vikings, the Saints still gave up 31 first downs and 475 total yards!
It’s not just the defense that should be worrying Saints fans. Simply put, Peyton Manning is on fire in the postseason compared to Drew Brees.

Against a slightly above average Minnesota defense and a below average Cardinal defense Brees has thrown for 444 yards. Meanwhile Manning has thrown for 623 yards in the post season and he did it against the top two defenses in the AFC.

I realize that anything can happen but based on an honest analysis the Saints are probably toast. In fact, if the Saints fall behind early and try to get cute it could easily turn into a blowout.

My prediction: Colts 45 Saints 20

Consider this a public service after Jonn’s TSO post.

Ace takes Chris Buckley to the mat in a glorious fashion but the headline is a thing of beauty (NSFW).

I couldn’t help but think of the Family Guy episode where Brian borrowed money from Stewy and failed to repay on time.

A few days ago I wrote that only three incumbent Democrats were “totally safe”. Several among our astute loyalists took me to task for not including Wisconsin Socialist Russ Feingold on the safe list.

LL went all Joe Namath on me:

LL: I live in WI and I can guarantee you Feingold is safe.

Apparently Snowman has no respect for the Oracle of Anderson either:

Snowman: Unfortunately, both Feingold and his dip-shit daddy Herb Kohl are safe here in Cheesehead land.
COB, I’m moving back to Texas!

Even TSO denied me at the first sound of the morning rooster:

TSO: YEah, Schumer, Feingold and Wyden all safe. Mikulski too I fear.

Scott Rasmussen however refuses to discount the near miraculous power of the alcohol-induced seer that is COB.

A new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of likely voters in Wisconsin finds Republican Tommy Thompson edging incumbent Russ Feingold 47% to 43% in a hypothetical U.S. Senate match-up. Five percent (5%) like some other candidate, and four percent (4%) are undecided.

Any incumbent who attracts less than 50% support at this point in a campaign is considered potentially vulnerable.

Thompson leads by 10 points among male voters and breaks nearly even with Feingold among women.

And here’s the kicker:

Voters not affiliated with either major party break for Thompson 53% to 36%.

17 points among Independents! This is critical because it means that Feingold can’t go all-in to appeal to his base.

To repeat my point from the earlier post; this doesn’t mean that Feingold will lose his seat but it does mean that it will likely be competitive and that means that Democrat coffers will suffer defending what was supposed to be safe seats making life even more difficult for any upstarts from purple states.

Excellent my friends, excellent.

Let me preface everything I’m about to say by saying how overjoyed I was in watching Scott Brown take “Ted Kennedy’s” seat in the US Senate.

But before you get too excited about the transforming event that occurred in Massachusetts take a look at this guy.

First, he’s a JAG officer (ala Lindsay Graham), next he seems about as comfortable in that beret as I would be at a Danny Glover seminar on the evils of capitalism. And lastly, what officer wears BOLO badges?

Here’s the thing that everybody needs to be aware of. This guy is not a conservative. He is pro abortion and at least at one point was pro Romney-care.

And it’s not just Scott “Sexiest man alive” Brown that leads me to issue this warning.

Beau Biden has decided to avoid the humility of losing his father’s seat in the US Senate. This has left Republican Representative Castle with a double digit lead to capture that seat as well. While this is good news Castle is a big government guy as well. He voted for TARP and more damning that piece of shit Cap and Tax Bill that Pelosi and the lunatic left pushed through the House.

Barbara Boxer is also feeling the heat. The veteran socialist Senator is in deep shit in California of all places. Former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina has closed to within three points in the latest Rasmussen poll. Again this is great news, but understand that Fiorina is not a conservative. She is a big government, pro-abortion, McCain flavored Republican.

It’s not just Senate seats either. Kirk Dillard is a Republican leading in the polls for the future governor of Illinois. This guy is beyond an ass clown. He endorsed Barack Obama and even made at least one commercial for him.

This list goes on and gets worse when you look at likely competitive House races.

There is a ground swell against the Democrats and that is a good thing but I remind you that not everything that came out of the 1994 miracle turned out to be so wonderful.

Remember that Mark Foley was swept into office in 1994 and turned out to be a predatory pervert. 1994 also launched the career of Lindsay Graham who when he takes a few minutes of his head out of John McCain’s ass does everything in his power to piss off conservatives.

Watch these people carefully because once they’re in they are often difficult to remove.

You have been warned.

A couple of days ago I offered that healthcare was dead because too many Democrat incumbents were up for reelection this fall. After listing the retiring seats up for reelection in 2010, I said:

“On this entire list I see two really safe seats Inouye and Leahy; that’s it. Just two.”

Since then I have decided that Mikulski from Maryland is firmly in the safe category.

I realize that some remaining on this list will likely survive like Feingold, Schumer and Wyden but I’m still content that they will face stiff competition and suck up a bunch of Democrat dollars defending their seats.

One of my favorites to watch just for the sheer shock value if the seat flipped is the stalwart douche-bag from Wisconsin, Russ Feingold.

First “let me be clear” I believe the 2010 election cycle will be a total referendum on Obama. If that is true consider these numbers.

Obama carried Massachusetts by 62% but carried Wisconsin by only 56%. And Feingold isn’t nearly as popular as he thinks he is. He is in his third term and has never received over 55% of the vote. If Ted Kennedy’s legacy seat could be flipped a man with only a five point break should be nervous.

If that doesn’t convince you, consider this from the Politico today:

Now the vice-president is expressing serious doubt that his son will pursue a Senate campaign, in an interview with the Wilmington News-Journal:

Biden: “If you run into Beau, talk him into running; he respects you.”

Q: “I don’t think he wants to run, though.”

Biden: “I don’t think he does either. I know he doesn’t want to. … I’m so proud of the job he’s done [as attorney general].”

Why would Beau Biden who has never wanted anything more than to follow his father down the primrose path of a lifelong job of irrelevance suddenly be having second thoughts?
Has he seen some numbers than no one else has?

If the son of a newly elected Vice President thinks he can’t win, is it safe for any Democrat?

Interesting times indeed.

PS: I am more than aware that the Republicans are fully capable of screwing this up.

Far from hard right wing Senators Collins and Lieberman introduced a bill that would force the agencies designed to protect us to do their damn job.

Turns out that as soon as the Christmas Day bomber was franticly dousing Ginger Ale on his burning junk while simultaneously screaming “Allah Akbar” and of course “OMFG” cronies for the Justice Department were collecting the entire incident under their own self-constructed tent of incompetence.

Is it just me or is this Holder character getting a bit out of control?

“These officials were never consulted by the Department of Justice. The decision was made without them.”

Joining Senator Collins as co-sponsors on the legislation were Committee Chairman Joe Lieberman, ID-Conn., and fellow committee members, Senators Robert Bennett, R-Utah, and John Ensign, R-Nev.

So here’s what went down. Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab attempts to blow up an airplane over Detroit. He fails miserably because he is a knuckle-dragging idiot and in the course of said failure manages to thoroughly flame his Hooah Stick. He is then promptly beaten down by a film maker from Europe…let me say that again; beaten down by a film maker from Europe. I’m thinking it didn’t take too much of a fire to seriously damage this needle-dick-bug-poker.

So crisis averted and we have a very valuable piece of potential intelligence in our grasp. And as soon as this clown has un-assed the plane he starts screaming like a virgin on a troop ship. Good times, eh?

Not so fast there; enter Eric Holder’s omnipotently powerful DOJ (read that as pony-tailed lawyers who were no doubt envious of Umar’s massive, albeit smoldering, package). Other than gaze longingly at his heaving pecs and now charred glutes, we have no idea what this gaggle of testosterone-free lawyers did. What we do know is that the Nigerian Prince of Genital Terrorism lawyered up faster than a fat kid on a snow cone.

Rightly, some folks in DC are just a bit pissed off about this.

It was Holder who made the decision to try 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in a criminal trial in New York. It is Holder who has expressed his desire to grant full American constitutional rights to foreign terrorists. It is Holder who is leading the administration’s sputtering effort to move some Guantanamo inmates to the United States. And it is Holder who is apparently cutting other parts of the government out of crucial terrorism decisions like the treatment of Abdulmutallab. …

That was the message of Wednesday’s testimony from Blair, Leiter, Napolitano, and Mueller, all of whom were out of the loop on the Adbulmutallab decision. Their accounts left a number of Republican senators shaken; as the GOP lawmakers see it, the decision to read Abdulmutallab Miranda rights was a dreadful mistake, one that could have serious consequences down the line. There should be some accountability.

So on Thursday all seven Republicans on the Judiciary Committee sent a letter to Holder asking for a full explanation: Who made the decision and why, and whether the administration now has “a protocol or policy in place for handling al Qaeda terrorists captured in the United States.”

Republicans were troubled by the decision even before Wednesday’s testimony showed that major administration figures knew nothing about it. Now, the lawmakers want to know what happened, and they believe the only person who can tell them is Holder.

Here’s how this should play out.

The President needs to get serious on this whole terrorism thing before a bunch of Americans are killed and this needs to happen right now.

Eric Holder needs to be fired. Some would argue that he needs to have his balls set on fire and then unceremoniously dismissed but you know me, the kinder-gentler kind of guy that I am.