Breaking: 6-Year Old Boy Trapped in Hot Air Balloon! -- UPDATE: Balloon Crash Lands, No Sign of Boy! -- UPDATE II: Hoax or Tragedy?

A live feed is here, "A 6-Year-Old Climbed Into a Balloon Aircraft and Floated Away in Fort Collins, Colo."

And at the Greeley Tribune, "BREAKING: 6-Year-Old Alone in Helium-Powered Aircraft Flying Above Weld County."

UPDATE: Here's the video:

Plus, from AP, "No Sign of 6-Year-Old Boy After Balloon Lands: Balloon Crashes to Earth; No Sign of Boy."

Information is sketchy. I was watching the CNN report at the local Japanese takeout. I'm off to a 1:00pm class. Expect updates throughout the afternoon.

UPDATE II: More information is coming in. From Denver Channel 7 News, "Search Under Way For Fort Collins Boy After Empty Balloon Touches Down":

The search is on for a 6-year-old boy who is missing after floating over northeastern Colorado in a homebuilt helium balloon that touched down about two hours after lifting off.

The balloon landed about 2 miles northeast of Prospect Reservoir at 1:35 p.m., in Weld County, but the boy was not inside. That's about 50 miles from where the balloon lifted off.

The boy has been identified as Falcon Heene, the youngest of three sons of Richard and Mayumi Heene, of Fort Collins.

The family reported Falcon could not be found after the balloon lifted off. His older brother told his parents that he saw Falcon climb into the small compartment at the bottom of the balloon and the balloon lifted off, Larimer County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Kathy Messick said.

The balloon had a small compartment that carried batteries, she said.

"It was never intended for any more weight than the batteries that were in the compartment," Messick said.

She described the craft as a sort of weather balloon.

The boy's home and neighborhood were immediately searched and there was no sign of the boy, leading everyone to believe the boy had climbed into the craft.

"We're now organizing a search from the home in the direction the balloon took off," Messick told reporters.

Falcon Heene was out of school on Thursday because of teacher conferences at his school.

Plus, "Missing Boy's Parents Were on 'Wife Swap'."

And CBS News is questioning, "The Family Behind "Balloon Boy" Story":

A boy who may - or may not - have flown away from his Colorado home in a homemade, mushroom-shaped balloon has been identified as Falcon Heene, the youngest son of an eccentric family that twice appeared on the ABC reality series "Wife Swap."

After nearly three hours airborne - chased by the police, National Guard and media helicopters - the balloon made a relatively gentle landing in a dirt field. No one was inside.

One of the Falcon's brothers said he saw him fall out of the balloon. Police did not locate him in a search of the Heene house, raising questions about whether the story is a tragedy or a hoax.

Aviation experts say the balloon was too small to have lifted a 6-year-old boy and was not flying as if it was carrying a payload, reported Village Voice editor Tony Ortega.

Nevertheless, Falcon is still missing, leading the police to treat today's events as an open case and not a hoax.

The first "Wife Swap" episode on which the Heenes appeared juxtaposed a family that goes on "storm chasing" missions (the Heenes) with a conservative counterpart that conducted regular fire drills and never left children out of their sight.

Viewers later voted for two families who had previously appeared on the show - including the Heenes - to be featured in a special 100th episode swap in March. ABC called the family "science-obsessed."

See also, Wizbang, "Breaking: The Boy Was Never in the Balloon."

UPDATE III: The boy was found alive:

See, "6-Year-Old Colorado Boy Found Alive After Setting Balloon Adrift."

Taliban Campaign Strikes at Cultural Heart of Pakistan!

My Monday report is here, "Peshawar Carnage: 41 Dead as Taliban Siege of Pakistan Continues; Obama Cowardice Enables Militant's Impunity!"

This seems to be a near-daily update.This morning's Taliban incursion into the heart of Pakistan is the fifth strike in ten days.

Now this, from the New York Times, "Coordinated Attacks Strike Cultural Heart of Pakistan":

Militants dressed in police uniforms simultaneously attacked three law enforcement agencies in Lahore on Thursday morning, the fifth major attack in Pakistan in the last 10 days.

The assaults took place on the regional center of the Federal Investigation Agency and two police training centers just before 9:30 a.m. in Lahore, the capital of Punjab Province and Pakistan’s second most populous city.

More than 30 people were killed, including 19 police officers and at least 11 militants, police officials said.

Also on Thursday, militants attacked a police station in the garrison town of Kohat, killing eight people, in the North-West Frontier Province, and a car bombing killed one person in a residential complex in Peshawar, the capital of that province.

The coordinated attacks, the most sophisticated in a wave of violence that began this month, threw parts of Lahore into chaos, closing roads and shuttering shops and offices.

Five militants scaled the wall of the police training center, where more than 800 recruits had just started classes, said Maj. Gen. Shafqat Ahmed, the officer commanding security forces in Lahore.

In the ensuing two-hour battle between the hundreds of army commandos and the gunmen, one attacker was killed early on and another detonated a suicide bomb. The three surviving militants then tried to move to a residential compound, but families locked themselves inside while commandos fired on the assailants.

Six police officers were killed and seven were wounded, police officials said. In all, five of the attackers were killed, they said.

The attack on the elite school was particularly unnerving because its graduates, trained in counterterrorism techniques, are considered the toughest in the province. They wear black T-shirts with the words “No Fear” inscribed on the back and are easily distinguished by their fit physiques and well-trimmed hair.

In Islamabad, officials expressed dismay at more attacks five days after Taliban militants had attacked the nation’s army headquarters in Rawalpindi, taking more than 40 hostages and raising serious questions about the security of the military establishment in the nuclear-armed nation.

“The enemy has started a guerrilla war,” Interior Minister Rehman Malik said. The nation had to unite to defeat “this handful of terrorists.”

More at the link. (Via Memeorandum.)

Dexter Filkins: 'Stanley McChrystal’s Long War'

I just finished Dexter Filkins' New York Times essay, "Stanley McChrystal’s Long War."

And that title really does capture the reality of America's mission to Afghanistan. Top military officials are looking at success there in terms of years, in some cases many years. McChrystal says U.S. forces need to see improvement in 12 to 24 months to have a data point for assessing the renewed American effort. And of course there's no guarantee that the mission will be renewed. For in McChrystal's recent advisory report to the White House, the request for 40,000 more troops was an all-or-nothing proposition. The general came right out and said we'll fail without the additional resources. In such stark decision-making stakes, the Afghan war is reminiscent to what the U.S. was facing in Vietnam in the '60s.

In fact, in Filkins' discussion with McCrystal, the general spoke of the need for village pacification in the countryside. And the way the comments were framed, I immediately was reminded of my studies in the military history of Vietman, and the "Strategic Hamlet Program" that sought to separate peasant villagers from the Vietcong fighters.

In the military arena, McChrystal wants to put as many of his men as close to the Afghan people as he can. That means closing some of the smaller bases in remote valleys and opening them in densely populated areas like the Helmand River valley. Here, at least, military force will play a central role, at least in the early phase of his strategy, as the Americans fight their way into areas they have not been in before.

“The insurgency has to have access to the people,” McChrystal told me. “So we literally want to go in there and squat among the people. We want to make the insurgents come to us. Make them be the aggressors. What I want to do is get on the inside, looking out — instead of being on the outside looking in.”

“There will be a lot of fighting,” McChrystal added. “If we do this right, the insurgents will have to fight us. They will have no choice.

And that’s the rub: the population-focused strategy requires more troops — as many as 40,000 more. This is the decision that confronts President Obama and his advisers now.

As far as closing bases and relocation activities, in Afghanistan it's troop units not village populations, but I'm nevertheless reminded of the U.S. Army's rural strategies in the early 1960s. (And as noted at the piece, McChrystal's been reading Vietnam history, so there as something eery in seeing those similarities as well.)

But fortunately for McCrystal, it's not Vietnam that's the model, but Iraq. As the Filkins report notes in an earlier passage:

While Afghanistan is not Iraq, McChrystal’s plan does resemble in some ways that of General David H. Petraeus, who took command of American forces in Iraq in early 2007, when the country was disintegrating in a civil war. For four years, the American military had tried to crush the Iraqi insurgency and got the opposite: the insurgency bloomed, and the country imploded.

By refocusing their efforts on protecting Iraqi civilians, American troops were able to cut off the insurgents from their base of support. Then the Americans struck peace deals with tens of thousands of former fighters — the phenomenon known as the Sunni Awakening — while at the same time fashioning a formidable Iraqi army. After a bloody first push, violence in Iraq dropped to its lowest levels since the war began.

“It was all in,” Petraeus told me about that time.

And so if it was Petraeus who saved Iraq from cataclysm, it now falls to McChrystal to save Afghanistan.

And save Afghanistan he will, if he gets the support from President Obama. And note that should the administration cave, it won't be due to alleged claims of widespread public demands for a drawdown. As IBD reported yesterday, "Americans, In Reversal, Now Back Afghan Troop Surge." What's more likely to happen is we'll see the president capitulate to the stab-in-the-back constituencies on the Democratic-left. There's nothing more these America-haters want to see than a defeat of "U.S. imperialism" in South Asia. And despite his reassuring moves earlier this year, it looks like Obama may indeed revert to form as an acolyte of the Jeremiah Wright/Bill Ayers/Van Jones school of hard-left extremism. Should that happen - and the Americans redeploy out of the region - it's practically guaranteed that we'll see waves of attacks like those of the past few days; and we'll no doubt see additional Mumbai incursions across the region in neighboring countries as well. And God forbid the terrorists eventually succeed in toppling the Pakistan regime, with it's potentially devastating nuclear weapons capabilities.

In any case, don't miss the Frontline special, "Obama's War." A lot of good food for thought there, complete with additional consensus among analysts that the U.S. - if it gets serious about winning - is indeed in for the long haul in Afghanistan.

What's So funny 'Bout Peace Love and Understanding?

I haven't dropped off the face of the blogging world. I watched the Frontline "Obama's War" documentary last night, and this morning I had a meeting with my youngest son's new teacher. And it's been a full day teaching since then. In any case, I've been listening to a new radio station, 100.3fm The Sound. Their playlist is eclectic. This morning, for the first time in years, I heard Yes, "Roundabout." Next up came Elvis Costello, " (What's So Funny 'Bout) Peace, Love And Understanding." It's political mush, but great sounds neverthless.

I'll be posting more on Afghanistan either tonight or tomorrow. I really recommend the Frontline program, and I'll have some things to say about that.

Also, comment moderation is enabled. If readers have checked some of the comments today, I've got some crazed attack blogger spamming American Power. Not sure if this is satire yet, but readers can give me their take in the comments. And sorry in advance if there's a delay in getting them approved.

Meanwhile, check out my good friend Anton at PA Pundits International for some political blogging, and stop off and say a good word at Obi's Sister if you have a moment more.

Oh yeah, Theo Spark's got the totties if you're in the mood for that (and who isn't?).

Frontline: 'Obama's War'

Airing tonight a 9:00pm. A review of the program is here: "Situation Report: The Dilemma of Afghanistan."

Obama: Expect Afghan Decision in 'Coming Weeks'

From President Obama's statement today: A decision on the Afghan deployment is expected in the "the coming weeks":

And from Fox News, "Obama: Decision on Afghanistan Expected in 'Coming Weeks'":

Robert Gibbs rejected a published report that the president had authorized 13,000 additional troops that were now arriving in Afghanistan. He said those troops were part of a deployment ordered by the former Bush administration, but had not made their way to the Afghan theater by the time Obama became president. The Washington Post had reported those forces were authorized by Obama.

See also, Christine Fair, "Pakistan's Partial War on Terror": The Deadly Results of Cooperation With Terrorists":

The past week's spate of suicide bombings in Pakistan and the siege of its military headquarters are again casting the spotlight on that country's war on terror. Attention will—and should—focus in particular on Islamabad's many failures to control militants on its own soil. Pakistan is now paying the heavy price for its earlier attempts to use terrorist groups as strategic tools.

For decades Islamabad has viewed and used terrorist groups as assets to be cultivated. Before the Soviet invasion, Pakistan used Islamist militants for operations in India and Afghanistan. Today, Pakistan aids the Afghan Taliban mainly in the belief that if U.S. and international commitment to Afghanistan wanes, it would be better to be friendly with a group like the Taliban that can keep Indian influence in the country at bay—the same logic behind Pakistan's pre-2001 support for the Taliban.

At home, Pakistan has tolerated a raft of terrorist groups ostensibly linked to Kashmir, such as Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammad. Lashkar-e-Taiba, the group responsible for last year's Mumbai massacre, continues to operate under various names. Its leadership roams free and its offices remain open. Jaish-e-Mohammad, responsible for several attacks in India and against international and domestic targets within Pakistan, is similarly unconstrained. Pakistan's track record against so-called anti-Shi'a militias, such as the Lashkar-e-Jhangvi and Sipha-e-Sahaba-e-Pakistan, has been equally lackluster despite vicious attacks against Shi'a who are perhaps one-fourth of Pakistan's population. These varied groups are ensconced not in the unruly tribal areas, but in Pakistan's most populous and militarized province: the Punjab. Punjab hosts six army corps, yet these groups proliferate and operate with impunity literally under the nose of Pakistan's army.

Islamabad has long believed it could exploit these groups for strategic aims while preventing them from causing too much "unapproved" trouble. The government would have likely come to some modus vivendi with the Pakistan Taliban, had its leaders agreed to focus upon Afghanistan rather than Pakistan. Islamabad cracked down militarily on the Pakistani Taliban earlier this year only after it was clear that deal-making had failed. With respect to the so-called Kashmiri groups, Pakistan only sought to moderate their activities to prevent serious Indo-Pakistan crises and international pressure while maintaining their basic operational readiness.

More at the link.

Related: The Washington Post, "Number of U.S. Troops in Afghanistan Overlooks Thousands of Support Troops." (Via Memeorandum.)

Taliban Sends Deadly Message

Something I've noted the past few days.

From the Los Angeles Times, "Attacks Highlight Pakistan's Vulnerability to Militants":

Dressed in camouflage and armed with automatic rifles, grenades, mines and suicide vests, the 10 militants who shot their way into Pakistan's army headquarters were driven by a chilling goal: seize senior military officers as hostages and demand the release of more than 100 prisoners held by the government.

But nearly a day after the attack began, Pakistani commandos killed one militant before he could blow himself up in a room packed with 22 hostages, army spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas said Monday. Within 45 minutes, the attack's Punjabi leader had been captured. The other militants were dead.

Although the militants failed to achieve their objective, the daring siege Saturday on one of the most heavily guarded military compounds in nuclear-armed Pakistan revealed the government's vulnerability to militant cells as it prepares to launch an offensive to crush the Taliban in South Waziristan.

Read the whole thing, at the link.

See also my previous report, and the links there, "Peshawar Carnage: 41 Dead as Taliban Siege of Pakistan Continues; Obama Cowardice Enables Militant's Impunity!"

Plus, at the New York Times, "Views on Afghanistan Buildup Bring Clinton and Gates Together in an Alliance" (via Memeorandum).

'Don't Be a Faggot - Don't Smoke'

Satire alert!! I'm pretty sure heads will explode with this masterpiece from the Onion, "New Anti-Smoking Ads Warn Teens 'It's Gay To Smoke'."

And for more good stuff, check out Larry Johnson's post on Obama's bitchslap to the LGBT community last weekend, "Obama Giving Gays an Unwelcome Blow Job." More on that from Cynthia Yockey.

In other news, the reviled neocon warmonger Joseph Lieberman is leading the fight for repeal of military's "Don't Ask Don't Tell policy. I mean, this is better than comedy: The nihilist blog-demons are up in arms that the Connecticut Senator might actually be a liberal on social policy.

'Keep America Safe' - Obama's Rhetoric Doesn't Match Reality

Here's the awesome new ad spot from Liz Cheney's PAC, Keep America Safe:

Killer viddy! And check out the home page. This is like neocon nirvanna! Palin-Cheney 2012!

Hat Tip: The Politico, "Liz Cheney's group 'Keep America Safe' Takes on 'Radical' White House" (via Memeorandum).

Is Bruce Jenner Neocon? 'Obama's Done Nothing'

Is Bruce Jenner neocon?

Maybe he'll become a celebrity spokesman for Liz Cheney's new PAC, Keep America Safe. Both Jenner and Cheney are making the same case this morning about President Obama: “He’s done absolutely nothing.”

On Liz Cheney, see "'Keep America Safe' - Obama's Rhetoric Doesn't Match Reality."

Hat Tip: The Politico, "Bruce Jenner: Barack Obama Undeserving of Nobel Award." Check TMZ for the video. (Via Memeorandum.)

'Market Garden' - Michael Yon

From Michael Yon, "Market Garden," a photo-essay of a Netherlands trip for World War II reenactments and remembrance of Operation Market Garden. A parade was held in the evening of the second day of events:

General Petraeus arrived and said hello to each veteran, some of whom shook his hand while others saluted. If General Petraeus had any idea of the hectic schedule that was still unfolding, he’d probably have wanted to get straight back into the war. It seemed like everyone in Holland wanted to see the vets, and despite that the old soldiers were in their eighties and nineties, they kept going and going.

Please join me in making a contribution to Michael's support page, here.

And not to be missed: There's an interview with General Petraeus at the dispatch, here. Also, be sure to click through to the conclusion. You'll get direct reports on the war's progress you won't find anywhere else. Ultimate decision time in Washington is now.

Obama to SEIU: 'We Are Going to Paint the Nation Purple'

Truly creepy video from January 2008:

Hat Tip: The Lonely Conservative.

Political Scientist Elinor Ostrom Wins Nobel Prize in Economics

The New York Times has the story, "Two Americans Are Awarded Nobel in Economics."

Elinor Ostrom and Oliver Williamson share the award for their research in the New Institutional Economics, and especially "common pool resources." John Sides at The Monkey Cage has a brief roundup. One link there is to Tyler Cowen, who says the award is "a nod in the direction of social science, rather than economics per se ... It's rewarding larger rather than smaller ideas, practical economics rather than abstract theory."

It's been some time since I really engaged this kind of research. A lot of this deals with overcoming tragedies of collective action, and it's one of the more fascinating areas of political science research outside of my securities studies niche. Ostrom is past president of the APSA. See her Presidential Address, American Political Science Association (1997), "A Behavioral Approach to the Rational Choice Theory of Collective Action."

Plus, here's a passage from the information page for Ostrom's book, Governing the Commons: The Evolution of Institutions for Collective Action:

Whenever a group of people depend on a resource that everybody uses but nobody owns, and where one person's use effects another person's ability to use the resource, either the population fails to provide the resource, overconsumes and/or fails to replenish it, or they construct an institution for undertaking and managing collective action. The common pool resource (CPR) can be a fishery, a grazing ground, the Internet, the electromagnetic spectrum, a park, the air, scientific knowledge. The institution can be a body of informal norms that are disseminated by word of mouth, enforced by gossip or religious stricture, and passed from one generation to another, or a body of formal written laws that are enforced by state agencies, or a marketplace that treats the resource as private property, or a mixture of these forms. In the real world of fishing grounds and wireless competition, CPR institutions that succeed are those that survive, and those that fail sometimes cause the resource to disappear (e.g., salmon in the Pacific Northwest).

Elinor Ostrom's founding role in the evolution of an interdiscipline of cooperation studies grew from her challenge to currently accepted wisdom about institutions for collective action, her careful inductive examination of empirical studies of common pool resource management, and her insistence on interdisciplinary analysis. The dynamics she uncovered in her research - seven principles common to most successful, enduring common pool resource arrangements - are the starting point for anyone who wants to know how careful theoretical and experimental work can provide practical guidance for policy.

"The word commons originally denoted pastureland treated as a common resource, where individual herders were free to graze their sheep or cattle. The land can support a limited number of grazing animals. The temptation to graze more than one's share is a rational strategy for an individual herder. But if all succumb to the same temptation, the grass ceases to grow and the value of the pasture to everybody disappears."

In a 1986 lecture, Elinor Ostrom challenged the inexorable inevitability of Hardin's tragedy, noting that the situation described in Garrett Hardin's classic 1968 paper "The Tragedy of the Commons" has "the same underlying structure as the decision facing each prisoner in the so-called Prisoner's dilemma game." She also wrote:

"The Prisoner's Dilemma game has fascinated scholars in many fields. The paradox that individually rational strategies lead to collectively irrational outcomes seems to challenge a fundamental faith that rational human beings can achieve rational results. In the introduction to a recently published book, Paradoxes of Rationality and Cooperation, Richmond Campbell explains the "deep attraction" of the dilemma".

In her 1986 lecture, Ostrom emphasized the connection between the tragedy of the commons and the Prisoner's Dilemma game, but had the scientific curiosity to inquire whether tragically locked-in Prisoner's Dilemma strategies actually constrained human choice in all cases where humans have documented their use of common pool resources - she shrewdly understand that the cases in which people overcame the barriers to collective action are as important as the cases in which they fail:

"Scholars and government officials presume that all participants in situations with the structure of a PD game are necessarily trapped in the structure of the situation; as prisoners are trapped in their cells, participants are themselves trapped in their own mental apparatus. I shall argue that the structure is conceptually and methodologically necessary for analysis, but not an empirical necessity. The inability of participants to change the structure may be an empirical reality in some situations. It is not an empirical reality in many situations, however."

Ostrom argued from well-documented cases of informal institutions that had evolved into formal if localized arrangements, sometimes lasting for centuries, that groups could evolve effective institutions without externally coercive authority - if they could solve the "common set of problems." The design principles that Ostrom extracted from cases of successful CPR management turned out to be missing from most of the cases of failed CPR management she investigated - evidence that these design principles are clues to solutions to the problems preventing collective action in many instances. Ostrom argued forcefully that neither direct intervention by the state nor total privatization are necessary for people to evolve successful institutions - although state-provided courts lower the costs of creating the institutions, and the market value of well-managed CPRs provides strong incentive to create, agree, and maintain such arrangements.

Peshawar Carnage: 41 Dead as Taliban Siege of Pakistan Continues; Obama Cowardice Enables Militant's Impunity!

Four blasts in eight days. Monday's bombing in Peshawar shows who's in control in Pakistan. Both the New York Times and Wall Street Journal have reports. Here's this from WSJ:

A suicide car bombing aimed at Pakistani soldiers in the country's volatile northwest killed at least 41 people Monday, the fourth terror attack in eight days and, said the Taliban, a sign of more to come.

Pakistan is reeling under a wave of suicide attacks that has in just over a week hit the country's military headquarters, a U.N. office in Islamabad, a crowded urban market and now a rural military patrol, killing nearly 120 people since Oct. 5. The attacks come after a relatively quiet summer and have served as a stark reminder of the threat still posed by Islamist militants, despite recent military efforts to beat them back.

Pakistani officials say the attacks are likely to hasten the start of a long-planned ground offensive against a major Taliban stronghold in the South Waziristan tribal area, which lies on the Afghan border. The area has been under heavy air and artillery bombardment from the military for months.

More at the link.

And what's Barack "Neville" Hussein going to do? See my earlier report for an indication, "Intelligence Assessments: Al Qaeda/Taliban Cohesion Greater Than Pre-9/11."

How long are the Democrats going to argue that Americans have no interest in defeating the Taliban? Here's Democratic Representative James McGovern on Sunday's This Week:

When I voted to use force to go to war after 9/11, I think I and everyone else in Congress voted to go after Al Qaida. That was our enemy. And Al Qaida has now moved to a different neighborhood, in Pakistan, where, quite frankly, they're more protected.

What better statement of cut-and-run are we going to find? Well, actually President Neville Hussein did just argue that the "Taliban Killers Can Be Part of Afghanistan’s Government." So who knows? The president can thank the Nobel Committee for giving him additional cover for a precipitous withdrawal. In that case, "peace" means "peace of mind" in the West -- as hundreds die in the barbarian siege in the Qaeda-Taliban-Lashkar heartland.

It almost unbelievable, but this is what you get when you hand the reins of foreign policy to the Democratic (Socialist) Party.

Intelligence Assessments: Al Qaeda/Taliban Cohesion Greater Than Pre-9/11

From the Department of I-Told-You-So, here comes McClatchy's report, "Are Obama Advisers Downplaying Afghan Dangers?":

Recent U.S. intelligence assessments have found that the Taliban and other Pakistan-based groups that are fighting U.S.-led forces have much closer ties to al Qaida now than they did before 9/11, would allow the terrorist network to re-establish bases in Afghanistan and would help Osama bin Laden export his radical brand of Islam to Afghanistan's neighbors and beyond, the officials said.

A real Gomer Pyle moment there, you think?

But check Matt Gurney at FrontPage, "What’s Their Mission, Mr. President?":

It seems strange to recall now, but there was a time when Barack Obama assailed the Bush administration for what he saw as its lax commitment to the military campaign in Afghanistan and promised to give that war the urgent priority it deserved. But despite his earlier attempts to cast Afghanistan as the “good war,” President Obama seems determined to avoid actually fighting it.

In recent months, Obama has indicated that he would like to get out of Afghanistan as quickly as possible – even if that means cutting a deal with the Taliban. It’s a telling reversal: Along with many in his party, Obama used his support of the war in Afghanistan to cultivate a tough-on-defense image during the presidential campaign. Now, as the war grows unpopular, he seems to be having second thoughts about the conflict. Thus, Obama has dawdled on the critical foreign policy decision of his administration: whether to send the additional 40,000 troops that his hand-picked commander, General Stanley McChrystal, believes necessary to winning the war.

General McChrystal is the proverbial “wise old man” when it comes to defeating insurgencies, having overseen the successful American counter-insurgency campaign in Iraq. With the benefit of that experience, McChrystal has made clear that the only way to defeat insurgencies is to protect the local population from attacks by insurgents. Only then can coalition forces gain the cooperation of locals, marginalize the insurgents, and stabilize the country. It was this hard-won expertise that prompted President Obama to fire the former leader of forces in Afghanistan, the well-respected General David McKiernan, in order to give McChrystal the reins.

But having placed McChrystal in charge, the president now appears reluctant to let him complete his mission. Although McChrystal has not formally requested the 40,000 troops, it has been known for some time that he considers this troop surge – modeled on a similar buildup in Iraq – essential to pacifying Afghanistan and turning the tide against the Taliban insurgency. On that all-important decision, the president has been A.W.O.L.

Meanwhile, the New York Times provides cover for the Barack "Neville" Hussein administration. See "Civilian Goals Largely Unmet in Afghanistan." (Via Memeorandum.)

See also, Gateway Pundit, "Feinstein Blasts Obama For Poo-Pooing Gen. McChrystal's Troop Recommendations (Video)."

No Blackface for Lady Gaga's 'Imagine' Gig at National Equality Event

Well at least she didn't go out there in black face. Gay rights activists are TFU enough already, so I'm sure they didn't need additional civil rights hypocrisy to compound the deep schisms in the Democratic Party's homosexual coalition. As the Washington Post indicates, "For Gay Activists, The Lady Is a Champ: Fans Go Gaga As Singer Joins the March."

It turns out that Gaga sang the Lennon anthem "Imagine" for the HRC black tie affair, where President Obama also made a showing. Then just today, John Harwood, interviewed by Lester Holt, reported that the White House has totally dissed the movement:

HOLT: But in general when yo look at the left as a whole, have there been conversations about some things they thought would have been done but haven’t?

HARWOOD: Sure but If you look at the polling, Barack Obama is doing well with 90% or more of Democrats so the White House views this opposition as really part of the “internet left fringe” Lester. And for a sign of how seriously the White House does or doesn’t take this opposition, one adviser told me today those bloggers need to take off their pajamas, get dressed and realize that governing a closely divided country is complicated and difficult.

I've noted many times that President Obama's totally spineless on gay rights, although considering the communist infiltration of the National Equality March, perhaps Dear Leader's finally getting serious about cutting ties to the Jeremiah Wright/William Ayers/Van Jones wing of the Democratic (Socialist) Party.

More at Memeorandum. Plus, Ruby Slippers, "Now the Gay Community is 'Fringe'."

National Equality March: LGBT Socialists Storm Washington

Earlier this week, prominent gay rights activist Charles Merrill denounced the communist infiltration of today's National Equality March. See, "Protesting Socialist Ties, Merrill Calls for Cancellation of National Equality March":

Merrill's plea to the LGBT community to cancel the National Equality March altogether stems from what he sees as a disturbing -- and ultimately damaging -- association between LGBT activists and Marxist march organizers Cleve Jones and Sherry Wolf.

Merrill, a Democrat and a capitalist who has long worked to secure equal rights for LGBT people, believes Wolf and Jones are using the march as a platform to further their own socialist agenda. The overwhelming majority of LGBTs are Democrats who support the free enterprise system, not socialists or Marxists, and Merrill fears all gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgendered persons could end up portrayed as socialists as a result of participating in the National Equality March -- and if that happens, President Obama is likely to further distance himself from the LGBT community.

And the folks at the Socialist Worker -- who joined with International ANSWER for last week's Afghanistan protests -- have pumped up the National Equality March as a spearhead for the larger revolutionary struggle:

SOME MIGHT conclude that LGBT activism and the march have taken off because of special circumstances--mainly, that the right has focused on attacking LGBT people as the last respectable bigotry, and that the Prop 8 issue spurred people into action.

But a closer look shows that the new LGBT movement has been produced by the same hard times--and hopes--shared by the working-class majority in this country ....

In fact, class issues and solidarity have been central to the new LGBT activism. In Chicago, for instance, activists demonstrating for equal marriage joined protests in support of the Republic Windows & Doors factory occupation in December, and striking workers from SK Hand Tools attended a Cleve Jones speech in Chicago to ask for support.

Far from being a special case on the left, the LGBT movement is shaped by both the economic crisis and the widespread hope for political change following the disaster of the Bush years. What sets the activists apart is only the fact that small groups of people started organizing ...

Also from the Socialist Worker, "Roots of the LGBT Struggle" (on the impact of Stonewall):

As Sherry Wolf, author of Sexuality and Socialism, put it:

By the time the riots subsided, activists began distributing leaflets that read, "Do You Think Homosexuals Are Revolting? You Bet Your Sweet Ass We Are," and announced a meeting at a Village leftist venue known as Alternative U. What began as an ad hoc committee of Mattachine-New York to organize a march in commemoration of the riots evolved into a full-blown organization, the Gay Liberation Front (GLF).

In conscious tribute to the South Vietnamese National Liberation Front then fighting the U.S. government in Southeast Asia, these activists wanted to confront not just the stifling homophobia of U.S. society, but the entire oppressive and exploitative imperial edifice...almost all the newly radicalizing activists agreed that the old guard's approach needed to be upended.

And the news today out of Washington finds key gay activists forging alliances with Marxists during parties and planning. Ameriqueer of the Bilerico Project writes, "Going to Meet Cleve Jones" :

What do you want me to say to Cleve Jones, Michelangelo Signorile or Lane Hudson when I see them at Bil Browning's birthday tonight?

And here's this Ameriqueer tweet:

And this one, from Michael Crawford:

The crowd size looks impressive, via Bilerico, "Live from Washington: Coverage of the National Equality March":

See also, the Los Angeles Times, "Gays, Lesbians March on Washington, Calling for Full Equality." And, "Obama Renews Pledge to Gays to End 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell'." (Via Memeorandum.)

Related: Charles Winecoff, "Love, War – and Gay Marriage":

Eight years after 9/11, the LGBT community gets its activism fix by indulging in nostalgic, anti-establishment indignation over petty domestic slights. Ganging up on an annoying little old lady carrying a cross at a Prop 8 rally satisfies the itch between workouts and White Parties. But wouldn’t it be genuinely awe inspiring to see masses of musclebound gay men taking on, say, a congregation of homophobic Islamic “thinkers” (who, BTW, love the idea of pushing gay men off cliffs to their death)?

Plus, some on the scene are saying the crowd's estimated at "between 100000 and 250000." When will the media investigate the crowd size numbers? Boy, the crowd estimates were extremely important on September 12, remember?

Additional Related: Dan Riehl, "Obama's Problems."

English Defence League: 'It's Not Racist to Oppose Muslim Extremists'

Check London's Telegraph, "The English Defence League: Will the Flames of Hatred Spread?":

Tommy, spokesman for the English Defence League (EDL), was adamant: there were to be no pictures of him or the other masked men holding the makeshift swastika flag before it was set alight. Otherwise, it might look as though they were supporting Nazism – which, we were assured, they abhorred.

It was both sinister and comic, this nocturnal gathering in a disused office block near the centre of Luton. There were 16 of them, mostly big men in black balaclavas sewn up into masks, wearing black T-shirts sporting the Cross of St George. The location had been kept secret until the last minute to preserve “security”.

The boys of the EDL “Luton Division” were milling about in the half darkness as The Daily Telegraph was shown in. Most appeared a little jumpy, unsure of their role in the coming stunt, but not the man going by the name of Tommy Robinson. He was smaller than most of them, but clearly in charge. Articulate, too. Look around, he said, couldn’t we see there were black men here, as well as whites. This was not a racist organisation.

“We are doing this to challenge Islamic extremists who have been unchallenged in our country for 10 to 15 years. They are recruiting on our streets and colleges and the government is doing nothing.”

See also, Atlas Shrugs, "Anti-Islamisation Demonstrators Confronted by Fascists." And, Tundra Tabloids, "UK: EDL Confronted by Fascist Anti-Fascists in Piccadilly Gardens." And more, Saber Point, "British Police Suppress Anti-Islam Demonstrations."

Plus, "Arrests as Rival Race Demonstrations Clash." And from the comments there, Laura Roberts:

Hardly a surprise. It's the start of Rivers of Blood.

I abhor racism: and that means racism from ALL sides. If you continue to impose one incoming race's laws and preferences on the indigenous people of a country, you are going to create massive turmoil, disruption, antagonism, anger, resentment and confusion.

I have lived around the world. I know of no other country that welcomes foreigners into it that hate it with a venom. I know of no other country that destroys it's own culture, traditions, values and everything that makes it that particular country, as we do when we try to change it to suit incomers. I know of no other country embarrassed of it's own flag, where any patriotism that on the one hand we are urged to celebrate is slammed as racism at other times.

When I have lived around the world, I rejoice in their cultures and their pride for their country, heritage and customs. I modify my behaviour to theirs and even when I have to cover my head, or take off my shoes, or have to be escorted because a lone woman out and about is not permitted I do so unquestioningly so, and I honour their rules.

I know of no other country on earth that diminishes it's own culture and gives in to the demands of visitors and newcomers that we must adapt to them, rather than the other way round. They would not do the same in their country.

And so we have a growing anger, sometimes irrational and extreme, but mostly highly rational and deserved, and it will only get worse until the traditions and culture of Britain is restored and celebrated, just as other countries do with theirs.

Failure to do so will result in carnage.

See also, Vlad Tepes, "Anti Islam protest in Manchester, U.K."

Related: Atlas Shrugs, "UK: MUSLIMS HURL ABUSE AT RETURNING BRITISH SOLDIER PARADE."

Decision Time in Afghanistan: Kimberly Kagan

Great interview with Kimberly Kagan on yesterday's "Journal Editorial Report."

Kagan's a former military advisor to General Stanley McCrystal. See her report, "Securing Helmand: Understanding and Responding to the Enemy."

'HissySpit' - Neo-Communist at Daily Kos, DU - Allied with Global Anti-American Resistance

Here's more unsurprising evidence that the Democratic Party base is overrun by communist revolutionaries: It turns out that leftist blogger "HissySpit" has joined with Larisa Alexandrova in the latter's campaign of racist smear-mongering from yesterday. He's got an entry at his Democratic Underground page here. "HissySpit" is AKA "Cary Wilson." I found his name at CBS News, "Bloggers Work – And Socialize – Inside Denver’s “Big Tent”." And no surprise, he's also a major diarist at the anti-Semitic Daily Kos. A look there indicates that HissySpit's an activist in the global neo-communist/anti-American resistance movement. Notice how I don't say "antiwar movement." That's because HissySpit's allied groups provide blind support to insurgencies and resistance movements killing American troops abroad.

In a series of entries, HissySpit has announced solidarity with World Can't Wait, which was identified earlier this decade as a "revolutionary communist movement that stages protests against the Bush administration." World Can't Wait allied with International ANSWER for last week's U.S. out of Afghanistan protest in Westwood. See my report here, "Code Pink's Jodie Evans: No 'Rethink' on Afghanistan - 'U.S. Troop Withdrawal Now' ... ANSWER Coalition Decries 'Criminal Occupation'." These groups are early backers of murderers Kim Jong-Il, Fidel Castro, and Slobodan Milosevic. The protests last week also called to "end the occupation of Palestine" -- these hardliners back the right of return for Palestinian refugees (and hence the terrorist destruction of the Jewish state). (See also, from 2005, San Francisco's WCW/ANSWER alliance poster, "March 19: Shut Down Berkeley Marine Recruiting Station.")

For full details, see HissySpit's entry at Daily Kos: "Hearts And Minds - Afghanistan (graphic images warning)." That post links to the Manchester Stop the War Coalition, "Troops Out of Afghanistan -- National Demonstration." Also, see HissySpit's post, "PROTEST WEEKEND! - Collected Info on 3rd Anniversary of War Start-Up Protest & Rallies." That entry promotes World Can't Wait's March 2006 protest, "End the War! Drive Out the Bush Regime!"

Not nice people, obviously.

Obama Stiffs Gay Rights Groups - Again!

That seems to be the meme, according to John Aravosis at AmericaBlog, "Where's the Beef?":

What did President Obama say new tonight? Absolutely nothing. What did the Human Rights Campaign get in exchange for once again giving our president cover for all of his broken promises to our community? Absolutely nothing.

Obama's not stupid, of course. Note this week's survey at Pew Research, "Most Still Oppose Gay Marriage, but Support for Civil Unions Continues to Rise." That's right. A majority still opposes same-sex marriage, but an even larger majority wants gay couples to have legal rights: In other words, don't change the traditional meaning of marriage to satisfy something that it was never intended to be. That is, two men or two women can never fulfill the biological, social, and institutional function of the union of man and woman, whether consecrated under secular or spiritual authority. And thus, President Obama's playing it straight, no pun intended:

Obama is justified in moving somewhat slowly on his campaign pledges to the gay community. As anxious as we are to see gay rights recognized throughout this country, it also is important for the administration to set priorities and make progress in a politically strategic way. It was inevitable, given the unrealistic postelection expectations of immediate and all-encompassing change, that Obama would disappoint some of his constituencies in the first year or two. Right now, the president is rightly focused on healthcare and the economy.

I'll have more on this tomorrow, with my coverage of the communist-inspired National Equality March tomorrow.

Meanwhile, check "Obama Pledges Again to End 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' but Offers No Timetable" (via Memeorandum).

Oh, I almost forgot. See also, "HONESTLY, IS JOHN ARAVOSIS A PIECE OF EXCREMENT OR WHAT?"

ADDED: Common Sense Political Thought, "Now I can see why President Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize: Promises and platitudes are far more important than action

Larisa Alexandrovna: Libel Blogger, Smears Conservatives as 'Racist'

It's amazing, actually. I was mostly kidding at first, amid the flamewars, when I called Larisa Alexandrovna an "airhead." But seriously, the woman truly is thick.

I mean, damn! It's not just that she's actually libeling me with a series of pathetic allegations of "racism." It's that her posts have nothing even remotely to do with what serious poeple call "evidence." You know, some kind of empirical fact that normal people use to substantiate truth claims. It's not all that hard -- well, for people who aren't pathological liars.

Ms. Alexandrovna's latest attacks are in response to my suggestion that she's a runner-up "candidate for race-baiter of the year." And that's not a joke. Janeane Garofalo's a cinch for 1st prize, but Larisa's hot on her heels: As she alleged previously, "Donald Douglas, is an ultra-nationalist, openly racist professor of political science." And what was the factual basis for that claim? Well, nothing actually, only that I'm conservative. So, in response to my post today, where I denounced the Patrick Lanzo incident -- fully, comprehensively, and unambigously -- Larisa still can't resist to let go again:

Donald Douglas is really just hoping to show himself as not a racist. He points over yonder and says "see" that is what racism looks like and I don't support that. But if you read his blog you will see a exactly why he is a racist. Douglas then goes on to claim the following:

"Larisa recently attacked me with this odd description, "Donald Douglas, is an ultra-nationalist, openly racist professor of political science." I guess that puts me in good company, with Michelle Malkin, for example: "Malkin and the Racists..."I'm putting up Larisa Alexandrovna with Janeane Garofalo as a candidate for race-baiter of the year."

Odd description? Malkin is a racist. There is no debate on this from rational people, including actual Republicans, not the knuckle-dragging glue sniffing kind. Odd description? Not hardly. It is an entirely accurate description of a Muslim hating, birther peddling, racist, white power nationalist. If those terms offend you, then stop supporting those movements and championing those talking points. Otherwise embrace what you are and get it over with already.

Notice that? Her evidence that I'm racist is that -- wait for it -- Michelle Malkin is racist! And we know that because -- don't hold your breath! -- "rational people, including actual Republicans, not the knuckle-dragging glue sniffing kind," say so!

Well, blow me down! That is devastating. I think there's an actual philosophy of science term for that kind of logic: Argumentum ad verecundiam, which is an appeal to authority. And in Larisa's case, it's not just amorphous "rational people" and "actual Republicans ... it's well, nobody. But wait! She does actually refer quite liberally to one of America's greatest experts on racism, Charles Johnson of Little Green Footballs!

That's right! Who would have guessed? Charles Johnson is the kind of "rational person" that Ms. Alexandrovna cites as a source of authority for her theories of conservative racism! And then, by logical implication, the libelous claims at LGF provide the evidence that I'm racist by way of Michelle Malkin being racist! Oh well, that's kind of round-a-bout, so let's go to Larisa's earlier post (because remember, Larisa makes allegations with any actual evidence). Note that I took issue with her post, "Republicanistan - A Country of Its Own," which was basically setting the table for her race-baiting smears cited above:

Obama has been attacked for efforts of diplomacy and attempts to dismantle the violence of the previous administration. Although IMHO, he has not gone far enough on many of the issues of diplomacy and ending our illegal war in Iraq - his achievements are still remarkable in this political climate and in such a short-time in office.

The Glennbeckistanians deploy their hatriots

So, while I have no problem with legitimate criticism from both the left and the right (as I have said previously, Little Green Footballs continues to earn my respect) of the Nobel Peace Prize in general and of Obama's award in particular, what I do have a serious problem with is those who attack rather than criticize and not on legitimate points, but out of pure hate.

The only problem there being that Charles Johnson's no longer on "the right." And he hasn't been for a long time now. Not only that, C.J.'s certifiably crazed. We find a new example of his megalomaniacal paranoia virtually every day. My friend John Lilyea had his account blocked most recently. Jonn, who admired C.J., and who stayed out of C.J.'s blog flamewars, had this to say after finding that error message below:

I know you’re so damn petty that you Google your name and chase links looking for LGF infidels…so eat shit, Charles. I hope you get your ponytail caught in your bike spokes, you dick. See, I can be petty, too. Dick.

And just today, Little Green Footballs found evidence of "racism" at this thread at Fox Nation:

The most damning piece of evidence there? A link to Lew Rockwell's homepage. Of course, the Lew Rockwell-types not only hate the GOP, but Rockwell himself is in bed (literally) with the neo-communist left!

Wow, that Larisa's a real Nobel-caliber scientist! Impeccable evidentiary analysis!

And it's like I said earlier today at my post: Airheads like Larisa Alexandrovna have drained the word "racism" of any significant meaning, and thus they've in essence "joined folks like Patrick Lanzo in the racist hall of shame." For in assuming that everything in society is institutionally racist, one automatically condemns blacks to systematic non-achievement: They're always going to be shufflin' fools, looking out for Mr. Charlie. The Democrats love it that way, since they'll always have a dependent lumpenproletariat population to exploit for its dependency. The irony of it all is that it's the Democrats themselves who are the real racists in today's day and age. They can get away with it, and they do so all the time: I mean if a top GOP figure argued that he'd like to string Barack Obama up and castrate the mofo ... well, there'd be hell to pay. But it's okay when you've got the Democratic-leftist race card to play. Hey, come to think of it, maybe Larisa Alexandrovna's pretty clever after all!

Babe Blogging: Bar Refaeli Sports Illustrated Video

Well, I think I'll have Bar Refaeli thank my good friend Linkmaster Chris for sharing some generously sweet traffic this weekend. I didn't even know these Sports Illustrated videos existed, but as Rod Blogojevich might say, "I’ve got this thing and it’s f***ing golden":

Three Beers Later's been doing some babe-blogging video hotness as well. And Jules Crittenden's got the news on the "bodacious beauties" who'd be glad to give you a knockout (haircut). And check more golden-goodness at the Classical Liberal: "Beyoncé. Supervirtuous."

Also, my good friend Carol at No Sheeples Here! has been firing up some great posts. See, "We Must Stand Together to Preserve The Greatness of America." And it'd be good to send some linkage over to William Jacobson, who riffs on the Obama's Nobel Non-Accomplishments, "Farce Repeats Itself As History."

Gator Doug's roundup is worth a look as well. See, "Linktastical Saturday, the Return!" Plus, TrogloPundit's finally given the Sarah-Motivators a rest. Check, "You Know They’re Going to Airbrush the Hell Out of Those Pictures."

And thanks to Theo Spark for the hot SI video inspiration.

I guess by now I've come out of "Rule 5" retirement, but continued babe blogging will depend on my mood. It's taken a while to get things back to normal around here, and I've learned some key lessons. And one of those is to make sure to thank your friends for the linkage!

And since it's like the good old day, readers should send links if they'd like to be added to the babe-blogging roundups. My e-mails at my Blogger profile at the right.

Anita MonCrief: 'My Conversion From the Far Left to the Conservative Movement'

From the Green Room, "How This Ex-Liberal Found Fortitude and Her Way Home":

Often in interviews I am asked about my conversion from the far left liberal (radical) to the conservative movement and I always think back to first grade. While I had been Catholic all my life, I did not realize it until I went to school. I felt a little lost and very scared. That’s how I feel about blacks and conservatism. I left the church as a young woman, the church never changed but my desire not to live by its rules led me to break free.

Over the years, I have tried and studied other religions but Catholicism is home, and nothing feels like home. As a liberal there was a certain part of me that fought against the world. It was never a fair fight though, because my opinions were set and no amount of proof could change that. As a liberal trying to find her way, I often felt like I was trying on religions again. I didn’t fit in, asked lots of questions and was uneasy about my path. Being lost will do that, only I did not know I was on the wrong path. I channeled that anger at the “system” into art work, I went home at night and tried not to think about the moms living on Section 8 in the “projects” who worried about their kids and still tried to look out for me too. I ignored the feelings of desperation when I talked to my young friends, so full of promise but without an adequate foundation to succeed.

The Democrats seemed to be the answer: social programs, better schools, and politicians who cared. I do think that if I had never seen the other side of community organizing that I would still be blindly following along that same path. Being a conservative gives me hope, and peace. While it has not been easy, I decided to start with what made me love America as a child - its history and Constitution- and go from there. Friends who are still radicals rail at me for loving a country that enslaved us, and I tell them I don’t. I love a country that had the guts to stand up time and time again and right a wrong. A country that is not afraid to pick itself up and start again.

Read the whole thing at the link.

For background, see Anita MonCrief, "ACORN and SEIU: Anatomy of a Shakedown." and the Wall Street Journal, "An Acorn Whistleblower Testifies in Court: The Group's Ties to Obama Are Extensive."

Abu Askar, Knife-Wielding Al Qaeda Barbarian, Vows Victory for Islam in Afghanistan (VIDEO)

The full video is here: Islamisten trainieren Kinder für Dschihad ("Islamists train children for jihad"). And from London's The Sun, "Head Hunter: An al-Qaeda Fanatic Brandishes a Giant Razor-Sharp Blade in a Pose Intended to Scare British and U.S. Troops in Afghanistan":

The knife is too cumbersome to use in battle - but could behead or dismember any hostage his terror group grabs.

The insurgent, also seen sitting with an AK47 rifle, belongs to one of Osama Bin Laden's "foreign legions" fighting in Afghanistan.

He appears in a new terror video posted online and vows to use the huge blade to achieve a victory for Islam.

The bearded thug was identified as "Abu Askar the German".

Last night a military source warned: "If anyone needed reminding, this is the face of the enemy."

Terrorism expert and author Chris Dobson said: "The bloodthirsty threat of Abu Askar the German and his giant cleaver is plain - anyone who opposes us will lose their heads. Fanatical Islamic Jihadists have a record of beheading captives and boasting about it to cause fear among their enemies.

"Abu Askar and his knife are undoubtedly part of the 'war of the mind' the Jihadists are waging against the West.

"But they also reflect a growing confidence, especially among home-grown terrorists, that the West is becoming vulnerable."

See also London's Daily Mail, "Picture of Evil: Bloodthirsty German Al Qaeda Fanatic Poses With 2ft-Long Knife for Beheading British Soldiers in Afghanistan."

Related: As Obama Dawdles, Taliban Mount Terrorist Offensive Across South Asia