One Utah

In Mistakes were made (but not by me) , Carol Tavris and Elliot Aronson discuss the psychological process of self justification as it relates to initiation.
In particular, they cite a study in which students, to join a conversation, had to go through an initiation process; for one group it was relatively easy, for [...]

It’s important to observe that the USA is not fighting a war in Iraq. The reason I say that is that it’s an occupation, and the fighting that takes place involving the U.S. military is all in support of the occupation. As far as I can tell, the Iraqis who are fighting Americans [...]

Russian T-90 tanks advancing on Tskhinvali in South Ossetia.
This is going to go down in history as one of those miscalculations that led straight to disaster. Here’s the story in brief, based on a well-written article in The Telegraph and a column by Edward Lucas in The Times:
Following the dissolution of the Soviet [...]

Spencer Ackerman tackles the Bush administration’s Orwellian assault on the English language as it applies to Iraq:

Few governments have relied more on euphemism than the Bush administration. Euphemism is different from spin. Spin puts the best face forward on a given policy; euphemism uses its opposite to describe itself. Hence the Clear Skies Initiative to [...]

At “Camp Justice” in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, the U.S. military is currently conducting the first American war crimes trial since World War II — of Salim Hamdan, a citizen of Yemen and a former driver for Osama bin Laden.
To call this proceeding a kangaroo court would run the risk of insulting marsupials everywhere.
From Glenn [...]

From Think Progress:
This morning, Sens. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) held a press conference to express their “pleasure” about President Bush’s statement this morning regarding what he described as “encouraging news from Iraq” and “the success of the surge.”

Warning! - malarkey levels unsafe for logical comprehension:
LIEBERMAN: That’s why Senator Graham and I [...]

USAF A-10 Warthog over Afghanistan
Via Think Progress:
According to statistics provided in a new report from the United States Institute of Peace, the use of air power in Afghanistan by U.S. and NATO allies increased from 5,000 pounds of munitions per month in 2005 to 168,000 pounds in December 2007. The result is that “civilian casualties [...]

I don’t know how many times we have to tell you people. The idea of fighting terrorism with law enforcement agencies belongs to an outmoded, naive September 10 mentality. People who think that Al Qaeda’s attacks on the USA could have been stopped by the FBI (if the top brass listened to their [...]

The parade of phony Iraq experts appearing on TV lately has treated us to nonstop blather about “conditions on the ground” and “facts on the ground.” Usually the magic words are said with a satisfied smirk, implying that the Average Americans wouldn’t be so keen on getting our troops back home if only they [...]

Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell is an absurd, counter productive policy. At Pam’s House Blend, she’s got some fun video of Elaine Donnelly doing her whackadoodle best to argue in favor of the policy. Donnelly raises the “unit cohesion” argument again and again and Rep. Patrick Murphy smacks it down -asking in essence, “Are [...]

…or is it the other way around? Well, not any more.
As Utah led (or lagged) the country in Bush approval ratings, so Utah lags the Nation in the growing acceptance of Gays as evidenced by popular sentiment about Gays in the military.
But Utah WILL follow the national trend, albeit several steps behind, as sure [...]

The more than 200 insurgents who made a predawn attack on an outpost near the Pakistan border outnumbered defenders three to one, according to the New York Times. Sunday’s assault occurred just three days after 45 US soldiers, likely from the 173rd Airborne Brigade, and 25 Afghan troops established a new combat outpost in [...]