Fact Checking the Boston Globe – in Advance

Look. I was on vacation for two weeks and without an internet connection or motivation to even read a newspaper for most of that time.

Paul at Wizbang has a really bizarre post about the Boston Globe preparing to run a story about a guy who could replicate the Bush memos using computer versions of the fonts available on typewriters in 1973. Except for having to paste in the superscripted ‘th’, he pretty much had it, too.

Note that the match is exact.
Using the hypothesis established from examining the Bush memos, it becomes possible to create a virtually flawless replica.

Well, as long as you copy and paste the superscripted ‘th’, it is. I think.

Again, if these are authentic documents, all anyone has to do is dump a few dozen piles of other documents from that office from that time period into our laps so we can see all of the same characteristics present in them as well.

Open and closed.

Proving that a document is legit by reproducing it on a computer isn’t convincing me. I don’t care if it was a poorly-worded explanation of what he was doing or not.

These people think they can treat us like we’re idiots. “These people” includes Dan Rather.

I’m having trouble getting back into the swing of things, but I really thought this would have been settled by now. Since piles of matching documents haven’t been discovered, MO considers the case closed.

UPDATE: I totally forgot that I sent a letter to the editor of my local newspaper, the Grand Rapids Press, about this issue before I left for vacation. The procedure is for the paper to call and verify that you actually wrote the letter before they run it, and we left a couple days after I emailed it in and figured that even if they did call, I wouldn’t be able to respond as I was out of town. But there wasn’t even a message on my answering machine. Maybe they didn’t like what I wrote about the “mainstream media”. For archival purposes, I’m posting the text of my letter in the extended section.

And I note that Paul at All Agitprop also covered that fiasco. What is it with that guy and coverage of sheer public idiocy?
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U.S. launches major offensive in Iraq’s north

At one time, Samarra had been subdued by the Stryker Brigade and the US military turned the city over to Iraqi security forces in January. It was an example of the way to do things.

Mission accomplished.

Except that the Iraqi forces didn’t get the job done and the area became a no-go zone for US units. At the beginning of the month, the 1st Infantry Division, who is now responsible for the region, hoped that a settlement could be reached with the local strongmen, most of whom seem to be Baath-party holdovers. (What a coincidence.)

Apparently, we want to soften them up for negotiations first:

Residents of Samarra, 60 miles north of Baghdad, told Reuters by telephone that big explosions were shaking the city, one of several places where the U.S. military has vowed to wrest control from insurgents to enable elections in January.

The residents, speaking early on Friday morning Iraq time, said there were more than two hours of airstrikes and most residents were sheltering indoors.

CNN’s reporter in Iraq, Jane Arraf, in a live broadcast from Samarra, said she was accompanying U.S. forces engaged in the attack, which she described as “an entire brigade-size operation into Samarra to root out insurgents.”

Arraf said the forces, accompanied by Iraqi national guards, were moving “sector by sector through the city to secure it.” Power had been cut off and her report was punctuated several times by what she said were explosions of rocket-propelled grenades and mortars.

Despite good kill ratios and what seems to be increasing support throughout the majority of the country, the fact that we have to go in brigade-sized force into a city that a brigade-sized force had subdued in December and January is more than a little disheartening. We should expect Fallujah to remain troublesome for a while, and probably Sadr City and Najaf from time to time whenever Darth Sadr decides to stir things up a bit. But the facts that what had been a successful operation fell totally apart under the Iraqi military and that negotiations were obviously fruitless is not encouraging, despite what I wrote earlier today.

Fox News beats all rivals

What isn’t clear about the headline is that Fox News beat all rivals COMBINED.

1.8 million for FoxNews to 1.7 million for CNN, MSNBC, CNBC and Headline News. And FoxNews had 9 of the top 10 programs.

So does that mean that FoxNews is no longer the fringe channel and that the others are? (via Wizbang)

30 Days, 2,368 Attacks

ACE points out this great map noting the locations of insurgent attacks over the past month. It’s not clear from the map whether this includes all attacks, only attacks against Coalition forces, or only attacks against US forces. (A seperate story in the NYT writes

Over the past 30 days, more than 2,300 attacks by insurgents have been directed against civilians and military targets in Iraq

so I’m taking it to mean all attacks against all targets.)

The separate story also writes that the attacks occurred

in a pattern that sprawls over nearly every major population center outside the Kurdish north

and that this

suggests a more widespread resistance than the isolated pockets described by Iraqi government officials.

Uh, is this guy looking at the same map I am?

Take a glance at the map. Go ahead. I’ll wait. Come back when you’re done.

It’s blindingly obvious that the attacks are concentrated in a few major population centers, which is to be expected. But it’s also blindingly obvious that the population centers most affected are those in Sunni-dominated areas.

This is also to be expected, since the Sunnis are on the verge of losing their predominance over the majority Shiites. Saddam’s dead-ender Baathists are Sunnis. The individuals, families, and groups that fared well under Saddam (at the expense of nearly everyone else in the country) were Sunnis. So it only makes sense that the overwhelming majority of insurgent activity is taking place in those areas where insurgents and terrorists will get support, aid, and shelter from the locals. The homegrown attackers will mostly come from the discontented Sunni populace, and the foreign fighters will find the most friendly faces among those that are most strongly opposed to democracy in Iraq.

Basra, Iraq’s second-largest city, has only seen a handful of attacks. Najaf, Kut, and Nasiriya have been pretty peaceful. Remember all the worry about a “general uprising” last month? And in April? Didn’t happen. Since the most recent deal with Darth Sadr, the Shia south has been pretty quiet. Remember the resistance that the Fedayeen gave the Marines in Nasiriya during the invasion? The place seems mostly quiet now.

A major angle in the story is that elections are jeopardized because the attacks are “widespread”. They make a fair amount of noise over the fact

There was not a single province without an attack in the 30-day period

but take a look at the graphic from the map, enlarged at the right.

It shows that 1,937 of the attacks occurred in 4 provinces. That’s over 80% of the attacks happening in 22% of the country. 10 provinces suffered less than 20 attacks each. While definitely troubling, I’d hesitate to think that these attacks are going to postpone the elections. Remember all the attacks in June, and how they were going to postpone the handover of power?

If some places are too volatile to vote, then don’t vote there. Fallujah, for instance, probably won’t see any polling stations. Remember that this is a first go. Everything doesn’t have to be 100% perfect. It’s a starting point.

There will likely be violence in Iraq for years. Or decades. But if we, and the Iraqi government, stick to the plan, victory (and the peace that victory brings) will come.

2nd Stryker brigade leaves tonight for Iraq

The title of this Seattle Post-Intelligencer article is a little misleading. Only about 400 troops, all members of the 2nd Squadron, 14th Cavalry Regiment, are actually leaving tonight. But the trickle of 1st Brigade, 25th Infantry Division troops is picking up as the new second Stryker brigade prepares to relieve the first currently in the Mosul area of Iraq. The Army says that the first elements of the first Stryker brigade, the 3rd Brigade, 2nd Division, will begin returning home next week.

Assuming the previous pattern continues, expect insurgent attacks in the Mosul area to intensify for a while once the transition is complete. Newer troops who are unfamiliar with the specific region and combat in general won’t be as effective right off the bat as the departing veterans, and the insurgents know it. They’ll take the opportunity to test the new guys and try to make a splash.

They’ll regret it, of course, but don’t expect to read THAT in the papers.

Why you should never leave your kids, their dad, and cans of spray paint alone

Pictures are worth 1000 words, so I’d have to write about 6,000 words to explain this. Just go look.

Next weekend, they’ll up-armor it.

Too loud on cell phone? You’re busted

A loud-talking pregnant woman cursing into her cell-phone was arrested after an encounter with a D.C. Transit Police officer escalated.

Transit Police and some Metro officials say Saoutis was protecting the peace by removing a woman who had overstepped the boundaries of civil behavior because she was loudly cursing into her phone.

They say that cell phones have become just another instrument of loutish behavior in the public space and that they are fighting a dramatic deterioration of manners in the transit system.

“We need better enforcement to allow people to know we are serious and want to maintain the high-quality level of the system,” said Robert J. Smith, chairman of the Metro board, adding that “ranting youth” have become a plague on the subway. “This isn’t Montana. We live in a very dense region, and people are on top of each other all the time.”

This is something I’ve been noticing as it’s been getting progresively worse. I’m sure everyone reading this has also noticed, at least at one time or another, people behaving badly on cell phones.

I’ve just returned from vacationing in South Dakota for two weeks, and I ran into a number of people who would have seemed intent on wrecking the atmosphere of one place or another if they hadn’t already appeared ignorant of everyone else around them. In particular, while waiting to be helped at the front desk in a hotel in Ft. Pierre, a woman sat and carried on a conversation at approximately five times normal speaking volume. On and on she went, loudly “speaking” into her little phone without any regard for others in the room, including the desk clerk who was kindly calling around to other hotels in an attempt to accomadate those of us looking for a room in a city with too few hotel rooms for the weekend.

As the quote says, cell phones are just another opportunity for people to be rude. Personally, I think rudeness itself is on the rise, but that might just be me. Although cell phones are infinitely useful, they do bring another set of circumstances that users should be prepared to deal with in a kind, polite manner. Since too few people are prepared to deal with any sort of circumstances in a kind, polite manner, cell phones are going stir up all sorts of trouble from here on out.

I don’t let my kids talk loudly or get (too) out of control when in a public place. And I’m embarrassed if they do. If my little kids can behave with a modicum of politeness, why can’t adults, who should know better? And why aren’t these people embarrassed for themselves?

All of this being said, I’m also concerned about “politness police” running around and putting the smack down on those who “break” loosely-defined “codes” of conduct. I think there’s a line that, once crossed, is simply TOO MUCH, whether it’s loud people on cell phones, crying babies in movie theaters, or the booming subwoofers at one in the morning in the car of the guy that lives down the street. When that line is crossed, something has to be done if the responsible party doesn’t do anything on their own. I’m just glad I’m not the one that has to sort out the details.

I’m just wondering out loud, is all.

Madonna may be banned from Egypt

It is due to her devotion to Kabbalah and apparent indifference to the sufferings of the Palestinians. If you’re considering a permanent move to Egypt, put this in your “pro” column.

We’re still on vacation in South Dakota, so I’ll make your day by sharing some pictures.

Here I am near the top of Little Devil’s Tower in Custer State Park a couple of days ago:

Am I good looking, or what?

Also, I happened to catch this sign along the way:

I’m told that sign has been there since 1973. But does that font match?

And last but not least, a challenge for MO readers. Tell me what’s wrong here:

(Click for larger image) It was taken at the South Dakota Air & Space Museum near Ellsworth AFB. If you spot a mismatched superscript or other error, note it in the comments.

Justice- Poetic and Legal

What do you get when you mix a Vancouver, WA Bush lawn sign thief, a clever sign owner, a little alcohol, and license plates from across the river? Go read Wizbang to find out.

Too good to be true? I was buying it until the final revelation.

No idea if the story is factual, but I’ll bet I can find a self-described “expert” who can verify its authenticity based solely upon what he knows of anti-Bush sign thieves.