News Jog 8/24/07

The NIE (National Intelligence Estimate) released its report on the stability of Iraq yesterday. The report is the first official US report card on the Bush/Patreus surge and the results were mixed. In a nutshell it seems that the change in military strategy is showing signs of progress but the political process that it is designed to enhance is either stuck in the mud or moving at such a slow pace as to be laughable. The mainstream media is only pushing the negative- Republican Calls For Troop Withdrawal, Obama On NIE- but the Jog gleans that there is enough in the report to allow the Prez to continue the surge through next summer. The only reasonable conclusion that can be derived from the latest flurry of reports coming out of Baghdad is that the current strategy should have been the strategy all along. The Jog believes that much of this heartache would have been avoided if Colin Powell had had more influence on the Prez than Donald Rumsfeld in the buildup to the war. The Powell Doctrine of overwhelming force served us well in the first Iraq war. Rumsfeld's 21st century military reform concept (lighter, faster, more mobile) was a gamble that didn't pay off. The country would have been much better served if Colin Powell had been the Secretary of Defense during Bush's first term.

There's a potential brouhaha bubbling up between the Bush administration and General Peter Pace- the outgoing head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He is expected to advise that we cut troop levels in half in Iraq within the year. That's not likely to go down well at the White House.

The future of Pakistan is up for grabs. The Pakistani Supreme Court has cleared the way for democratic rivals to return to the country and vie for power. This is one of those stories that leaves the Jog ambivalent. On one hand the current leader, Pervez Musharaff is a strongman who has been a decent ally for the US in that fight known as the War on Terror. On the other hand- He is a military strongman who needs to be subjected to the rigors of the electoral process. On the third hand- it's disconcerting to find that so many residents of Pakistan are slaughtering goats to celebrate the return of their favorite democratic candidates. The Jog has a notion that true peace can never happen until people from this area of the world emerge from the Middle Ages and join us here in the year 2007. We hesitates to be too elitist, but c'mon, a lot of these people are just plain backward. In other words- their hillbillies are worse than our hillbillies.

The families of those, by now surely dead, miners trapped underground in Utah say they are praying for a miracle. Meanwhile, the mine owner says they're dead and he's going to close down the mine. This isn't sitting well with the praying families. But worse for mine co-owner Bob Murray is that it's not sitting well with Sen. Ted Kennedy: Lawmakers to Probe Safety at Utah Mine

According to this story Michael Vick won't be admitting to gambling or killing dogs. He will only admit to being present when dogs were killed. So it turns out he's a good guy after all.

According to this story the whole Michael Vick saga has created a rift within African-American leadership. Some see a racist system targeting a successful black man- While others see a man who has done the crime and now needs to do the time.

According to this story Vick's dad is a deadbeat who says his son is guilty as charged.

News Flash- The sun can burn you!

The Jog's favorite headline of the day is: Five Tons of Cocaine Found on Submarine

The Jog is a big believer in the exploration of space but has come to the conclusion that the Space Shuttle program is about as relevant now as Howard Hughes' Spruce Goose was back in the day. There are only three flights left before the whole thing gets retired so why not put it in mothballs now? Why not? Because those flights are needed for the construction of the already nearly-useless Space Station. Enough already- let's get back to the moon and on to putting a human on Mars. We don't need the Shuttle anymore. Not even to get these nifty pictures of earth.

When the Jog was a youngster Uranus was the planet that lent itself to the easiest obvious jokes. At that time we all made crass jokes about a planet that we were told didn't have rings like Saturn. But then in the late 70's we found out it did have rings and that led to even better jokes. Now we have the best pictures we've ever seen of those rings. We've also changed the pronunciation of Uranus from 'Your-Anus' to 'Your-uh-Nuss' so the cheap jokes aren't as easy to toss around the schoolroom. Ah- progress.

Have you ever had an out-of-body experience? Many claim to have seen themselves from across the room or staring down at themselves from the ceiling. Now some scientists are saying that they can induce an out-of-body experience. Your intrepid Jog editor once had an out-of-body experience and he still doesn't believe in them. Go figure.

Folks are angry with monster.com for waiting five days to let their customers know that a security breach had made their personal info vulnerable to the bad guys.

The Nintendo Wii is now the fastest selling console in video game history.

One of those consoles being beaten by the Wii has something else to worry about: Xbox 360 Wheel May Overheat!

After spending their life savings on a new iPhone many customers have complained about the absurdly hefty monthly bill they've been receiving. But now AT&T says there'll be no more 300 page bills sent to customers. Unless they want them, of course.

The new Samuel L. Jackson movie 'Resurrecting The Champ' is getting some okay reviews. Here's an example.

The reviews for 'The Nanny Diaries' range from 'wickedly funny' to just plain 'awful.'

Gotta love those celebrities: Nicole Richie was booked into jail to serve a four day sentence at 3:15p. and was released at 4:37p. the same day. We look forward to some kind of tell-all book that comes clean with the details of her 82 minute ordeal. In the Jog's opinion she should have served at least 90 minutes for carrying that annoying lapdog around everywhere she goes. Where's Michael Vick when you need him?

Lindsay Lohan is going to jail too. She has been sentenced to one whole day in the slammer. So if Nicole Richie's four days actually meant 82 minutes in celebrity jail time math- the Jog looks for Lohan to be released while being booked.

And finally:
It's not just the young celebs that know how to get themselves in trouble with the law. Bill Murray was busted in Sweden for driving a golf cart while drunk. At least he wasn't seen carting around one of those annoying Britney/Paris/Nicole lapdogs. The Jog still loves Bill Murray.

There's plenty more News,
but no more News Jog.
We're done.