In what one retired general says is an ‘unprecedented’ move, Petraeus will return from an active combat command to head the board that will select the next class of generals. It seems to be a move to ensure that colonels with an appreciation for the challenges the Army is facing today and have the skills to deal with them are being promoted.

"Dave Petraeus in many ways is viewed as the archetype of what this new generation of senior leader is all about," (Maj. Gen. Robert ) Scales (Ret.) said, "a guy . . . who understands information operations, who can be effective on Capitol Hill, who can communicate with Iraqis, who understands the value of original thought, who has the ability through the power of his intellect to lead people to change."

Â…In a speech at a large Army conference last month, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates raised the need for holding onto young combat veterans and "reexamining assignments and promotion policies that in many cases are unchanged since the Cold War." Gates also stressed that the Army must retain lessons on irregular warfare from Iraq and Afghanistan -- lessons he said were learned but lost after the Vietnam War.

"All these so-called 'nontraditional' capabilities have moved into the mainstream of military thinking, planning and strategy -- where they must stay," he said. Gates later met with Army leaders and discussed promotion policies, according to Army officials.

One initiative would transform the way officers are selected for nontraditional but vital jobs such as leading the military training teams that are in growing demand in Iraq and Afghanistan. Key officers for those teams, which total roughly 7,100 personnel, would be chosen from the same lists as commanders of combat units -- placing the Army's new leaders in those jobs.

It takes awhile to change the course of an organization as large and complex as the Army but it seems big changes are clearly underway and beginning to reach the highest levels. Somewhere Donald Rumsfeld is smiling.

Small Wars Journal has more thoughts and a round up of what this may mean for the future of the Army.

Posted by: DrewM. at 10:41 AM | Comments (20)
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Sadly, it's not announcing his candidacy but it's still clever.

Mark Halperin at Time says it's a TV ad but I wonder if that's true. Are there enough non-blog readers out there who will get the joke? It seems unless you've seen the jokes, you could wonder what the hell it's all about.

Huckabee's website says it's a TV ad (his first). It could be one of those that runs once or twice to generate buzz and free coverage.

Either way, it will get a lot of web play.

Posted by: DrewM. at 09:17 AM | Comments (26)
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[BUMPED]: Last minute reminder for everyone. Vote early and vote often.

I volunteered for it, that's what I did.

16 games this weekend (and Monday), and none of them look terribly exciting. 5 games have a spread of 10 points or more, so you should all look like friggin football geniuses this week.

AND I get to post this until PHenry shows up with the AoSHQII standings and knocks me back into obscurity. But for now I have my moment in the sun:

UPDATED with merged results from AoSHQI and AoSHQII, and I still manage to stayed tied with the 5th highest score.

1 PHenry 84
2 Bart 80
2 DrewBledsoe for HoF 80
4 Slublog 78
4 Stashiu3 78
4 rudytbone 78
7 anotheranon 77
8 Dave in Texas 76
8 Mr_Wide_Stance 76

BONUS COVERAGE YOU WON'T FIND ANYWHERE ELSE BUT HERE: Meet Dr Remulak, currently riding medium high at 61 points. When he left his native country of France, he was instructed to seize all major radio and television stations. And warn the people of Earth that they would be taking over the world. And not to draw attention to his plans by winning any football pools.

Well done sir.

Dr Remulak insists he is hedging his bets playing seriously over at AoSHQII and has a score of 69, and that he is from Philadelphia, France.

Posted by: Dave In Texas at 05:01 AM | Comments (18)
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If you're not getting any real hate mail, but you're a nut looking for a cause and vicious enough to frame up your own co-workers, you gotta fake some up and send yourself some quicy hate mail right? Get the ball rolling, prime the pump as it were right? The FBI was not amused that they wasted a lot of time investigating her fakery and she was the lucky winner of an (not quite) all expense paid 6 month vacation at scenic Club Fed.

A Case Western Reserve University statistics professor who admitted falsely reporting to the FBI that she received racially charged hate mail has been sentenced to six months in prison. Ramani Sri Pilla must also pay back $66,000 that the FBI and the university spent investigating her false claims...

Posted by: Purple Avenger at 04:59 AM | Comments (33)
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Now I'm probably not allowed to express a non-Rudy-shilling position on primary season in this blog, so most of this post is after the cut.

(Bottom line: if you like the guy, donate this Wednesday.) more...

Posted by: Open Blog at 04:15 AM | Comments (57)
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I had a coworker of mine at a previous job who was a health inspector for St. Louis County. She waould have to go to the restaurants in a certain area and assess the cleanliness of the place and give it a grade. Well, she admitted that the job was the reason she no longer ate out.

I never have had many problems with places, the lone exception being an eyewitness to a mouse scurrying across the floor at the Dulles TGIFriday's to go. Other than that, I've actually been lucky.

Well, I have found one place I never will visit. And what a shock it's in West Virginia.

the nasty odor was coming from fluids oozing from the bar owner's legs. Carl Scarberry is the owner of the Aristocrat. The bar remains open despite years of health reports showing the floors were soiled from blood and bodily fluids from leg ulcers.

I finally caught up with Mr. Scarberry. His legs weren't leaking, but they were swollen, red and yellow. The place smelled horrible and we weren't even allowed to go inside.

So, can anybody top that one?

Posted by: Open Blog at 08:39 PM | Comments (46)
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OK, we all know by now that CNN rigged the democrat debate, but what is the real extent of the rigging. The claims being made by this blogger, if true, are pretty damning. I counted at least 4 planted shills they claim to have run down and documented.

Its clear that CNN and the democrats have some explaining to do.

[UPDATE]

Doug Ross ups the democrat operative shill count to 6!

Posted by: Purple Avenger at 08:25 PM | Comments (50)
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I never had any idea there was such a thing as "eco-porn", but apparently there is, and the seed money to start it up was provided by the Norwegian government.

...raises money for rescuing the world's rainforests by producing pornographic material or having sex in public. In their first six months of existence the group received seed funding from the government of Norway.

The group gained notoriety when two of its members had intercourse on stage during a Quart Festival concert by Norwegian singer Kristopher Schau and his band, The Cumshots, after delivering a brief talk on the impact humans have on natural forests. Fleeing from the legal troubles that stemmed from the act (including a fine imposed on the group after its male member dropped his pants in a Kristiansand, Norway courtroom) the organisation moved its headquarters to Berlin, Germany...

Posted by: Purple Avenger at 08:09 PM | Comments (12)
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John Edwards.

It's the kiss of death. And Silky is too dumb to know just how bad this is.

Jackson on the critical role played by celebrities in the political sphere:

"celebrities are concerned about the future of our country, our role in the world and finding the answers to the problems this country faces."

Running on Empty. Enough foreshadowing John?

Posted by: Dave In Texas at 07:48 PM | Comments (20)
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I think this image is on the bumper of every car (all 3 of them) in Wellington.

Why? Because it's government policy in New Zealand.

From the article:

NEW YORK — New Zealand immigration officials are keeping a U.K. wife from joining her husband "down under" because they say she is too fat, the Daily Mail reports.

British citizens Rowan Trezise, 33, and Richie Trezise, 35, are living apart as she tries desperately to shed the pounds needed to comply with New Zealand guidelines that immigrants maintain a healthy BMI, or body mass index.

BMI is a weight-height ratio that estimates percentage of body fat. The New Zealand Immigration Service requires all applicants to undergo a complete medical examination, which includes body size measures like "waist circumference."

The regulations were supposedly put into place for budget reasons. The country's health care system cannot afford to open its doors to overweight immigrants, a spokesman for New Zealand's Fight the Obesity Epidemic explained to the Daily Mail.

I, for one, am fully supportive of this policy. In fact, now that I know they are screening the tubbo's out, I may just move there myself.

After all, it's their rigid screening process that allows for the creation of national treasures like this:

Shouldn't our laws promote the creation of such wonderful eye-candy?

I say yes!

Who's with me? Maybe if we start lobbying now, we could get this put in the next "comprehensive immigration reform bill."

Posted by: Jack M. at 04:14 PM | Comments (40)
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