Wonderful.

According to sources close to the administration, Gen McChrystal shocked and angered presidential advisers with the bluntness of a speech given in London last week.

The next day he was summoned to an awkward 25-minute face-to-face meeting on board Air Force One on the tarmac in Copenhagen, where the president had arrived to tout Chicago's unsuccessful Olympic bid.

...An adviser to the administration said: "People aren't sure whether McChrystal is being naïve or an upstart. To my mind he doesn't seem ready for this Washington hard-ball and is just speaking his mind too plainly."

General McChrystal is obviously in a tough political position here. He was sent by this administration to carry out a specific strategy and now that that same administration is backing away from that policy. The general is not only fighting terrorists in Afghanistan but a weak willed "leadership" at home.

Here's the problem, Obama has the right to be weak willed and to change his mind. It's the nature of civilian control of the military. Once Obama makes his decision, General McChrystal is going to have to decide if he can, in good conscience and consistent with his sense of duty live with it.

This really ends in one of a few ways...Obama approves a troop increase in which case General McChrystal stays and carries out the mission he was sent to do or Obama bails on 'the war that must be won'. If it's the latter Obama may fire McChrystal to show who is boss or McChrystal may bail before that.

And while Obama considers his options, the Taliban continue the war.

Hundreds of insurgents armed with automatic rifles and rocket-propelled grenades stormed a pair of remote outposts near the Pakistan border, killing eight U.S. troops and capturing more than 20 Afghan security troops in the deadliest assault against U.S. forces in more than a year, military officials said Sunday.

The fierce gunbattle, which erupted at dawn Saturday in the Kamdesh district of mountainous Nuristan province and raged throughout the day, is likely to fuel the debate in Washington over the direction of the troubled eight-year war.

It was the heaviest U.S. loss of life in a single battle since July 2008, when nine American troops were killed in a raid on an outpost in Wanat in the same province.

And two more Americans were killed in a separate attack.

Obama must be wondering why things can't just stop in Afghanistan so he can eat his policy waffles.

Posted by: DrewM at 06:42 AM | Comments (168)
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Monday morning.

Posted by: DrewM at 05:14 AM | Comments (100)
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Welcome to Sunday. We have football but no cheerleaders since Dave In Texas and DrewM have that pretty well covered. But we do have damsels in dirndls.

Best Fake Punt Ever
This is kinda old I know but I just saw the video last week. This is from the pre-season Bills/Titans game back in August. Titans punter A.J. Trapasso made an incredible fake punt play at the 40th yard line that earned a touchdown. The Titans only won by 21 to 18 so it clearly gave them the winning margin. I had to watch it 2 times (ok actually 3) to convince myself that Trapasso didn't actually hand off the ball. Pretty damn amazing.

Posted by: Open Blog at 05:30 PM | Comments (450)
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Storming box office at 25MM.

Goddangit I hate fast zombies. It's just wrong.

Posted by: Dave in Texas at 04:58 PM | Comments (87)
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Yes, it's safe.

Pregame is over, Olbermann is gone until halftime.

Below the fold, environmentally friendly cheerleader pic...it's recycled.
more...

Posted by: DrewM at 04:18 PM | Comments (155)
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A sadly familiar refrain.

President Obama's National Security Adviser James L. Jones suggested Sunday that the public campaign being conducted by the U.S. commander in Afghanistan on behalf of his war strategy is complicating the internal White House review now underway, saying that "it is better for military advice to come up through the chain of command."

Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, who commands the 100,000 U.S. and international forces in Afghanistan, warned bluntly last week in a London speech that a strategy for defeating the Taliban narrower than the one he is advocating would be ineffective and "short-sighted." The comments effectively rejected a policy option that senior White House officials, including Vice President Biden, are seriously considering nearly eight years after the U.S. invasion.

What exactly, is the policy option Joe Biden is considering? McChrystal is appealing for the kind of counter stroke that actually works, when the populace is in survival mode, you make your force present and the best choice.

Biden, God love 'im, imagines that Predator strikes will thwart the ground force push from the Taliban.

This is damned disgusting. I've seen it too many times in my lifetime, and it always turns out the same.

Posted by: Dave in Texas at 01:12 PM | Comments (167)
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Good news: The Leftwing Media has finally figured out that maybe there is something funny about Obama after all.

Bad news: Obama is a thin-skinned narcissist and will take this personally, and therefore go harder in the direction urged by the sketch, which is... harder left.

Posted by: Ace at 11:55 AM | Comments (212)
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An odd story is developing out in the tiny city of Hardin, Montana. A private security company has taken over a jail and seems intent on creating a police department there.

American Police Force, a little known company which claims to specialize in training military and security forces overseas, has seemingly taken control of a $27 million, never-used jail, and a rural Montana townÂ’s nonexistent police force.

After arriving in this tiny city with three Mercedes SUVs marked with the logo of a police department that has never existed, representatives of the obscure California security company said preparations were under way to take over HardinÂ’s jail, which has no prisoners.

AFP’s group’s website boasts that they “successfully provided assistance in training foreign military organizations in combating transnational terrorism” and claims that it’s “recognized as one of the top security and investigation forces in the world.” Too bad no one’s ever heard of them — not even the U.S. government, a group with which AFP claims to have worked.

Their lawyer, Maziar Mafi, a malpractice expert how was hired a month ago, offers few details, other than that itÂ’s a satellite of a larger security firm.

more...

Posted by: Open Blog at 08:26 AM | Comments (228)
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Get your picks in.

I don't remember what's on the schedule, Any good games today? more...

Posted by: DrewM at 08:12 AM | Comments (189)
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Welcome to Saturday Caturday. And did I mention that it's BYOC? No? Well in that case just grab one from the bag'o'strays.

Presenting The Redneck Ninja
And yes apparently he is real based on his Jerry Springer appearance and his Facebook page. So beware the ninjy stars and judy chop! And remember: Don't ninja nobody who don't need ninja-ing.

True confession: I think I may have worked with Redneck Ninja's brother years ago. It was during the summer between high school and college when I worked at a local hospital filing x-rays, moving carts, and doing general scut work. One of my coworkers was a total hick who would regale us with sincere tales of how he was a high level kung-fu master who could kill us anytime in 7 different ways (5 without the nunchakus). We were skeptical and snickered behind his back, but wisely decided not to take up his challenge for fear he might bring his kung-fu gun to work the next day and ninja-shoot us. more...

Posted by: Open Blog at 07:59 PM | Comments (861)
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