20 Comments

• 1. Chuckg  |  May 9th, 2008 at 1:49 am

  Let us hope confirmation comes soon.

• 2. Iran » Iraqis Captu&hellip  |  May 9th, 2008 at 3:47 am

  […] Manuel L. Quezon III: The Daily Dose wrote an interesting post today on Iraqis Capture al-Qaida LeaderHere’s a quick excerptThis is the Bush policy, and it will be the McCain policy - the Obama policy is to surrender in Iraq and talk to our enemies in Iran. […]

• 3. robert w. blunt  |  May 9th, 2008 at 7:46 am

  According to AP: “The U.S. military on Friday denied Iraqi government claims that the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq was captured and said a man with a similar name had been arrested in the northern city of Mosul.”
  Oops.

• 4. NeoClown  |  May 9th, 2008 at 8:48 am

  Mark,

  You are just wrong again, and again, and again….

  “BAGHDAD - The U.S. military on Friday denied Iraqi government claims that the leader of al-Qaida in Iraq was captured and said a man with a similar name had been arrested in the northern city of Mosul.

  Iraqi authorities had announced Thursday that police commandos captured Abu Ayyub al-Masri in a raid in the northern city of Mosul.

  “Neither coalition forces nor Iraqi security forces detained or killed Abu Ayyub al-Masri. This guy had a similar name,” said Maj. Peggy Kageleiry, a U.S. military spokeswoman in northern Iraq. She said no additional details were being immediately provided.”

  Nothing has changed in Iraq. It is now, and forever will be SNAFU.

• 5. Bigfoot  |  May 9th, 2008 at 10:02 am

  Nothing has changed in Iraq. It is now, and forever will be SNAFU.

  Mark certainly appears to have counted his captured terrorist before he hatched.

  However, by alleging that “Nothing has changed in Iraq”, you are dead wrong, NC. I guess that the huge decrease in violence brought about by the “surge”, the huge losses taken by AQI, the “Anbar Awakening”, the losses taken by Mookie’s men in Basra, etc., are “nothing”.

• 6. Mark Noonan  |  May 9th, 2008 at 12:07 pm

  Did you liberal dimwits even read what I wrote - I noted in my quoted article that there were questions about which goon was captured…and I noted in my writing that this might not be the actual leader of AQI….but you twits ignore all that and act as if I wrote something other than what I wrote.

  This gets annoying - if you guys are going to come here and debate us, at least debate us on what is going on, not what you wish was happening.

• 7. Danish  |  May 9th, 2008 at 12:17 pm

  Whats with the name calling Noonan? Not very nice of you, especially since you are the dimwit in this situation. Nice headline you chose, maybe submit it to your what media bias series. Typical holier than thou you are, when faced with your own mistake, start slinging insults at everyone else.

  As all of your conservative posters write on here: If you are getting annoyed, then stop posting. Solves your problem real quick.

• 8. Mark Noonan  |  May 9th, 2008 at 12:21 pm

  What’s with the insults? Annoyance with liberal idiocy.

• 9. Danish Artist  |  May 9th, 2008 at 1:38 pm

  Danish or Cream-puff?

  Cream-puff, dimwit actually applies to you bunch of mouth breathers. Did (Can) anyone read? The article?

  We all know you cannot stomach any success whatsoever, since the liberal talking points are failure, failure, failure, failure……..

  In 2006, your party ran on pulling out of Iraq? Well, besides a few non-binding resolutions where is the legislation to pull out? 2 years and no one has proposed pulling out or not funding the troops.

  You should be furious with your dimwits in Congress, but you fell for their bait. Another example of the failed leadership or liberal guidance by your party.

  Mark did not say that the AQ was definitely captured, it was unconfirmed at the time. But then again, you must stick with the talking points no matter what has actually ocurred.

  So, cream-puff, go away. But, if you would rather make an ass out of yourself, knock yourself out.

• 10. Just Another Taxpayer  |  May 9th, 2008 at 4:40 pm

  Mr. Noonan,

  You know, full well, if the mistake had been made by those opposed to the war, you’d been all over them, talking about media bias or whatever bumper sticker reasoning seemed applicable to the situation. Now all you can do is hope for the civility, and deference to parsed reasoning that you have denied all along to those opposed the war.
  You will be given all the respect you have given your opponents. But, somehow, as much as that may bother you, it will not bother you as much as much as losing 100k in equity
  or paying 5 or 6 dollars for a gallon of gas.
  I’ve got a servicemen for a neighbor who desperatley needs to sell his home. Can’t get anyone to look at it though he’s asking 76,000 less than he paid.
  I wonder how many servicemen there are like him? I wonder what scares them more: Dealing with the Iraqis, or dealing with the bankers.
  What do you do, Mr. Noonan, when the problem can’t be solved with force, saluting the flag, going to church, or staying in Iraq for 100 years?
  I’ve got a neighbor whose eagerly waiting for an answer

• 11. Cavalor Epthith, Esquire, D.S.V.J.  |  May 9th, 2008 at 5:28 pm

  And the answer to the question JAT is, “Yes we can!”

• 12. Just Another Taxpayer  |  May 9th, 2008 at 5:58 pm

  Can what?

• 13. Jeremiah  |  May 9th, 2008 at 6:10 pm

  Yes we can, and Yes We Will defend our country from the barbarious assassins of the Middle East!!!!

• 14. HUh?  |  May 9th, 2008 at 6:38 pm

  Wow, Jeremiah! You sound like Al Qaeda…

• 15. bongoman  |  May 9th, 2008 at 7:02 pm

  I think he’s Christian Taliban…either that or a parody troll. Either way, he’s funny.

• 16. GreenLeaf  |  May 9th, 2008 at 8:38 pm

  Jeremiah

  Nevermind the DemoCRAP Obamanations, they don’t have the intestinal fortitude, much less the smarts to tell the truth.

  They can dish it out, but they can’t take it.

  GL

• 17. Jeremiah  |  May 9th, 2008 at 9:28 pm

  Wow, Jeremiah! You sound like Al Qaeda…

  I do?

  Nah, I’m not like that forked-tongue, two-headed snake J. Wright says Al Qieeeda.

  No, that’s the spirit that our Founding Fathers bled and died in the Faith for …

  ‘Let us praise Him for the continued preservation of the Government of our fathers from the assaults of traitors and rebels(Kennedy, Pelosi, Clinton, Obama, et al); for the sublime spirit of patriotism and courage and constancy with which He filled the hearts of its defenders; for the victories won by the valor of our troops!’

  ‘Through the blood and sweat of suffering and sacrifice the nation is to be saved from its great calamity, and the great crime of which it is at once the effect and punishment; and that behind the thunders and lightnings and clouds of the tempest the awful form of Jehovah is visible, descending in fire upon the mount, to renew the broken tablets of the Constitution, and proclaim FREEDOM and the condition and the law of a restored and regenerated Union.’

  ‘Let us rejoice and praise God the He holds the destinies of this great Nation in His hands, that he confirms or changes the purposes of man at his pleasure, and overrules all human designs to establish righteousness, truth, and justice in the earth.’

  As in those great words spoken so long, long ago - ‘Righteousness exalteth a Nation.’

• 18. Mark Noonan  |  May 10th, 2008 at 12:24 am

  JAT,

  I can do your friend better - my best estimate is that my house has lost $200,000 in value since I purchased it in 2005. I owe vastly more than its worth. Life can sometimes be bothersome - on the flip side, my step-son and a very close friend (single mom with two kids) have been able to become first time home owners in this fabulous buyers market, and my in-laws are looking to move back into the city (to be closer to us and better access to medical care) due to the low price of high quality homes in the area. Life has its ups and downs, and you deal with them - and, in all things, give praise to God, who will make everything come out right if you just trust him to be in control.

  Higher gas prices are bothersome, but I can’t do other than laugh about them - it is just so incredibly stupid what is going on in the oil market! I mean, its just gotta be someone - or some group - trying to bid up the price either to harm the US or to just make a killing off speculative fools. It’ll all come crashing down - and I mean a very rapid drop off to $50 or less per barrell - in the near future because there is a glut of oil on the market and absolutely no economic justification for $126 a barrel…its all a fever, much as it was in the housing market just before it crashed (shortly before that crash, dumpy houses in San Francisco were going for a million dollars and most new home loans in SF were interest-only speculative loans…and this in a particular market which was losing population every year! It, too, seemed like it would just keep going up and up and up…until it didn’t).

  Life is to be lived, JAT, not worried about - not for nothing did Our Lord advise us to look to the problems of today and not bother ourselves over worries about tomorrow. None of us are promised such a thing, and all time spent worrying today about tomorrow is that much less time I can spend doing for others.

• 19. Just Another Taxpayer  |  May 10th, 2008 at 7:49 am

  Mr. Noonan,

  1 I very much appreciate your answer for 3 reasons. First, your busy schedule which allows little time for direct responses to posts. Second, instead of trying to pin the blame for your problems on your favorite voodoo doll, the dems(Who deserve every bit of condemnation for their constant pandering to the eloctorate. Resulting in Bush keeping troops in the field long after any political or financial reson for keeping them there has gone. Dems are so lame. YES!!!, I do despise their weakness.) you simply acknowledge the current reality and that it must be dealt with. Third, and most importantly, the honesty with which you laid out your own problems. (Does the wife feel that the money and energy you put out to maintain this blog is worth it in light of your current financial circumstances? )
  2 While we seem to be leaving hostilities elsewhere, I hope that whatever “family crisis” you confronted this week has been worked out to the benefit of all concerned. Finally, I commend the changes you’ve made on this blog. I have seen a few, and this blog is one of the easiest to use I’ve come across, with numbered posts that are easy to keep track of for reading/quoting purposes. Now, to buisness
  3 I suppose the differences between us are best summarized by your statement “Life is to be lived, not worried about.”
  4 Expressed in the context of your equity problem, I cannot fathom how you can feel that way about your home while asking “Where is the outrage?” to be directed at Sandy Burger for hiding Clinton papers from the 9/11 commission.
  5 That your home is worth less than you paid is an outrage to me because I suffer, too. The sad thing is that this did not need to happen. Any one with a half a grain of common sense saw it coming.
  6 The housing market was the direct result of republican laizze fairism that allowed huge amounts of money to go ino the hands of a free for all financial sector run by people who were supposed to know who was, and was not a good credit risk, and how much an individual could counted on to pay back.
  7 Eptomized by “No doc loans” and exotic ARMs where a teaser rates became a much higher rates became common place arrangements where billions were shoveled into the hands people who could not carry the debt, servicemen included. Then people were simply supposed to refi as their property magicly appreciated. While it takes 2 to tango, the majority of the blame goes to the lenders for it is they who were supposed to know.
  8 Lost homes are only part of the outrage. As a result of his part in this mess Citi lost 9.9 billion. Yet Charles Prince walked away with a $95 million severance package, and all he has to do is go before Congress, make lame excuses for his failures, and talk about the importance of contract rights.
  9 Good republicans like him are the reason the banks own more of Americas homes than their residents for the first time since 1945.
  As far as oil goes, the republican controlled congress could’ve voted in ANWAR drilling before 2006.
  10 And even if they had, there’s no guarantee that by the time that oil from there would’ve reached world markets, it’s price would be any lower than it is now. As I have written in previous posts, it isn’t the oil co’s job to make sure we get cheap gas. It’s their job to make as money as they can, same as whoever controls the spigots at OPEC, or the spigots in Iraq. Not to make Bush experiment in Iraqi nation building appear a success
  11 So what could drive the price of oil up so fast? Demand from Asia, and a dollar whose prime rate is half that of the Euro to get out of the credit mess created by Bush allies like Prince. Both these forces will keep petroleum expensive for dollar holders, no matter where it’s drilled.
  12 It’s not speculation that driving the price of gas, it’s the reliance on a fuel that can’t provide for the energy needs of the world through the 21st century. Nor will nuclear power be a practical substitue. We have little Uranium here, and have been relying on the Russians weapons grade nuke materials for half the fuel rods in our nations reactors. Then there’s the prospect of living in the shadow of a powerplant. Even if one was willing to live in the shadow of a powerplant, most people, Mr. Noonan would not like to lose their equity to a power plant. Then there’s the storage problem.
  We have no permanent storage facility for existing nuke materials.
  14 So what is to be done?
  15 Part of the solution for an energy hungry world Chrysler came up with in the early sixties when it built and distributed 50 turbine cars in a famous experiment to determine if Americans would go for such a new technology.
  16 They worked extremely well having few moving parts. And their turbines were designed to burn literally any flammable fluid: kerosene, gasoline, diesel, vegetable oil with no engine alteration. The then President of Mexico even got hold of one, filled its tank with Tequila, and got 5 miles to the bottle.
  17 This car is a true flex fuel vehicle. It can run on anything. And this is the key to a secure energy future, diversifying our fuel sources. America can’t rely on a single energy source, any more than lenders can depend on eternal magic appreciation to keep the mortgage market from melting down.
  18 And the same silliness that lead to the mortgage meltdown leads Bill Gates to come to the Hill begging for more H1 visas because American schools aren’t producing enough technicaly competent people to fill good paying jobs in his company. More than anything else, its a lack of education that has lead us to where we are. We don’t know what sacrifices we need to make to solve our current problems, and leaders from neither side of the aisle are telling what pain we need to endure.
  19 Mr. Noonan, ultimately, the question must be asked: Can the terrorists make a greater mess of this country than we have made it ourselves? Some by assuming that all our problems can be solved with flag saluting, church going, and force.
  20 Honestly, Mr. Noonan, how much do you have to lose before you start finding enough outrage to re-think what has happened to your country over the last 8 years?

• 20. Mark Noonan  |  May 10th, 2008 at 12:45 pm

  JAT,

  I’ve even got a bit of inside scoop in our sub-prime meltdown - my day job is as a credit underwriter at one of the companies which paid heavily for the stupid sup-prime loans they were writing. A friend of my who actually worked in the sub-prime mortgage department says he - and the rest of them - warned the corporate bosses again and again that the loans they were writing were stupid and bound to eventually fail….but the word came down: keep writing them. They rest, as they say, is history.

  If you want to argue with me that businessness should be run on Judeo-Christian principles, you’ll actually get no argument. What the financial industry did was stupid…but, also, the people were stupid…an idiotic loan needs an idiotic borrower…it does, indeed, take two to tango. Its always good to keep in mind that this Catholic ultra-conservative is no fan of “get rich quick” schemes which dress themselves up as capital investments. As someone who works in the corporate world, I have identified the problem of most large corporations - they think their primary function is to generate high profits, when their actual primary function is to produce the best product and/or service they can (high profits will naturally follow work well done - but try to explain that to a 30-something with a business degree).

  As for, “where’s the outrage?” - I am outraged by it, but the solution isn’t to place some dimbulb bureaucrat in DC in charge of monitoring who can get loans for what amount and with what equity. As an underwriter, I will assert stoutly that underwriting is more of an art than a science. Make hard and fast rules, and all you’ll do is either deny people loans who can handle them, or give loans to people who can’t. Its a very subjective thing - and sometimes a guy with a FICO of 800 is more risky than the guy with a FICO of 650.

  My outrage, though, is larger than just outrage over slipshod business practices resultant from a lack of Christian morality in business - I’m also outraged that a man can steal America’s secrets, and get a rap on the knuckles as opposed to a firing squad (an opponent of the death penalty, my two major exceptions are for treason and for murdering after murder). That Berger stole these documents in service of shabby political cover up and that the left in this country doesn’t think anything much about it, that outrages me.

  It is the practical application of Judeo-Chrstian principles where we’ll find the solutions - we won’t find them in thinking a hack, uber-leftist political zero from Chicago is the answer to what ails us.

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