re: "Hussein strikes out"

Uncle Jimbo at Blackfive ("the paratrooper of love") rakes Pres. Obama over the coals.

Money quote(s) of a non-ad hominem nature:

"just how much clout the NY Times and MSNBC have in the Arab world"

Just about none. Don't believe me? Check overall literacy rates in the Arab world (litaracy in any languages, even their own), look into how often (for instance) Al Jazeera cites MSNBC, and do the math.

"because the vast majority of the Muslims.... live in tribal and honor cultures and they only respect the strong horse"

Nice placement of a UBL "strong horse" reference there.

"the hated cowboy W because say what you want about him, he would kick your ass if you crossed him"

I believe it was the Kennedy administration which followed the adage "Don't get mad, get even." Words to govern by.

re: "Mastering the Foreign Service exam"

Some worthwhile reading, for aspiring FSOs, was put up at Two Crabs ("A wanderlust couple exploring the world... one pub at a time!") some time ago. It's still good reading.

re: "On Jose Antonio Vargas"

Daniel Foster at The Corner ("a web-leading source of real-time conservative opinion") tells the tale of an illegal alien.


Money quote(s):


"Vargas was sent to California by his Filipino mother at age twelve. He was raised there by his (naturalized) grandparents, and did not discover he was in the country illegally until he brought his green card to the DMV at age 16 and was told it was a forgery."

Minor children are victims (at worst) or merely passengers (at best) when it comes to illegal immigration. And under current law no legal penalty (aside from deportation) attaches to them thereby. But read on.


"Vargas entered the country illegally after his grandfather paid a coyote $4,500 to smuggle him in. The grandfather then obtained a fake passport and green card for Vargas, which they used to acquire a valid Social Security card. But that card, which subjected Vargas’ right to work to the approval of the then-INS, was illegally doctored, allowing Vargas to secure job after job for more than a decade by showing nothing more than a photocopy of a fake document."

Grandpa ought to be getting a visit from various federal agencies regarding his multiple crimes in this matter.


"(A) fear- and shame-driven Vargas, with the aid of his family, perpetuated and compounded those crimes (Vargas eventually got around to what you might redundantly call fraudulent tax fraud, repeatedly reporting himself as a citizen rather than a “permanent resident”, when in fact he was neither), elicits from me nothing like the outpouring of support Vargas is already enjoying on the Left.


Punishing a minor by removing him from the culture he’s adopted as his own, for the crimes of his parents, does strike me as fundamentally unfair. But what liberals leave out of this story, time and again, is a competing — and in my view overriding — unfairness. Reihan has argued repeatedly, and effectively, that we should treat access to the U.S. economy, not to mention its extensive welfare state, as a scarce resource. We can debate and debate the best way of distributing this resource– from “not at all” to “come one, come all” and everywhere in between. But distributing it based on who manages most successfully to violate the law, at the expense of would-be immigrants who are honoring the process, is surely not a valid option."

Fear and shame notwithstanding, Mr. Vargas had a choice upon reaching age 18. Actually, he had a six month window at that point where, even though he was accuring unlawful presence in the U.S. for which he, having reached age 18, was now legally responsible, it wasn't until he had reached six months of unlawful presence that he'd even incurred a visa ineligibility!

You understand that correctly: he could have flown back to Manila, turned around and legally submitted an application for a U.S. visa, and there would have been no automatic visa ineligibility for all the years of living illegally in the U.S. right up until he was 18 years and six months of age.

re: "Curious, Strange, Whatever -- Victoria Nuland is Officially Announced as New State Dept Spokesperson"

Domani Spero at Diplopundit ("Just one obsessive observer, diplomatic watcher, opinionator and noodle newsmaker monitoring the goings on at Foggy Bottom and the worldwide available universe") provided a run-down on issues relating to this appointment.

Money quote(s):

"The Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs is the head of the Bureau of Public Affairs within the United States Department of State. Typically, the Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs is also the official spokesperson of the State Department. The Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs reports to the Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs ("R").

On May 26, 2011, the State Department announced the appointment of Ambassador Victoria Nuland as State Department spokesperson. She takes over PJ Crowley's old gig at the podium but unlike PJ, she will not be dual-hatted as Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs."

Those two jobs probably should be kept separate, if they're going to be done competently and without burning the office-holder to a cinder.

"(C)an you really say "no" if POTUS or VPOTUS asks you to serve in such and such a position? And if you say "yes" does that mean you're also saying goodbye to your career as a professional diplomat when a next administration is sworn in?"

It's nice to see a career officer not being tarred by the faithful execution of their sworn professional duties under a different presidential administration.

As of last month (if not earlier), Amb. Nuland was on the job as spokesperson.

August Hiatus

Due to a highly fortuitous confluence of temporary duty, travel, and annual leave, CAA posting during the month of August will be extremely constrained.

Do not panic. Carry on as usual.

Caveat per diem!