Quick Roundup 100

An Intel Estimate They'll Believe

My clock radio is presently tuned to the local affiliate of NPR, so I woke up this morning to hear about the latest left-wing fad: respect for intelligence estimates. It seems that the New York Times has caused something of a ruckus by reporting on some leaked documents to the effect that the campaign in Iraq has "invigorated Islamic radicalism and worsened the global terrorist threat".

It should be interesting to hear this touted as gospel throughout the election season even as the left simultaneously continues to ridicule past intelligence estimates which indicated that Saddam Hussein was trying to get the bomb before we invaded Iraq as well as current ones that show Iran on the cusp of success.

Lets see.... So we should have ignored the stuff on Hussein. And our intelligence on Iran is not good enough for us to jump to conclusions just yet. But we should pull out of Iraq yesterday because we're fanning the flames of terrorism.

For the left, there is no such thing as actionable intelligence if by "action" one means "employ the military for its proper function". If military force is called for, the intelligence is obviously wrong. If not, then it is obvioiusly correct.

And since the role of Islam in fomenting terrorism is not really a question for intelligence agencies to answer, the left feels it can safely duck that matter altogether.

So tell me. Why do they hate the CIA so much?

Stupid Criminals, Part the Umpteenth

I found the following passage amusing. It comes from an article about a job recruiter who matches felons with hard-to-fill positions once they have been released from prison.

Jose Gomez expects to get out of prison during the latter part of this month and hopes to get another job driving a semi in the Dallas area. That's what the 38-year-old was doing before he landed in prison for a second time on a driving under the influence charge. [bold added]

Yeah. Right. The good news is that the job recruiter told him as much. The bad news is that the discussion moved to another option that sounded a little too similar: driving heavy equipment around at a construction site.

Of course, articles like this one suggest that our broken criminal justice system might have something to do with such ... expectations.

Facing the stiff costs and strict rules that come with probation, thousands of convicted drivers in recent years have decided spending time behind bars is the better option.

And in a county already struggling with crowded jails, that's a disturbing trend. Sentences can be short enough to mean losing only one weekend and a vacation day, but some end up behind bars as long as half a year.

...

One of the few incentives for taking probation is the fact that going to jail means automatically losing one's driver's license for 90 days to a year, Pelton said. First-time offenders on probation may be allowed to keep their licenses, depending on the judge, the circumstances and their attorneys.

Even when licenses are forfeited, judges sometimes grant occupational licenses so offenders can drive to and from work or make other necessary trips. Ross noted that judges can attach tight restrictions including supervision, alcohol-education classes, random urinalysis and alcohol-sensitive locks on offenders' cars. [bold added]

Splendid. Without consequences for their actions, the criminals are learning nothing. And they're free to endanger our lives.

Carnival of the Capitalists

I was remiss last week in failing to announce that Michael Wade volunteered to host an alternate version of the Carnival of the Capitalists on his Execupundit blog after seeing what a horrible job Noah Kagan did.

Thank you, Mr. Wade!

Beautiful Music

Having the alarm set to NPR is not a total disaster. Today, influential Piedmont Blues guitarist Etta Baker died. NPR made this sad announcement accompanied by some of her music, which I found quite good. (And for this, I must thank the folks at NPR.)

This caused me to see whether any of her work was available online, which led me to a web page touting her album Railroad Bill. Three tracks are available there in mp3 format. I highly recommend them. If you like bluegrass or blues, you'll like this.

And it's only ten bucks.

-- CAV