New Book Excerpt - Spy Thriller

Based on my own comments from my previous post about Porter Goss' comments about finding Bin Laden, I was inspired. The following is an excerpt from my forthcoming novel:

"Everywhere To Hide: Volume One of the Goss CIA Dossier Series"

It's been a while since I've read a Clancy novel, but I'm trying my best to capture that overwrought Spy Thriller feel. Enjoy.

Chapter One: Active engagement

Stone Anderson tossed the paperweight from hand to hand, and he reflected on the feel of the cool, polished surface against his skin. He was the sort of man who couldn't be bothered to sit still, especially to wait in the anteroom of the CIA Director's office.

Suddenly, Angeline walked through the door from the director's office, carrying a stack of redacted documents.

"Director Goss is ready for you, now, Stone." She said with a demure smile, her serious but attractive lips curling up at the corners into girlish dimples.

"Thanks, Angel. Did he have his lunch already, or should I expect to get chewed out in there?" He replied.

Angeline snickered, "I don't know, Stone...the mood in there is pretty dark. I hope you didn't wear your Eau de Steak and potatoes."

"Heh. Wish me luck, kiddo." He said.

He walked into the dimly lit room to see Director Goss and Assistant Director Stonecipher staring intently at the computer screen. Goss looked up at him as he entered.

"Stone. You're right on time." Goss said, "I'll get right down to brass tacks."

Anderson could tell immediately the situation was grim. If Goss skipped the usual chit-chat or commendations from the President, it always meant a clock somewhere was ticking fast.

"We need you to get to Pakistan, Anderson," Director Goss said, "Our agents in Pakistan need your help finding Bin Laden."

Stone's eyebrow peaked, and he asked, "Why? What's the problem?"

Goss pulled his glasses off and massaged his nose. "Because, Stone, the sonofagun is," he sighed,"hiding."

"Hiding?" Anderson exclaimed, his eyes pulled wide, "That nefarious, cowardly bastard."

Director Goss put his glasses back on. "Yes, Stone. He's hiding. We had two of our best deep operatives from Kabul on his trail for the last three months." A deep operative was the term the CIA used for a first generation American citizen of foreign ancestry who was trained as a Level 6 operative at Langley, and assigned back into their ancestral homeland. In areas like the Middle East, they were invaluable assets, in ways that even the most darkly-complected, Christian God-fearing American could never be.

"They tracked him to a small village, about 50 miles from Bannu." Director Goss continued,"They actually had him cornered and were prepared to take action to apprehend him, but Bin Laden used his hands to cover his own eyes--"

"And they couldn't see him." Stone finished, "That evil Islamofascist may be a maniac, but he's a maniac genius."

Director Goss turned the computer monitor towards Anderson. It showed a map of the Afghani-Pakistani border. Stone stared intently at the map for a few seconds, his muscular jaw tensing and relaxing in deep contemplation.

"Did you try Googling for him?" Stone asked.

"Yes. And we even checked the Yahoo People Finder." Director Goss replied, his voice sounding resolute, but weary, "We found a few leads, but they all turned out to be dead ends."

CIA v. al-Qaeda

Catching up on today's events, we hear today from CIA director Porter Goss that:

Al Qaeda leaders bin Laden and al-Zarqawi haven't been found "primarily because they don't want us to find them and they're going to great lengths to make sure we don't find them," Goss said in the interview

It's so sad to see the mighty CIA laid low by those evil al-Qaeda masterminds using their devious hiding tactics. If only I'd known it was that easy sooner, I would have been trading state secrets for profit years ago. This sure takes the wind out of the sails of all those Tom Clancy novels, doesn't it? As has been said elsewhere, one has to wonder if the current government is so tied up in their own "it's hard work" incompetence that they honestly think this is somehow a profound explanation, rather than a sad, depressing sidestep.

Further, when Goss states that: the CIA knows "a good deal more" about the men "than we're able to say publicly." I'm actually less inclined to say "bullshit" than I am to just speculate on exactly what kind of dirty scheme is keeping the administration in thrall to the Pakistanis and/or Saudis. When the British transit bombers and Madrid train bomber masterminds are identified and surrounded within weeks, it really just seems sad that the freaking CIA can't or wont execute an operation to capture or kill Bin Laden.

Another Day, Another Major Speech on Iraq

It has been a week or two since Chimpy gave the last speech touted as a "major speech on Iraq", and the poll numbers don't look too good, so I suppose it's time for a new one.


This one is being touted as special because he's also delivered his "victory plan". I guess three years into a war isn't the worst time to deliver the plan for winning it, but sooner probably would have been better.

And just to clarify all the fluff from last week, timetables are still bad.

Iraq Withdrawal - My Head Spins Off Entirely

Okay, apparently the whisperings going around since Sunday were wrong, or are no longer operative, or were just another misdirection tactic.

As of 16:26 EST, Bush and Rumsfeld are saying that a troop withdrawal from Iraq would be a mistake.

I can no longer keep up with this crap. From now on I'm quitting posting about national politics and will solely discuss local politics and do cat blogging.

Treason and Comfort to the Enemy Redux

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An Open Letter to American Liberals

My Dear Comrades,

As a strawman liberal, I feel the following needs to be said.

Truly, in this Post-9/11 world, it has be difficult to be a tax-and-spend, cut-and-run, america-hating liberal. Oh certainly, we have had some minor victories in promoting our homosexual agenda, as witnessed in the recent outbreak of municipal gay marriages. But whatever minor victories we have accomplished there are now offset by Bill O'Reilly's counter-offensive on our War Against Christmas. Moreover, the current trends in the Supreme Court, and various Boards of Education, seem likely to threaten all of our successes over the last 50 years in turning America away from God, and towards glorious atheism. I have watched with woe and terror as the blog-centric juggernaut Pajamas Media/Open Source Media/OSM/Pajamas Media succeeds in prying free the stranglehold our Liberal Media Empire has had on delivering news to the proletariat.

But, on this Thanksgiving Day, I urge you to look instead towards all the things we have to be thankful for, and rejoice.

We seem to have derailed the Right's attempt to save Social Security, for the time being. In the foreseeable future, there is little worry that the masses will be able to stand on their own without seeking handouts from the government. Our activist judges are working diligently to legislate from the benches of federal courts throughout the land. And our insidious tactics of presenting the reality-based objective-truth have steadily succeeded in turning public opinion against the hated Bush Administration.

As icing on the cake, we learn today that the hated Right-Wing Power Couple of Jessica Simpson and Nick Lachey have officially split. Truly, there is much to be thankful for.

On this Thanksgiving Day, I remind you all of these successes, and urge you to be thankful.

To you all, according to your need, from me, according to my ability,

Comrade mergenow

Last Survivor of WWI Christmas Truce Dies

Alfred Anderson, the last survivor of the WWI Christmas Truce, died in his sleep yesterday. He was 109 years old.

In one of the most odd stories of war, on Christmas Day in 1914 in Ypres, Belgium, the British and German troops in the trenches staged an impromptu truce, sang Christmas Carols, exchanged small gifts, and most famously (allegedly) played soccer.

He was interviewed last year by the Guardian, before the 90th anniversary of the event, in what I consider to be a powerful article.

Dude was a WWI vet, people. Peace, Alfred.



Technorati Tag: WWI Veterans

PSU beats Michigan State

31-22.

w00t!

Calls for Withdrawal from Iraq

I think a quick recap is in order. Rep. John Murtha's call for a plan to withdraw troops is apparently a bad thing. I'm hearing that we need to stay in Iraq until our job is done, even though nobody has yet bothered to explain to me exactly what that job is. (Mission not yet Accomplished...got it) In fact in this story, we are told:

“To cut and run would invite terrorism into our backyards, and no one wants to see troops fighting terrorism on American soil,” Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., said Friday night

Now, it's also not clear to me how Murtha's call for an orderly plan for withdrawal constitutes "cutting and running", nor how that would lead to troops fighting in my backyard. Presumably, my patio furniture has strategic value in the eyes of your modern Islamofascists.

However, in all the fuss on Friday, I nearly missed this lovely little nugget of news:

The top U.S. commander in Iraq has submitted a plan to the Pentagon for withdrawing troops in Iraq, according to a senior defense official.

Gen. George Casey submitted the plan to Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. It includes numerous options and recommends that brigades -- usually made up of about 2,000 soldiers each -- begin pulling out of Iraq early next year.

HOOOO-boy! I cannot wait to see the fireworks and vitriol launched against those terrorist-loving pinkos! Why does Gen. Casey want to undermine our troops? It's apparently a case of self-loathing similar to that which afflicts Jews who criticize Israel, if I understand my wingnuttery. Let's not forget that Rumsfeld is complicit in this, as well...so he obviously hates our freedoms.

I'm sure the Congressional republicans will be all over these guys on Monday.

UPDATE Looking back over my own blog posts, I'm reminded that pinko Rumsfeld has been giving comfort to our enemies for some time now...

UPDATE 2 In all fairness, I have to note that the original "Rumsfeld calls for fast Iraqi pullout" story was later corrected, and it turns out that he didn't actually say that.

PATRIOT Act Reauthorization on Hold

Truly we live in interesting times. Today, we learned from a diary on dailykos by Sen. Russ Feingold, (or someone on his staff, at least) that the attempt to push a bill to extend the USA Patriot act was shelved until December. I haven't done an exhaustive search for it, but I don't see that making headlines anywhere, as of this moment.

I'm quite pleased about that outcome, so far, but I'm more intrigued by the implications of the "Senator as Diarist" concept. We have reached a point where participatory democracy works in a way it could never have worked before.

Smallville DVDs on Amazon

While watching tonight's episode of Smallville, I decided to check out the price of the DVDs on amazon. I was interested in purchasing the Complete First Four Seasons set. Let's note that this option is nothing different than purchasing the individual DVD box sets of the individual seasons (actually it also includes the pilot episode as well.)

However, it's a good thing I'm such a stickler for figuring out exactly how much I'd be saving by purchasing the box set. The complete set is currently selling for $165.32. But if you sum up the prices of the individual pieces of the set, it comes out to $151.90.

Either amazon gave the task of pricing this one to the intern, or they're hoping to make some extra cash off less-than-observant customers.



update: Oh, and I forgot to mention that this evening's episode contained what had to be the most annoyingly blatant product placements I've ever seen. Lois' new car, which just happened to be the same model that was being pitched by Ford in their key sponsorship for the episode, was entirely too significant throughout the story in a painful, hamhanded way. Bad WB...bad.

Tour de Blogs - Sadly, No!

Brad R. has me pissing myself over this post at Sadly, No! I consider this bit to be the money quote:

The first response in Europe to the [French] riots was one of shock, inaction, and insults. The people in the street [were] called "scum," Liberals were perplexed at the immigrants hostility after all the programs they created for them, and the police stood by and helplessly watched.

Indeed. You may remember all those Muslims boys who torched cars while chanting, "STOP GIVING US FREE HEALTHCARE, YOU FRENCH C@CKS#CKERS!"

(edited slightly for improved readability and work-safe-ishness)

Alito and Promises

Okay, I'm just going to build on what Holden said here.

So, just to recap, we know that Chimpy's boy, Sam "Harriet Jr." Alito has no problems breaking a promise. In 1990, during his confirmation hearings, he promised to recuse himself from any cases involving Vanguard, with whom he held hundreds of thousands of dollars in funds. However, once he was on the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, he ruled on a case involving Vanguard, and complained about attempts to get him to recuse himself. (source)

Yesterday, Sammy spoke with Sen. Dianne Feinstein on the subject a 1985 document in which he argued ''the Constitution does not protect a right to an abortion.'' Talking about that discussion later, Sen. Feinstein explained:

''He said first of all it was different then,'' she said. ''He said, 'I was an advocate seeking a job, it was a political job and that was 1985. I'm now a judge, I've been on the circuit court for 15 years and it's very different. I'm not an advocate, I don't give heed to my personal views, what I do is interpret the law.'''

Let's just sum this situation up, here...While attempting to get a new job, he's telling one of his interviewers that he has unrepentantly lied to get a previous job in the past. But he wouldn't do that now...oh, heavens no.

They don't even try to pretend anymore, do they?

NEPAblogging - James Watson to Lecture at U of S

Dr. James D. Watson, as in Watson and Crick, discoverers of the structure of DNA, will be speaking at the University of Scranton on Thursday, Nov. 17th at 8pm. He will be presenting "Living with DNA", for the Harry Mullin, M.D. Memorial Lecture.

As stated in the press release, the lecture is open to the public and free of charge.

NEPAblogging - Da Preznit, He Loves Him Da NEPA

Interestingly, in a move which garnered surprisingly little water cooler discussion, Chimpy is delivering a speech for Armistice Day in Tobyhanna. When both Chimpy and Kerry kicked off their 2004 campaigns in NEPA, it was certainly odd, but I eventually accepted it and just said "Huh!"

Why give a speech in NEPA on Veteran's day? The first thought I had was that this was some kind of an attempt to prop up Santorum, but according to the Times-Tribune, Santorum wont even be there.

Curiouser and curiouser....

Bush - Conflicting Stand on Torture

Bush, today, made a statement about the US and it's use of torture. The key money quote from his statement today:

He declared, "We do not torture."
Okay, great! I can't believe I need to hear a President of the United States make that claim, but given all the recent shit, it's good to hear we're taking a strong, clear policy statement that rules out the possibility that we'd use torture. Truly, this is a clear and unambiguous victory for moral, ethical and human rights policy.

Oh, but wait. What's that in the opening paragraph of the same article?

President Bush vigorously defended U.S. interrogation practices in the war on terror Monday and lobbied against a congressional drive to outlaw torture.

But...but...if we do not torture, why would you oppose a law that explicitly outlaws torture? Wouldn't it just follow that if we're going to say we don't torture, we would back that statement up with a law reinforcing our commitment to that position?

Unless, this is yet another hollow statement exemplifying the "Say one thing and do the opposite" record of our Assministration...? It couldn't be that...could it?

Sunday News Roundup - Riots and Misdeeds Edition

It's Sunday after a busy week at work, (plus a long weekend wedding trip) so you all know what that means: Weekend News Roundup.

1. After a full weekend down south meeting with Latin American leaders, which on Friday prompted protests and riots, Chimpy took some time out to insult some of those leaders. Incidentally, on the subject of protests, I'm amazed that no enterprising tourist agency has come up with an Anti-Globalization Protester Package Tour...("Come for the protests, stay for the hospitality!")

2. Speaking of rioting, Paris has been seized by rioting for over 11 straight days now. Apparently, the disaffected Muslim youth are no longer going to tolerate the 23% unemployment rate for the under-25 segment of the population. Apparently, the rioters are now becoming more co-ordinated and violent in their attacks on the police. Using the Administration's benchmarks for our Iraqi adventure, the rioters are a bunch of dead-enders in their last throes.

3. My buddy Ken Tomlinson, the goon responsible for attempting to bring more conservative viewpoints to the allegedly liberal-biased Public Broadcasting systems, has been forced out and is under investigation for financial shenanigans, which if substantiated could involve criminal violations. The tears I shed are copious, indeed.

4. Finally, the New York Times reports that we have more evidence suggesting that the Assministration knowingly misrepresented the intelligence used to argue for the invasion of Iraq. A key detainee whose information was a primary source for the claims that Iraq was training Al-Qaeda members, was identified in February 2002 as having mislead "debriefers". This source was subsequently cited by Bush, Cheney and Powell when selling the war.

And that's our weekend, people. Enjoy.

Bush to Announce National Flu Plan

The big headline today is that Bush will be unveiling his national bird flu plan.

I can just imagine...

The Plan
1. Drink lots of fluids
2. Eat soup (but avoid chicken soup)
3. Stockpile Tamiflu
4. Kill and burn your parakeet if he starts sneezing

I guess he can throw Harriet Miers a bone and appoint her to the soon-to-be-created cabinet-level Flu Czar post.