Friday, September 22, 2006

The NYT Does It Again



The Guardian

From the Associated Press

Army Meets Recruiting Goal
Thursday September 21, 2006 11:16 PM

By ROBERT BURNS
AP Military Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) - The Army is ending its best recruiting year since 1997 and expecting similar success in 2007, despite the weight of grim war news from Iraq, Army Secretary Francis Harvey said Thursday.

In an Associated Press interview, Harvey said the Army will enlist its 80,000th soldier on Friday, reaching its goal for the year with eight days to spare. That is a considerable turnaround from last year when the Army missed its target for the first time since 1999 and by the widest margin in more than two decades....

The New York Times

Strained, Army Looks to Guard for More Relief

By THOM SHANKER and MICHAEL R. GORDON

Published: September 22, 2006


WASHINGTON, Sept. 21 — Strains on the Army from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have become so severe that Army officials say they may be forced to make greater use of the National Guard to provide enough troops for overseas deployments.

Discuss among yourselves.





10 comments:

Unknown said...

Oh yeah, we only have a population of about 300 million...there is no way we can have a total of 170,000 troops in the field and still find anyone anywhere prepared to defend the country.

I wonder how these people think this country fought WW2.

Gale said today that someone told him there were still cases of young men being given the option of jail or the army. Is this true? I thought that practice was over with.

cf said...

HEH!

Rick Ballard said...

Next up will be a depate between Brad DeLong and Paul Krugman as to the degree of danger that America faces due to gas prices falling too rapidly.

That, or why record tax receipts are a clear danger signal that the budget may be balanced ahead of the President's promise. The headline will obviously be "President Wrong Again".

Barry Dauphin said...

This just in...Krugman op-eds have been deemed inappropriate to be read by Gitmo detainees due to use of tortured logic.

Anonymous said...

Are we talking about newspapers again?

Can we talk about something else - like Bach partitas or Mexican beer or the value of old Winchester rifles or how I can best affix a new retractable clothesline to my shed? (Speaking of which - you guys up there in Canuckland make some mean, heavy duty galvanized clothesline pulleys, were you aware of this?)

Now, if you guys could suggest some practical uses of the NYT that don't involve reading it, then I'm all ears. How does it burn when you want to start a fire in your fireplace? Has anybody ever taken measurements? Does a Krugman column burn better or hotter than, say, a typical LA Times editorial? Should I for example subscribe to the Boston Globe just to place it under the cat's litter box or am I fine with the Seattle Post-Intelligencer? You know, practical stuff that the ordinary person can use.

vnjagvet said...

As usual, Skook has the subject nailed.

Luther said...

Skookumchuk

I have heard that the NYT is especially good as nesting for fishing worms, some of which are known as European Night-crawlers. I dunno why exactly, but something re excrement and the feeding of simple minds. Rumor has it that the opinion pages work the best.

Anonymous said...

luther:

There ya go.

Anonymous said...

My mistake.

The super-duper Canadian clothesline pulley isn't galvanized at all. No sir. It is cast aluminum, with cadmium-plated ball bearings.

Yes, we have a perfectly good washer-dryer, but she has it in her head she needs a clothesline.

But luther, you hit on it. I could use the European night crawlers for coho salmon maybe? The rivers north of Seattle open October 1, according to the e-mails the State Wildlife folks keep sending me. It is worth a try, perhaps next year.

I would end up doing a down and dirty cost benefit analysis - a yearly subscription to the New York Times versus a few new good fishing flies. It is probably a wash, though the savings on not having to build a compost box full of Krugman columns so close to the house may swing the decision in favor of the fishing flies. Besides, there is the whole catch and release ethos to think of.

Unknown said...

It is good for lining the cat box.