Are you really mad at McClellan . . . or Bush?

There’s a lot of furor going ’round over Scott McClellan’s new book, with libs exaggerating the implications and conservatives disinheriting McClellan. But I’d like to make one undeniable point:

Bush hired him.

Staffing has always been one of Bush’s big weaknesses. Most people were unimpressed with McClellan, who was certainly the least capable Press Secretary of the Bush administration. But that’s not really McClellan’s fault - it’s Bush’s fault.

I think that the big initial claims of wrong-doing will evaporate: they’ve already been blown out of proportion, and thus far they’re not well corroborated. But McClellan’s book will always be a testament to the fact that Bush is an awfully poor judge of competence and character.

UPDATE: More people have come to the same conclusion:

• Slublog: The Price of Blind Loyalty
• American Thinker: Blame Bush for McClellan

Patriotic symbols: the flag, the anthem, and bandwidth

A year ago I wrote a post on the rankings of the average download speeds of various countries. The US (2 Mpbs) compared very poorly to most other industrialized countries: even Canada had more than three time our bandwidth (7 Mpbs).

But I was pleased to find that Qwest recently introduce 20 Mbps downloads in selected cities, mine being one of them. Unfortunately they want around $100/month for that rate. But 12 Mbps can be had for only $37! So upgrading I shall go, finally beating Canada, but still lagging France (which would bug me more had Sarkozy not been elected). Here’s the situation:

So let me take this opportunity to urge you to do your patriotic duty and crank up your bandwidth as well. It’s time we used our American can-do attitude to get us the bandwidth ranking we deserve.

Yeah, Japan - I’m talking about you.

Japan reinvading China?

China is apparently allowing Japanese military on its soil?

Reeling from the soaring death toll of the Sichuan earthquake and in growing fear of a catastrophic eruption from the “quake lakes”, China has invited the Japanese military on to its soil for the first time since the Second World War.

The extraordinary request for help from China’s historically detested old enemy will produce symbolism that few could have imagined possible two weeks ago.

Revulsion at Japan’s wartime past — particularly the Imperial Army’s atrocities in China — continues to play an explosive role in Asian politics. Relations between Tokyo and Beijing have been improving, and China has already welcomed teams of Japanese medical experts to help with the quake.

Unbelievable. Unbelievable to the point that you think “it’s gotta be a trap.” But apparently it’s true.

Those who say that China’s and Russia’s historical enmity will prevent them from collaborating in modern times, please take note.