Betzee said...

Betzee at 02:46 AM JST - 31st August

Details are trickling out. Apparently the Garrido "family" ran a printing business in which Jaycee was introduced by patriarch Phil as "my daughter." It's her artwork which adorned much of their business so she has some skills. Moreover, she has memories of a normal childhood to draw on as well…

Posted in Questions arise over how 11-year-old girl's kidnapper went undetected for 18 years at 02:46 AM JST - 31st August
Betzee at 09:14 PM JST - 29th August

Garrido and the girls showed up Monday on the Berkeley campus, where they distributed fliers and met with Lisa Campbell, manager of special events for the UC Police Department.

Garrido told her he wanted to hold a campus event he called "God's Desire," which he frenetically described as having to…

Posted in Horror story emerges after woman kidnapped as child resurfaces 18 years later at 09:14 PM JST - 29th August
Betzee at 08:46 PM JST - 29th August

One can say, why didn't the neighbors suspect something given they knew the guy was a registered sex offender? Well, he put up a high fence around his yard. Nonetheless, in 2006 someone did call to report people, including children, seemed to be living in the back. But the sheriff's…

Posted in Horror story emerges after woman kidnapped as child resurfaces 18 years later at 08:46 PM JST - 29th August
Betzee at 08:14 PM JST - 29th August

It was actually the Special Events Coordinator for the UC Berkeley police who should be credited with freeing Jaycee and her daughters. She decided, "There's something really wrong here" when Garrido showed up on campus last Monday with the two kids to inquire about staging a religious event. School had…

Posted in Horror story emerges after woman kidnapped as child resurfaces 18 years later at 08:14 PM JST - 29th August
Betzee at 11:05 PM JST - 7th August

"military-industrial complex"

I believe it was Dwight Eisenhower, as he was leaving office, who coined the term and warned Americans of its dangers. While it does create an incentive to go to war, I think pursuit of American strategic interests, as they are understood, is the determinant of policy.

Posted in U.S. looks to Vietnam war experience for Afghan tips at 11:05 PM JST - 7th August
Betzee at 10:34 PM JST - 7th August

Trade with the Taliban?

They already have control over an ever expanding opium crop which is far more profitable than anything else the average Afghan farmer can grow.

Posted in U.S. looks to Vietnam war experience for Afghan tips at 10:34 PM JST - 7th August
Betzee at 10:22 PM JST - 7th August

Where Afghanistan most clearly resembles Vietnam is in state-building. One of the problems the US encountered in the earlier conflict was a succession of leaders who appropriated American aid for their own ends. One only need to study the Strategic Hamlet Program, intended to give South Vietnamese farmers a stake…

Posted in U.S. looks to Vietnam war experience for Afghan tips at 10:22 PM JST - 7th August
Betzee at 01:28 PM JST - 14th June

"But Khamenei, who has final say on all state matters, called the result a“divine assessment” and called on all Iranians to support Ahmadinejad."

If it didn't matter who won as claimed by those who dismissed the election as a sham, then why would Khamenei need to make his voice heard…

Posted in Tehran calm after vote fraud claims trigger clashes at 01:28 PM JST - 14th June
Betzee at 10:30 PM JST - 13th June

I don't see a second Ahmadinejad term as simply a continuation of the first. After Saddam was toppled there was a power vacuum in the Muslim Middle East. Ahmadinejad was clearly trying to increase his regional stature by making pronouncements intended to play well on Arab Street and position himself…

Posted in Iran declares win for Ahmadinejad in disputed vote at 10:30 PM JST - 13th June
Betzee at 10:08 PM JST - 13th June

I wonder how much Iranians regret replacing the Shah dictatorship with a theocratic dictatorship.

I wouldn't go there, it will elicit a denunciation of the US role in toppling democratically elected Mossadegh and re-installing the Shah in power in 1953. Had he not been forced to leave the country in…

Posted in Iran declares win for Ahmadinejad in disputed vote at 10:08 PM JST - 13th June