Wednesday, January 12, 2005
"Extreme" Update
Well, Donald Rumsfeld's at it again. In a joint news conference with Russian Defense Minister Sergey Ivanov, Rumsfeld used "extremist" and "global struggle against extremism" three times in his <400 word opening remarks. The meme seems to be confined to Rumsfeld for now (at least among people who make the news), but he's trying his best to get it out there.
Also, it's worth reading the text of the news conference, because there's a lot of discussion about something called "MANPADS". It sounds like a male tampon, but it's actually "man-portable air defence systems", better known as surface-to-air missiles, which could be really nasty in the hands of extremists, don't you know. I don't know why, but I find it really funny to think about two secretaries of defense using the word MANPADS 14 times in a brief news conference. I guess I've been watching too much "South Park".
Also, it's worth reading the text of the news conference, because there's a lot of discussion about something called "MANPADS". It sounds like a male tampon, but it's actually "man-portable air defence systems", better known as surface-to-air missiles, which could be really nasty in the hands of extremists, don't you know. I don't know why, but I find it really funny to think about two secretaries of defense using the word MANPADS 14 times in a brief news conference. I guess I've been watching too much "South Park".
