My heroes this week are the Sunni tribes in Anbar helping the U.S. fight Al Qaeda in Iraq.

WSJ:

By the fall of 2006 AQI had become the oppressor, careless in its destructive swath, while the American and Iraqi forces persisted with their mix of force of arms and civil engagement. When an AQI suicide car bomb attacked an Anbar market in November, killing a Marine and nine civilians, the Marine battalion commander and his Iraqi counterpart offered medical care at the local clinic for the entire town, including the first gynecological examinations many local women had seen. This was not an isolated event, and the people noticed.

With a war-weary population buoying them, 25 of the 31 Anbar sub-tribes have pledged to fight the insurgents over the past five months, sending thousands of tribesmen into the police and army. Led by Sheik Abu Sittar, who has called this an "awakening," the tribes believed they were joining the winners.

My hacks this week are Democrats in Michigan who want to give every Michigan student an iPod.

The Detroit News:

We have come to the conclusion that the crisis Michigan faces is not a shortage of revenue, but an excess of idiocy. Facing a budget deficit that has passed the $1 billion mark, House Democrats Thursday offered a spending plan that would buy a MP3 player or iPod for every school child in Michigan.

No cost estimate was attached to their hare-brained idea to "invest" in education. Details, we are promised, will follow.

Seriously? iPods? I mean, don't get me wrong, I love my iPod. I use it everyday, but I doubt it has an impact on my education, let alone a positive one. This is just lunacy.

Labels: Government Waste, Hero/Hack, Iraq

Posted by Ryan S. on Friday, April 06, 2007 at 3:13 PM | Permalink |