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   Washingtons budget hawks want to decimate the federal workforce to shrink the deficit. It will have the opposite effect.
 There arent nearly enough counterterrorism experts to instruct all of Americas police. So we got these guys instead.
 Last year there wasn�t a single fatal airline accident in the developed world. So why is the U.S. health care system still accidently killing hundreds of thousands? The answer is a lack of transparency.
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May 23, 2007
By: WHEN IS A SODA CAN NOT A SODA CAN?....Spencer explains the mysterious soda can quote here. Sort of. —Kevin Drum 11:26 AM Permalink | Trackbacks | Comments (9)
Comments
To me it seemed that the Iraqi dude was pointing out that while you might be able to tell exactly what a material object such as a Pepsi can is/contains, you cannot know that with certainly when dealing with a complex, rivalry-ridden human organization such as the Iraqi Police. Cranky Posted by: Cranky Observer on May 23, 2007 at 11:37 AM | PERMALINKHow much soda would a soda can can if a soda can could can soda? Posted by: Matt on May 23, 2007 at 11:41 AM | PERMALINKI think one of Spencer's commenters gets it right when he says that the quote speaks volumes about the officer's fear of expressing himself directly. Posted by: thersites on May 23, 2007 at 11:53 AM | PERMALINKWhat this demonstrates is that when an interviewer is conducting an interview in translation, s/he needs to damn well indicate that in the story. My guess is that this can all be cleared up by asking an Iraqi fluent in English what the metaphor means; better yet, play that Iraqi the tape of the original Arabic. To me, it meant that he was saying, Yes, the police just as infiltrated as you think it is, but don't ask me to say it out loud. The soda can just happened to be what was in front of him--with Clarence Thomas' pubic hair on it, of course. Posted by: Kenji on May 23, 2007 at 2:24 PM | PERMALINKNow we're back to reading the tea leaves, i mean, soda. Posted by: absent observer on May 23, 2007 at 3:43 PM | PERMALINKYou don't need to analyze the liquid inside a soda can to know what's inside it. It's a soda can, therefore it's filled with soda. The Iraqi regime is controlled by sectarian Shiite parties, and therefore they're collaborating with the Shiite militias. This isn't an accusation he can make directly, so he's hinting. It's really pretty obvious what he means. Posted by: AJL on May 23, 2007 at 5:05 PM | PERMALINKPost a comment
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