Do-UI-Think?

Gaphardt's Gaffe

2003-06-26T13:55:00.000-07:00

"When I'm president, we'll do executive orders to overcome any wrong thing the Supreme Court does tomorrow or any other day." - Dick Gephardt When Dick Gephardt uttered these words earlier this week almost no one noticed. Recognition of the chilling effect of Gephardt’s message is only now starting to sink in to the American psyche as more news outlets are giving this sentence of his some

2003-06-06T07:13:00.000-07:00

Economic Recovery The jobs market is surely lagging behind the rest of the economy right now. If anyone had any doubts about the recovery of the economy overall, though, they needed look any further than the announcement that Oracle is buying PeopleSoft for $5.1 billion. I expect to see technology companies with lots of cash still left start looking for undevalued assets wherever they can find

2003-06-04T19:27:00.000-07:00

Martha's Miserable Mess It is often said that the 1950s didn’t really end, at least not psychologically, until the death of President Kennedy in November of 1963. While there were bigger days that signify the end of the 1990s, most notably 9/11/2001, today we saw the final nail being put in place and readied to seal the coffin on the 1990s. The indictment of Martha Stewart today on nine

2003-05-29T20:36:00.000-07:00

Item of Interest from The History Channel Watching a special on Saddam Hussein and his demonic sons it has been reported that in response to Uday killing Saddam’s bodyguard/food tasters/friend Saddam ordered a warehouse that housed over 1,000 exotic cars owned by Uday burned to the ground. Now, running the numbers on that, let’s suppose that the average value of one of these exotic cars was

2003-05-18T11:58:00.000-07:00

Check This Out I was recently turned onto a new website. Like many, it begins by stating what is offered as a sort of truth and seeks to grow from there. Unlike many, the site starts out by discussing the intent of the framers and thus the US Constitution in a way that heretofore the world has not seen, unless you are a very regular reader of The Agonist’s forums. N. Lee Meadows has taken

2003-05-13T15:46:00.000-07:00

Does The Carlyle Group Control NY Times? Occasionally, I like to subject myself to a form of mental torture that can only be found in the writings of one man. Cyclopic Myopathy (CM) is my term for a disease that affects many, and a leading cause of such torture. Generally speaking CM’s a deterioration of mental muscle due to an inability to see beyond one’s own personal feelings. CM’s poster

2003-05-12T15:01:00.000-07:00

Biometrics and Terrorism The US government has acknowledged that it is using biometric tags to later recognize not only Iraqis, but also prisoners captured and released in Afghanistan as well as at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. US rationale is to tag them before they are released “into the wild” under the working theory that while they may not be proven bad guys today, they have greater potential than

2003-05-07T17:02:00.000-07:00

The New Yorker on Karl Rove In this week’s edition of The New Yorker, the featured article is an in-depth look into Karl Rove, entitled “The Controller.” It is easily worth the price of the magazine. The first part of the article goes through the recitation of a now infamous story about Rove during his days in College Republicans. After gaining dome notoriety as a rising star, Rove decided to

2003-05-03T13:32:00.000-07:00

Third Party Thoughts For several years now, I have believed that there is a tremendous opportunity for the creation of a third party in American politics. My fears, previously, of introducing the concept into public was not total disregard, after all, I expect that, but rather acceptance. The current state of affairs between the Republican and Democrat parties in this country has created

2003-05-01T19:29:00.000-07:00

An Interesting Aside Apparently, like many Internet readers, I was drawn into “…she’s a flight risk.” For a while now I have been about 80/20 in favor of viewing this a fiction. Albeit good fiction, but fiction nonetheless. With the latest posts of the past couple of days, I have severely downgraded my opinion of the writing and writer. If I were a Wall Street analyst, this blog would be a

2003-04-29T16:31:00.000-07:00

NY Times Magazine For those who have not seen it, the NY Times Magazine ran an interesting piece this past weekend. The article is entitled The Empire Slinks Back and details how it is highly unlikely that America is about to enter an empire building stage. It appears, that we simply like things here in America too much to go halfway around the world and spend 30 years building a country for

2003-04-28T19:34:00.000-07:00

Remiss writer I have been remiss in writing lately, for that I apologize. Having said that, even if I had not been extremely busy at work over the past week and a half, there really hasn’t been much to write about. Oh, sure SARS started strong. However, my natural inclination would have been to point out that journalists may be jumping the gun a bit on declaring this a world wide pandemic

2003-04-23T20:07:00.000-07:00

The Business of Celebrity For the better part of the past few months the media has been intent upon making sure that Americans are aware of the political views of myriad celebrities from film, television and music. The list includes names like Garafollo, Sheen, Ferrell, and most notably Robbins and Sarandon. The apex of this tornado of opinion, beamed through televisions all across the US was

2003-04-19T09:20:00.000-07:00

The Balance of Power II For a certain period of time prior to the war, I believed that Russia would act in its own best economic interests. They would be a player that offered Saddam an out, but would then turn their backs on Iraq and agree with the US publicly, either at the UN or merely in the press at large. Since that did not happen, I spent some time over the past week thinking about why

2003-04-17T10:05:00.000-07:00

The Balance of Power For several years now, Americans have focused almost entirely on the idea that we are the world’s lone super-power now that we are into the post-Cold War era. This is the elegantly simple and not unusually shallow analysis that the US media has focused on in their framing of the current balance of power in the world. It is not only reckless and irresponsible, but also

2003-04-16T04:57:00.000-07:00

Well Run Rescue Over at The Agonist, Sean-Paul has posted a link to this WaPo article. The article goes on about how a doctor in Iraq felt that the rescue of Jessica Lynch had a bit of Hollywood flair about it. Including the following quote that Keith Richburg thought would work best in his piece, "They made a big show," said Haitham Gizzy, a physician at the public hospital here who treated

2003-04-13T22:00:00.000-07:00

Lessons For those not familiar with the world of golf, please bear with me, this posts talks about golf and one particular golfer, but really isn’t about golf as much as it is about life. Late in the evening on Sunday, Mike Weir won the first major championship of his career and also the first of four in this year’s season, The Masters. This was Weir’s third win this season grossing him a

2003-04-12T09:56:00.000-07:00

Looting The news media is all over the looting story. Everyone from Bill O’Reilly to Aaron Brown is talking nearly non-stop about looting. It also seems that no matter who you see on television, you can expect just about universal agreement that the looting must be stopped. Personally, I think that everyone is on board with the message because regardless of what CENTCOM says, we all know the

Why We Fight

2003-04-09T13:59:00.000-07:00

Why We Fight From Baghdad to Dearborn Iraqis took to the streets today. To Allah they offered praise and thanks for their delivery from the brutal hands of Saddam Hussein. To American forces they offers hugs, cigarettes and tears of joy. With their newly found freedom they gathered in places that Saddam had chosen to place ever present reminders of his power. In these places they

Usama Goebbels bin Laden

2003-04-08T15:09:00.000-07:00

Usama Goebbels bin Laden Today saw the release of yet another UBL audiotape. This seems to have become a semi-consistent routine by al Qaeda to keep its name in the news around the time that radicals in the Middle East are coming under the microscope of the West. On September 9, 2002 a tape was released on al Qaeda’s behalf praising the 9/11 bombers near the 1 year anniversary, the media

Targeting Saddam

2003-04-07T21:53:00.000-07:00

Targeting Saddam Saddam Hussein was apparently targeted this evening (EDT) by the US forces in Baghdad, as all the major news stations are reporting on it by now. One after another I have heard commentators talk about how shocked and awed they are by the idea that Hussein could be traveling about the city and meeting his leaders in places like restaurants. Frankly, in a city of some 5 million,

2003-04-07T15:46:00.000-07:00

Trouble in Brussels Ever since the pundits starting talking about French and German refusals to support anything beyond UN 1441 I have been thinking off and on about the future of the EU. After reading this from Steven Den Beste, USS Clueless, my thoughts have started to gel. In other words, he has shown what I suspected might happen. The EU faces a serious problem in the face of France’s

al Qaeda the Ideology

2003-04-06T16:55:00.000-07:00

al Qaeda the Ideology With the war currently raging in Iraq, there is a fundamental question that needs to be focused upon that the major media sources, not surprisingly, have ignored. While some attention has been given to the link between al Qaeda and Saddam the question has not been answered conclusively. As often happens I find myself following a tangential path that never seems to garner

Pragmatism

2003-04-04T17:04:00.000-08:00

Pragmatism As I age and as I spend more and more time discovering new and interesting outposts in the blogoshpere, something I have long suspected is being proven abundantly clear. It is something that I first started thinking about in college and have come back to when dealing with certain people. Very few people have the capacity or desire to understand that there are very real differences

CNN Oddity

2003-04-03T07:56:00.000-08:00

CNN Oddity Every now and then, and I have no definitive explanation for it, media giants put out articles like this one. While the headline reads “Bush invites rival Edwards for North Carolina visit” half of the article is commentary about John Kerry’s views about how bad a president Bush is and how we must elect a different president before any healing can take place. I really don’t know if

Prepping the Battle Field

2003-04-02T11:44:00.000-08:00

Prepping the Battle Field There is little I enjoy more than talking about political theory, political history, and the practical applications thereof. I realize I’m jumping the gun a bit by moving off the war talk, but there is such good coverage going on out there that my own contributions are miniscule. As such, I am going to move away from the war for this post and on to the topic of

Aaron Brown

2003-04-01T22:12:00.000-08:00

Aaron Brown Aaron Brown had an interesting piece on earlier this morning. His guests were Glenn Reynolds and some college professor who was so nervous that she answered none of Brown’s questions and babbled on quite a bit. The topic, of course, was the blogoshpere. Personally I don’t really think Aaron Brown was even fazed by some of Reynolds answers. The major media is arrogant, they think

Peter Arnett

2003-03-31T20:22:00.000-08:00

Peter Arnett The first thing that came to mind when I read about the hubbub around Arnett and his comments was; how stupid. I’m not thinking about the comments themselves, but the whole interview. Personally, I would expect Iraqi TV to edit the interview in a light that is as favorable to them as they could. I’m also relieved to know that Arnett is a reporter inclined to speak his mind. If

More on War Journalism

2003-03-30T18:44:00.000-08:00

More on War Journalism During the past week during my blog reading it has become more and more clear that a certain segment of the blogoshpere is aiming a lot of rather harsh language the way of FOX News. I must conclude that much of this criticism is based solely on the rather obvious fact that FOX News further to the right than the NY Times and CNN. Opinion Based Coverage I realize that

Weapons Systems and Terrorists

2003-03-30T07:59:00.000-08:00

Weapons Systems and Terrorists The Agonist has asked, “For the open thread I would really like to hear about the cruise missiles. How many do we have left? How about other precision weapons and how important are they to the military effort?” A somewhat accurate answer to the first question can be found here. The article states that in 1996 there were 4,000 Tomahawks in inventory, the latest

mething to Think About

2003-03-28T11:17:00.000-08:00

Something to Think About Sean-Paul posted this link. Here's something else: Reported Iraqi Troop Strength - 400,000 Known Iraqi Surrenders - 75,000 (overly aggressive estimation on my part) Suspected Iraqi KIA - 25,000 (same as above) I have Googled every combo if "Iraq" and "KIA" that I can think of and get no solid number on Iraqi KIA. Where are the remaining 300,000 troops? Three

Foreign Policy

2003-03-27T14:17:00.000-08:00

Foreign Policy A very brief observation. I believe we are now seeing what is going to become our near term foreign policy strategy. It should be fairly easy for most Americans to understand. It’s called good cop, bad cop. The United States is the bad cop and Great Britain is the good cop. )">javascript:SquawkBoxCount(<$BlogItemNumber$>)

Arab Marketing Plan

2003-03-27T08:17:00.000-08:00

Arab Marketing Plan I have been watching CSPAN’s translated coverage of Abu Dhabi TV on occasion late at night. I have also seen the unedited Aljazeera transmission of our soldiers that were filmed by Iraqi TV on Sunday. I have also read news articles that discuss how both television outlets are oriented more towards freedom of the press than many governments in the Middle East would like them

Get Your War Gear

2003-03-26T16:00:00.000-08:00

War gear! Get your War Gear! Proving that we truly due live in the age of consumerism, I have found several websites peddling everything from lapel pins to t-shirts and everything in between, beyond, and underneath that allow you to wear your politics, be they for or against the war. I present the first, though clearly not definitive, list of websites that allow you to point and click your way

On Chemical Weapons

2003-03-26T08:55:00.000-08:00

On Chemical Weapons - Last night, a friend of mine and I were talking about the war, the positioning of the players and likely scenarios for how this is going to play out. We have both been very troubled by the reported positioning of the Special Republican Guards for a couple of days now. Yesterday commentators on several networks were talking about how they thought it was very much a

Welcome

2003-03-26T07:31:00.000-08:00

Welcome - As with most bloggers, the initial large surge of traffic that comes when one’s site catches on with a wider audience has really amazed me. I am not anywhere close to being in the same league as the truly recognizable names in blogging, after all, we can’t all be Glenn Reynolds and average 125,000 visitors a day. However, it is very exciting to see the statistics on my blog continue

I Have a Question

2003-03-25T21:42:00.000-08:00

I Have a Question - For a while now, television commentators have been talking about how the US has knocked out Iragi television, but Iraqi satellite TV has been intermittent. Early on in the reporting of this it was actively reported that we had knocked out both, though they never could get the color bars to come through all that well on Iraqi satellite television. I have a question. Yes,

Call to Action (Retort)

2003-03-25T15:36:00.000-08:00

Call to Action (Retort) - One again, I find myself drawn to a link provided by Sean-Paul over at The Agonist. The post is linked directly here to save Sean-Paul some much-needed bandwidth. Wampum’s call to arms is one of those great uses of the Internet. It allows from easy coordination between groups of like-minded people to easily mobilize a large number of people acting in concert on a

Morning Coffee

2003-03-25T07:46:00.000-08:00

Here are a few items for you to chew on this morning. First, via The Agonist - mirror site, we have estimations for war casualties during the fight for Baghdad by Barry McCaffrey. You need to read this and then make judgments as the battle ensues. Second, This is the exchange between Donald Rumsfeld and a group of reporters, apparently taking place outside a location after an interview for CNN

Some Quick Thoughts

2003-03-24T19:34:00.000-08:00

Some Quick Thoughts – Am I the only one who thinks that the FOX News animation with the F-15 morphing into an Eagle is a little much? I realize that when you get a bunch of computer geeks together and brainstorming in front of the computer that this can get out of hand, but that is just too far over the top. I really hope the ground forces take a little extra time getting to the Republican

Patience?

2003-03-24T15:52:00.000-08:00

Patience - In the past few hours, on both television and radio I have seen/heard more than a dozen or so "experts" and media analysts urging that the media needs to have patience with the pace of the war. This, of course, is the same media that spent all day yesterday stirring the pot and talking about now devastating the setbacks were. These people are amazing. )">javascript:SquawkBoxCount(

What in the hell does a poll have to do with a war?

2003-03-24T14:58:00.000-08:00

What in the hell does a poll have to do with a war? 67% of the American public approve of the job that President Bush is doing, says the talking head. 25% of Americans oppose the war, says the other. Less than 50% of Americans think we shouldn’t attack without the UN, touts an online article published March 24, 2003 (a little late if you ask me). I have some suggestions for the polling

Brief Thoughts

2003-03-24T09:44:00.000-08:00

Brief Thoughts - I don’t have a lot of time today to blog, what with it being Monday and work and all. However, I keep having a single thought running through my head every time I take a five minute break to glance at the television: “Stay detached.” It was 9/11 that drove this point home better than anything. Now that we are back into a 24/7 frenzy cycle with the war in Iraq, I think it is

On War Journalism

2003-03-23T14:37:00.000-08:00

On War Journalism - Earlier today, I posted a comment on The Agonists site when he published a link with at least a portion of the Aljazeera tape showing the captured and killed American Soldiers and I commented that I was glad that he posted the link and believe that adults should be treated as such and given as much information as is available. Decisions should be informed by facts, not made

Pace of War

2003-03-23T12:41:00.000-08:00

Pace of War - I have never been convinced that this war would be over is a matter of just a few days. I always thought a month or even two would be a good estimate and allow for a certain number of unplanned events (more resistance than the media was preparing us for before this started). I remain convinced that the majority of Iraqi soldiers will surrender or flee at the first site of

POWs and al Jazeera

2003-03-23T10:39:00.000-08:00

POWs and al Jazeera - This is a very disturbing event and one that should not sit well with Americans during this conflict. However, I would urge Americans to do everything they can to remain calm and not allow this to divert attention from the fact that we will be victorious in this engagement. Just as we engage in psyops, we must expect that Hussein and/or those currently in charge of Iraq

Brief Summary Analysis

2003-03-22T11:23:00.000-08:00

Brief Summary Analysis - Assumption and Cover: The first assumption that the major media outlets were making at the outset of this was that we were going to lead with the “Shock & Awe” air campaign. The next assumption I heard early on was that the ground war would not start immediately. News commentators were also surprised by the near dawn bombing run, the decapitation attack, and the speed

The Way We Fight

2003-03-21T17:59:00.000-08:00

The Way We FIght - So far, the United States led military effort: Has not even come close to targeting civilians. Has gone to great lengths to use as many precision guided weapons as possible. Has ensured that every possible oil pumping, refinery, and distribution center possible is not destroyed as Saddam is deposed. Has done everything possible to ensure that top military officials

Updates

2003-03-21T07:25:00.000-08:00

Updates - Tomahawk Cruise Missiles: “…these missiles can be programmed with as many as 15 potential targets in mind and have the capability to switch targets after being launched.” The Tehran Times hasn’t been updated in 2 days. Interesting. While over at The Tehran Globe it appears that Iranian Supreme Mullah Ayatollah Khamenei in an article, linked to The Australian, is demanding a halt

Krugman

2003-03-20T20:22:00.000-08:00

War Break, Anyone? I was thinking of Fisking Paul Krugman, but we are at war and I just don’t have the energy to get all worked up about the unusual perspective that Krugman brings to mainstream media. Plus, it just seems so petty to drop down to his level and slosh around in the muck and slime. If you need a break from the war you might want to take a gaze at his latest missive in the New

Shocked & Awed

2003-03-20T14:36:00.000-08:00

Shocked & Awed? – I am beginning to believe that the “Shock and Awe” tactic was merely a psy-op strategy aimed at keeping the Iraqis on edge for an extended period of time. My reasoning is as follows: First, the military has been touting the tremendous strides we have made in the accuracy of laser guided and JDAM equipped bombs as well as the Tomahawk cruise missiles. If these reports are

Facial Recognition of Saddam

2003-03-20T12:32:00.000-08:00

Facial Recognition of Saddam - Requests have been made of biometric (facial recognition) vendors to examine the pictures of Saddam Hussein from the television broadcasts last night. I will assume, for the time being, that it will be confirmed that it was in fact Saddam. It should be noted that previous examinations of Saddam Hussein from the facial recognition vendors have revealed that there

My Guess about Tonight

2003-03-19T20:04:00.000-08:00

Tonight's Air Strikes - I am of the opinion that “prepping the battlefield,” as it were, was the true objective of tonight’s air operations. I believe the nature of the attack was mainly to light up Iraqi radar installations, surface-to-air missiles, and AAA installations. Given the time it takes for the B52s to get to Iraq from England, it is clear that either the President gave the order for

2003-03-19T13:09:00.000-08:00

Some very brief thoughts as we stand upon the precipice of war: Lighter News: Somebody should have told Chirac that the 48-hour window was not for France to surrender and acknowledge that they will, in fact, fight this war if Saddam uses bio/chem. Weapons. Found Here. Quietly, against the backdrop and din of war planning and punditry the Palestinians have found themselves a successor to Arafat

"Our World-Historical Gamble" Part 2

2003-03-19T10:50:00.000-08:00

“Our World-Historical Gamble” Part 2 – It strikes me that the vast majority of the argument that Harris makes, aside from what I have already mentioned, sets the stage for his end game which is a move beyond Clausewitz largely because Clausewitz did not have the language to integrate international terrorism into his dynamic. However, we must ask ourselves if that is a rational justification

Continuation of the Future of Blogging

2003-03-18T08:56:00.000-08:00

I was a lurker before I was a blogger. For a long time I read the thoughts and other mental machinations of those in the blogoshpere before finally putting thought to keyboard to user interface myself. In many ways I am still learning and taking small steps, as much as anyone can who puts their thoughts out in a public arena. However, I see, in blogging, tremendous opportunities and many

The Future of Blogging

2003-03-18T07:15:00.000-08:00

The Future of Blogging - Mark over at The American Sentimentalist has published this about the future of blogging. He and I have begun a discussion about the topic and invite the participation of as many bloggers as care to join. You can post comments on either his or my site. You can also email me if you would like to become more deeply involved in this nascent endeavor. )">javascript:

Review: “Our World-Historical Gamble” Part 1

2003-03-17T20:09:00.000-08:00

Review: “Our World-Historical Gamble” Part 1 – Lee Harris, in “Our World-Historical Gamble” makes a major gamble himself. He attempts to weave together a theory that purports to prove that the actions the US seems all but certain to undertake within the week represent a change in the world of such magnitude that we currently lack the vocabulary to discuss and evaluate the actions because the

Quick Thoughts

2003-03-16T20:07:00.000-08:00

Quick Thoughts - Some quick thoughts before unpacking and getting ready for another workweek: I finally made time to read the Lee Harris piece "Our World-Historical Gamble" that was being reported on by a number of bloggers last week during the plane ride to and from my ski weekend. I am going to post a fairly lengthy piece (or I may break it up into a couple of posts) but here are some quick

No More This Week

2003-03-13T11:11:00.000-08:00

No More This Week - I am leaving for a much needed long weekend and am not taking my laptop with me. As such, I don't expect to be able to post anything until late Sunday or Monday. Have a great weekend and check back next week for more. Eric )">javascript:SquawkBoxCount(<$BlogItemNumber$>)

Who's In Charge of This?

2003-03-12T21:14:00.000-08:00

Who's in Charge of This?- This had better be some sort of joke. We are going to give $27 million to an al Qaeda foot soldier for turning in Kahlid Sheikh Mohammed? I cannot even find the words to describe my confiusion, discontent, and total awe at seeing this. Someone at State or Justice or somewhere has totally lost it. If anyone is wondering, yes, you lie to him. You make up fake account

It's OK to Laugh

2003-03-12T12:42:00.000-08:00

History Through Internet Metaphors- First there was Judaism. The Torah spells out the code of life for the Jewish tribes in ancient times and is still used by certain segments of the world’s population today. For the purposes of our discussion today, I will refer to this whole phenomenon and history as God 1.0. The Jews captured God 1.0, harnessed it and sold it to the masses as the one and

2003-03-12T08:10:00.000-08:00

If you have somehow missed it, please check out The Agonist. He is seeking donations for a great cause, an intellectual endeavor with the appeal of Indiana Jones style adventure and a book on historically important topics. )">javascript:SquawkBoxCount(<$BlogItemNumber$>)

North Korea News

2003-03-11T21:13:00.000-08:00

North Korea News - Call me crazy, but this CNN post looks a whole lot like the US version of splashing a short-range missile into the middle of the ocean as a metaphor for pounding your chest as the US Secretary of State enters the region. I saw that move a whole lot like stretching your arms out, yawning and smacking your big brother in the back of the head because you know you can get away

Out on a Limb with No Net

2003-03-11T20:17:00.000-08:00

I'm Out on a Limb with No Net - Dean Esmay pointed out earlier today that 18 months ago the world changed. He also asked if people were still angry. After a fair amount of thought, I can honestly say that I am not angry in the least anymore, and now that I think about it, haven’t been for a while. What I am is coldly and deliberately willing to support our country in taking the stands that

Constiutionality

2003-03-10T14:53:00.000-08:00

I have only one question for Sean-Paul. Could you have at least waited until Tuesday to drop this kind of bomb? This is, of course, why I like reading Sean-Paul’s blog as much as I do, but returning to the office, and sneaking a peek at a few blogs, and seeing that ruined the rest of my day, my concentration on work was nil. While I was able to resist the urge to completely give in to this,

The Reasoning of War

2003-03-09T13:07:00.000-08:00

The Reasoning of War - Based on what I have read on the Internet and seen on television lately, the anti-war crowd’s arguments fall almost entirely into one of four categories. They are: 1. Conquest, nation-building, hegemony, naked aggression 2. Bush is a liar 3. The Bible, religion 4. The Sonny Corleones C, N-B, H and N A: Generally speaking this is the strongest argument against war.

Presidential Softball Game

2003-03-06T21:48:00.000-08:00

Presidential Softball Game - Someone told me that President Bush was speaking tonight, and actually taking questions from reporters in a formal news conference. As I watch it now, replayed on CNBC, I’m glad I decided to go bowling. I bowled a 165, 134, and 146. Given that I have been bowling quite poorly the past couple of weeks, I think I bowled pretty well. Oh, yeah, The President! It’s

bin Laden Update

2003-03-06T13:09:00.000-08:00

bin Laden Update - This Jerusalem Post article is all over talk radio this afternoon. The White House is denying it for now. Registration is required for the JPost and the site has been up and down all day due to traffic caused by this story. )">javascript:SquawkBoxCount(<$BlogItemNumber$>)

Quote of the Week

2003-03-06T10:24:00.000-08:00

Quote of the Week - "Shut up you minion, you [US] agent, you monkey. You are addressing Iraq," said Izzat Ibrahim, the second-in-command of Iraq's Revolutionary Command Council. Addressing Iraq? Oh, sorry for the confusion. I imagine this is Saddam's standard reply to ministers who do not properly puppet the correct responses during those silent movies Saddam releases of his high council

Extra! Extra!

2003-03-06T07:45:00.000-08:00

Extra! Extra! - I don’t mean to interrupt the march to war, or even the Stephen den Beste and Daniel Davies blogobation fest going on across the blogoshpere. However, we are receiving some very serious news from across the pond in the UK. It seems that a couple of Who Wants to be a Millionaire contestants over in Britain decided that rather than the full million splitting it with some other

No politics today

2003-03-05T15:34:00.000-08:00

No politics roday - This is the caption, from TVGuide.com, of the Dateline NBC episode from last night. Dateline NBC 60 min. A report on a 1990s rape-and-murder spree in Philadelphia and Fort Collins, Colo., committed by a man known in Philadelphia as “the Center City rapist.” Included: interviews with Sylvester and Vicki Schieber, parents of a University of Pennsylvania graduate student

American Sentimentalism

2003-03-04T14:11:00.000-08:00

Iraqi Barometer of Success? - Mark Anderson over at American Sentimentalism has posted the following about ways to judge the success of our invasion of Iraq and the ensuing period of reconstruction. It is an interesting list worth some thought. The following are my comments about the 10 items he lists. Has there been a war crimes tribunal initiated and funded by the United States? Wouldn’t

Today's Times

2003-03-03T15:03:00.000-08:00

Today's NY Times Editorial - “The Bush administration proved over the weekend that it can plan for war against Iraq and fight international terrorism at the same time.” March 3,2003 NY Times Editorial. Free registration is reguired. I have only one question for the Times. Is it hard to balance liberalism with progressivism, while totally ignoring anything right of conservative Democrat; all

Vaclav Havel

2003-03-03T14:41:00.000-08:00

Vaclav Havel - When I was in college, busily studying the arts and sciences of political science, there was one sure fire way to gain acceptance into the professorial world and really stand out among your student peers. If one were to read the musing of one Vaclav Havel, President of the Czech Republic, and discuss them with even the slightest modicum of understanding, you could almost

Two-fer from Dean Esmay

2003-03-01T13:20:00.000-08:00

Two-fer from Dean Esmay - For a while now I have had Dean Esmay on my daily reading list (currently standing at 9 blogs). In the past few days, Dean has posted some of the best stuff I have read in a long while. First, he weighed in with an incredible article on Jacksonian Politics and then he hit his readers with a very interesting Gallup Poll that speaks to the issues of media bias and

Mr. Rogers Tribute

2003-02-27T20:28:00.000-08:00

Mr. Rogers - Today angers me that we live in the time we do. I grew up watching Mr. Rogers. I take note of his death and think fond thoughts of my childhood, watching the show with my brother or sister completely lost in the innocence of a time long gone and an era that twenty or more years ago seems as big a distant dream as it does an understandable disconnect we all must accept in the life

A Permalink

2003-02-27T14:08:00.000-08:00

A Permalink! - Earlier today I received my first permalink on someone else’s blog. Sean-Paul over at The Agonist has given me the honor of placing me in the West Blogistan category. I’ll point out with pride, and a sarcastic grin on my face, that this list is much smaller and more exclusive than East Blogistan. On a more serious note, it confirms something about the blogoshpere that I have

Non-violent Resistance

2003-02-26T20:54:00.000-08:00

Non-violent Resistance - Earlier today, Sean-Paul at The Agonist posted a link to Monkeytime referencing an article about the use of non-violent resistance in overthrowing dictators. I would agree with both that it is a must read for anyone interested in a serious consideration of the issues surrounding our nation’s pending involvement in the removal of Saddam Hussein. A well-reasoned case is

CNN Compilation

2003-02-26T07:30:00.000-08:00

CNN Compilation - CNN has a nice compilation of all the latest developments in the march towards war with Iraq. You can find it here. The first two snippets are particularly noteworthy. Mexico is already switching to the US position on the UNSC resolution. And, in a move almost certain to mean an imminent start to open hostilities Saudi Arabia has given permission for US use of its base

Proof

2003-02-24T09:31:00.000-08:00

No War Today - I don’t want to write about the war or Bush, or people who disagree with either today, so I’m not going to do it. Over the weekend I saw the play Proof. Since I do not live in New York or Chicago, the regularity with which I get the opportunity to see something that is both a Tony Award winner and not a musical is relatively rare. Don’t get me wrong, The Producers was

What we fight for

2003-02-20T14:50:00.000-08:00

Anti-War Protester “Man on the Street” Being against war in general or this one in particular is a noble position. Especially, when one necessarily exposes oneself to verbal and (rarely) physical abuse from passionate, albeit stupid, supporters of our country’s position in favor of that or this war. Watch This. Those of us inclined to cut war protesters some slack are not inclined to extend

It’s old, but worth a read

2003-02-20T14:06:00.000-08:00

It’s old, but worth a read This guy calls himself a liberal. Don’t anyone tell the people at Berkley, or they are going to revoke his diploma. "And so yes, I’ll suggest that we have a War On Bad Philosophy, and that the places to look are the churches, mosques, temples, and lecture halls … at the people who need to create and then spread some philosophical antibodies." Read It All. )">

Attack of the International Press

2003-02-19T15:31:00.000-08:00

Attack of the International Press – From THIS and THIS to THIS and even THIS the blogoshpere, talk radio, and I will guess all of prime time cable news tonight is abuzz with the latest developments across the pond in Europe. France is telling would-be EU members to shut up, the EU is telling France to shove it and Iraq has Gilliganed (as in the Bob Denver TV show) a bunch of WMD in the middle

UN Restructuring

2003-02-17T08:40:00.000-08:00

UN Restructuring I was reading Overspill earlier today and an article Dima posted, found here. Maybe I am just reading and watching the wrong news, but I had not heard that France pulled out of the NATO military command council all the way back in the 1960s. So, for the past 40 or so years France has been firmly in the progressive anti-war camp. Its own military history has led France to

2003 Talk Show Host Review

2003-02-16T08:21:00.000-08:00

2003 Talk Show Host Review Around this time of year you can find lots of reviews of sportscasters in magazines and on websites. I just never seem to find them for television’s political talk show hosts. As such I offer you mine. FOX News Bill O’Reilly – Someone at Fox should really force this show to be renamed the O’Reilly Spin Zone. There may not be the commercial washing machine variety

Iranian Mullahs and the Hajj

2003-02-14T08:02:00.000-08:00

Iranian Mullahs and the Hajj I’m still not sure I want to publish this, but I’m going to anyway. Please read the whole thing before you decide that it proves your position right and the opposition wrong. It proves a lot of things. Read with caution. Let me offer my take on this: 1. Do they hate us for our foreign policy? Yes. They also hate us for even existing in the form we do. It is

Postmodernism

2003-02-13T11:24:00.000-08:00

If you are not familiar with the term “post-modern condition” this post is going to be a little tough to follow, but I’ll do my best to talk to two separate groups at once. At times, though, I’m going to talk to a certain very small segment of those who read this, like now. I’m going to write a sentence about how Foucault epitomizes the extension of the positive multiplication that allows

2003-02-12T15:48:00.000-08:00

A little Wednesday Afternoon Humor - From the Desk of The President of the United States of America Post-Iraqi Invasion To Do List: 1. Rename French Toast to Florida Toast – After all, those buckaroos down there need to known that we still love them after that whole Election 2000 debacle. Karl tells me Jeb should get a five-point bump in the poles too. 2. Rename French Fries to Fried

2003-02-11T14:52:00.000-08:00

I spent an hour in line for what? – We now have a contest to shine the spotlight of shame on institutions and governments the world over that create ridiculous and completely unworkable security measures. Click here to find out more. US Gov’t Scoops Al Jazeera – As you have undoubtedly heard by now, the US government, in the person of Colin Powell, scooped Al Jazeera earlier today. This

2003-02-10T21:20:00.000-08:00

If you read this please do yourself a favor and click on this link. Whether you are for or against the war with Iraq, this is the real power of the Internet. Rather than listening to talking heads on television and reading the few chosen potificators of sanctioned opinion, you have a voice. Use it. Read, research, think, opine. Make a difference with those who seek out news and opinion from

2003-02-10T16:51:00.000-08:00

Not A True Organization - Articles like this and this have joined a chorus of Internet bloggers who have been raising alarms over the future of NATO. By way of background, NATO was founded April 4, 1949 with the informal purpose of creating an alliance of nations projecting a unified front across Europe to deter the Soviet Union from expanding further west. The Soviet Union, in turn, created

2003-02-06T09:46:00.000-08:00

Mr. de Villepin – Am I the only one who would have preferred to see the entire speech hearing Colin Powell, but watching the French foreign minister? Every time the camera showed Mr. De Villepin he just had the look of a child forced to listen to his parents lecture him about why you should not play with matches and gasoline. Several times he was looking down with a dejected look on his face.

2003-02-03T15:05:00.000-08:00

Note: This was ready to go at about the time the Columbia Tragedy first hit. I held off on it until today. Game On – Until last Thursday I was still fairly convinced that war with Iraq was not going to happen nearly as quickly as a lot of people in the press have been predicting. I believed this because their argument was flawed. The US and Great Britain were never going to go to Iraq

2003-02-01T11:41:00.000-08:00

STS-107 – I would like to extend my deepest sympathies for the families and friends of the astronauts as well as the many, many NASA employees, who are undoubtedly feeling the tremendous “gut shot” queasiness that must accompany being so out of control of a situation that they normally direct with flawless precision. They have lost the type of friends that you consider extended family. While

2003-01-29T13:26:00.000-08:00

One more Joe Millionaire "Announcement" - This is just great. Internet site TheSmokingGun.com has made a whole business out of exposing people for what they really are. Well, they are at it again. It seems that a certain female contestant who couldn't keep her toungue in her own mouth during the last episode is, in fact, an actress. An actress you ask. Yes, but not just your everyday run

2003-01-29T10:15:00.000-08:00

Joe Millionaire – Holy bouncing boobies, Batman! All four buxom beauties in a hot tub with our would-be hero/villain “Joe.” Is this the same guy who claimed, in the first episode, that he was really shy around girls? I guess the off screen smooching session completely transformed him into some self styled Bruce Wayne. Repeat after me: “Joe” is really an actor, not a construction worker.

2003-01-22T10:55:00.000-08:00

Your Honor, could you supersize that ruling please – In a rare instance of a legal ruling making total and complete sense, U.S. District Judge Robert Sweet has dismissed a lawsuit brought against McDonald’s by some overeager lawyers trying to parade a bunch of fat kids in front of a jury hoping to enrich themselves and get these kids just enough money to go through weight loss clinics and still

2003-01-21T15:03:00.000-08:00

Joe Millionaire – Three episodes in and right on target. I’ll have to try and catch the rerun on Thursday, but he used a word I didn’t really figure a real $19,000 a year construction worker would use. I’ll ask again, is there a group of women, or even men for that matter, who collectively are that gullible? What was with that hat on the blonde? I have a fairly good appreciation for a wide

2003-01-13T16:10:00.000-08:00

“Joe Millionaire” Update – Well, well, well. Looks like Big Joe really is an actor wanna-be. As more and more is leaked out on this guy, he is becoming less and less, poor old construction Joe. Let me guess, this guy went to NYC to because he had a life long desire to be a doorman? I doubt it. He went there to become an actor and even landed a part on a soap opera. This thing would