This post by blogenlust makes me wonder if Osama issues red shirts to his number three men. The American approach shows little sense of Middle Eastern history and politics. As one prominent Kuwaiti academic explained to me, in the Muslim world the best way to deal with your enemies has always been to assimilate them… Continue reading a few words on Iraq
Category: politics
this time, someone really does have to be fired.
This time, someone really does have to be fired. The revelation that Defense Department money, not even authorized by Congress for the purpose, has been outsourced to private interests and then used to plant stories in the Iraqi press is much more of a disgrace and a scandal than anyone seems so far to have… Continue reading this time, someone really does have to be fired.
fact checking
I have no idea whose sick mind conceived the false, malicious “biography” that appeared under my name for 132 days on Wikipedia, the popular, on line, free encyclopedia whose authors are unknown and virtually untraceable. There was more: Interesting story on how mis-statements can become facts.
swiftboating
It is a sad day for democracy when swiftboating enters the lexicon.
Health Care for Hybrids
On Nov. 17, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., and Rep. Jay Inslee, D-Wash., introduced a “Health Care for Hybrids” bill that outlines a new approach for boosting fuel efficiency in Detroit. It would offer struggling U.S. automakers a voluntary but potentially enticing deal: relief from some of the high health care costs they pay for retired… Continue reading Health Care for Hybrids
AAAS issues warning to Pat Robertson
“We’d like to say to the good Reverend Robertson: if there is a disaster in your area, don’t turn to Science, you just rejected it from your life,” AAAS said on its daily television show broadcast from Washington, the 3.14159 Club. From here
the paradox
The current (renewed) national debate on the Death Penalty and ongoing debate about the use of torture has been on my mind as of late. And the one thing that really bothers me about this is the position that the hard line GOPers take on this. The bizarre paradox of Big Government and their distrust… Continue reading the paradox
In Defense of John Kerry
There are any number of simple empirical arguments that may be made in defense of the presidential candidacy of John Kerry. From the Emerging Democratic Majority weblog.
the Saudi Arabia of coal
If the vast, empty plain of eastern Montana is the Saudi Arabia of coal, then Gov. Brian Schweitzer, a prairie populist with a bolo tie and an advanced degree in soil science, may be its Lawrence He is also promoting wind energy and the use of biofuels, using oil from crops like soybeans as a… Continue reading the Saudi Arabia of coal
making hay from straw-men
Washington is suddenly convulsed by a debate that should have taken place three years ago, and the sleeping giant known as the American public is finally awakening to the deceptions that led to war. Emotion, instinct, and other proclivities may be the driving force behind support or opposition for war, but reason and logic are… Continue reading making hay from straw-men