tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-63728222011-06-16T18:41:58.409-07:00A Man Needs A Fish Like A Woman Needs a BicycleThoughts on What One Experiences These Dayscasimirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05054652201503764954noreply@blogger.comBlogger691100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6372822.post-1148477748194969332006-05-24T06:05:00.000-07:002006-05-24T06:37:17.486-07:00CAN'T WE BE HONEST HERE? OR, APPLYING THE TEST OF CUI BONO: I was trawling the liberal blogs today, and noticed a link from Atrios, to The Grit expressing outrage that this comment made it on to ABC's The Note:"As is always the case with the out-of-power party, Democrats have to root root root for bad news. And no bad news source is better for the Democrats' election prospects than the bad news casimirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05054652201503764954noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6372822.post-1140372288633767422006-02-19T08:54:00.000-08:002006-02-19T10:04:52.173-08:00SOME THOUGHTS ON THE CULTURE WARS: I read a link from Atrios with interst: "Zombie Wingnuttery: Impossible to Kill" which pointed to a NY Times correction speaking of a position ascribed incorrectly to feminist law theorist, Catharine McKinnon. Atrios tisks tisks about misattribution against the good name of Catharine McKinnon and Andrea Dworkin. Essentially, it boils down to an ascribed claim casimirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05054652201503764954noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6372822.post-1138123930097982162006-01-24T08:56:00.000-08:002006-01-24T11:02:43.806-08:00WHY WE ARE HAVING PROBLEMS WITH THE WAR ON TERRORISM--Or, How a Contradiction in Worldviews Threatens Us-The Contradiction (& Part Four):The contradiction in the Administration's position is simply this: It wants to carry out a Hobbesian foreign policy together with a Lockean oriented domestic policy. And these two world-views do not mesh, apart from their agreement that the state of nature is a casimirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05054652201503764954noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6372822.post-1138048861631767582006-01-23T11:58:00.000-08:002006-01-24T10:56:04.153-08:00WHY WE ARE HAVING PROBLEMS WITH THE WAR ON TERRORISM--Or, How a Contradiction in Worldviews Threatens Us-The Lockean World (& Part Three):Locke is a very different kettle of fish than Hobbes. Hobbes believes we have no rights (apart from a general right to struggle to survive) in the state of nature. Hence why, when we enter the state of civil society, we owe Leviathan almost everything. He givescasimirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05054652201503764954noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6372822.post-1138046089652144732006-01-23T11:37:00.000-08:002006-01-24T10:55:42.993-08:00WHY WE ARE HAVING PROBLEMS WITH THE WAR ON TERRORISM--Or, How a Contradiction in Worldviews Threatens Us-The Hobbesian World (& Part Two):We start with a brief overview of Hobbes' argument for the emergence and our obedience to the State, in a lovely little book called Leviathan. [Book, Chapter]A good place to start is with Hobbes notions of desire, because desire is the root of all the problems casimirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05054652201503764954noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6372822.post-1137780126092759252006-01-20T07:32:00.000-08:002006-01-24T10:55:11.700-08:00WHY WE ARE HAVING PROBLEMS WITH THE WAR ON TERRORISM--Or, How a Contradiction in Worldviews Threatens Us-Introduction (& Part One):I have been following issues at TAIR, and the disdain that folks there feel over the speech that AL Gore gave this past week condemning what he saw as the illegal actions of the Bush Administration. Gore argues:"Can it be true that any president really has such powerscasimirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05054652201503764954noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6372822.post-1136378583260836742006-01-04T04:06:00.000-08:002006-01-04T04:46:25.850-08:00DO THE POOR HAVE AN UNCONDITIONAL RIGHT TO LIVE?: I ask this question because that seems to me to be at the heart of the argument that I perused at The Washington Monthly concerning the case of "Tirhas Habtegiris, a 27-year-old terminal cancer patient at Baylor Regional Medical Center in Plano, Texas, was removed from her ventilator last month because she couldn't pay her medical bills." These casimirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05054652201503764954noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6372822.post-1136226664064683182006-01-02T10:27:00.000-08:002006-01-02T11:06:04.460-08:00DEMOCIDE, OR WHY A NEW NAME FOR SOMETHING OLD DOESN'T SMELL THAT SWEET, PART DEUX: However, what really gets up my nose is Solomon's reply in comments. Solomon applies Dr. Rummel's viewpoint would allow the following:"Then if I'm surrounded by five armed thugs who want to murder me, a peaceful productive citizen, for my money and my wife I should just let them do so, because their five lives are casimirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05054652201503764954noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6372822.post-1136224769538917802006-01-02T09:42:00.000-08:002006-01-02T10:34:19.340-08:00DEMOCIDE, OR WHY A NEW NAME FOR SOMETHING OLD DOESN'T SMELL THAT SWEET: Just finished reading a reasonably repulsive post from Solomon, via Jesus' General , applying a bit of ethical ju-jitsu, from Democratic Peace, on a concept of democide, to whit: a policy of genocide carried out by a governmental authority. Dr. Rummel, the inventor of this concept, ends his post at Democratic Peace as followscasimirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05054652201503764954noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6372822.post-1136223766810107282006-01-02T07:25:00.000-08:002006-01-02T09:42:46.876-08:00WE NEED HIGHER STANDARDS FOR TEACHERS!!! OR, HOW TO MANUFACTURE A CRISISRoss Weiner in today's Washington Post argues that:"There is no question that educators are trying harder to reach students, especially those students who have struggled, but there is a crippling lack of intellectual capital in many of our lowest-performing schools. Instead of confronting this problem, we reward teachers withcasimirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05054652201503764954noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6372822.post-1131752298730641182005-11-11T15:23:00.000-08:002005-11-11T15:38:18.763-08:00WHAT "Get a Free $500 Best Buy Gift Card!" REALLY MEANS: Checked out one of those horrid little emails that promise money or a gift card, to see what they are about. I put in the false name, the email address from mailinator the friendly disposable email company, and then followed up on what I had to do to get the money!!! This offer is from these guys and it all seems quite easy:Basically fill casimirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05054652201503764954noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6372822.post-1131039305720152092005-11-03T08:57:00.000-08:002005-11-03T09:35:09.380-08:00WHY A WOMAN"S RIGHT TO CHOOSE IS NOT ABSOLUTELY AN ABSOLUTE RIGHT TO PRIVACY: I wondered over to Digby today, via Atrios. and read this extraordinary passage about a "woman's right to choose:""And if men choose to define their "concept of existence, of meaning, of the mystery of life" as being pregnant, the law should give them equal rights to the female body that is actually, you know, casimirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05054652201503764954noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6372822.post-1130959812801485172005-11-02T11:11:00.000-08:002005-11-02T12:22:34.820-08:00WHY PAYING THE MOST INCOME TAXES IS NOT A WINNING ARGUMENT: I am having a gentle and very civil conversation with a couple of regulars at TAIR, concerning economic issues in the current administration, and the issue of the tax cuts came up. The tax cuts were a fair recompense to wealthy folks. The observation raised was:"Therefore, my assertion is that if an income tax cut is done, the people whocasimirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05054652201503764954noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6372822.post-1130173797696847422005-10-24T07:25:00.000-07:002005-10-24T10:09:57.740-07:00AND THIS IS THE GUY WITH HIS FINGER ON THE BUTTON?: I was reading Atrios, got sent to Americablog which then sent me to the The NY Daily News where the President was complaining about how everyone is to blame for the pickle he currently finds himself in, except for himself: "The President is just unhappy in general and casting blame all about," said one Bush insider."Well, if I was getting as casimirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05054652201503764954noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6372822.post-1129490495624734972005-10-16T11:59:00.000-07:002005-10-16T12:21:35.676-07:00WHY ARE CONSERVATIVE REPUBLICANS, WHO CONTROL THE EXECUTIVE AND LEGISLATIVE BRANCHES OF GOVERNMENT FOR THE FIRST TIME IN LIVING MEMORY, SO VULNERABLE TO THE PHENOMENON OF CRIMINALIZATION?I dropped by The Weekly Standard, to read the above, agonizing question proposed by Messers Kristol and Bell. Their answer: We just don't know!"Is it simple payback for the impeachment of Bill Clinton? Or is it acasimirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05054652201503764954noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6372822.post-1128880211995592542005-10-09T10:35:00.000-07:002005-10-09T10:50:12.003-07:00HOARDING JUNK: HOARDING AS NON-EVOLUTIONARY, OR, WHY EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGISTS ARE NOT ECONOMISTS: Just read an interesting article in Times On-Line. The bottom line is that hoarding is hard-wired into our brains, because valuing the things we have more than what others offer us for it menas that we will tend to stay alive longer:"“From an evolutionary viewpoint, if you can get more of something casimirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05054652201503764954noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6372822.post-1127417521675553522005-09-22T12:20:00.000-07:002005-09-22T12:32:01.680-07:00WHAT KATRINA REALLY SHOWED: Katrina blew the circuit board. The one thing that I am pretty sure of when talking to Americans is the deep seated belief in American "exceptionalism." "America does it better. It will last longer. It will always be number one, because WE HAVE A MISSION!" Bluntly, God is on our side: "He favours our undertakings," as the dollar bill points out.Well, maybe God doesn't.casimirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05054652201503764954noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6372822.post-1127415077172565982005-09-22T11:05:00.000-07:002005-09-22T12:04:33.453-07:00THE LIKELY IMPACT OF RISING FUEL COSTS: I was just reading this very interesting article from The Economist. The basic gist is that the Fed was right to keep the screws on interest rates, upping it to 3.75% because US and world inflation is on the rise. The Economist tut-tuts that this is a necessary thing to do:"The Fed signalled this week that it intended to keep pushing interest rates higher. casimirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05054652201503764954noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6372822.post-1121891640219289662005-07-20T13:15:00.000-07:002005-07-20T13:34:00.226-07:00AN HARRY POTTER PREDICTION: (Potential Spoiler Warning...) I finished the Half Blood Prince and enjoyed it. I just have a prediction that I want to put down that I thought of the moment I put the book down:The last piece of the Horcrux to be discovered will be found residing with Harry Potter: Harry Potter is himself functioning as Lord Voldemort's Horcrux.Circumstantial Evidence:1. "Voldemort casimirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05054652201503764954noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6372822.post-1115921501024526452005-05-12T10:38:00.000-07:002005-05-12T11:11:41.063-07:00WHAT THE LEFT DOESN'T GET--FDR WAS NOT A SAINT:I read these comments by the President and I think--absolutely right:As we mark a victory of six days ago -- six decades ago, we are mindful of a paradox. For much of Germany, defeat led to freedom. For much of Eastern and Central Europe, victory brought the iron rule of another empire. V-E Day marked the end of fascism, but it did not end oppressioncasimirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05054652201503764954noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6372822.post-1111463985654239312005-03-21T19:50:00.000-08:002005-03-21T19:59:45.656-08:00SOME THOUGHTS ON THE SCHIAVO HYSTERIA: I was taking my occasional stroll over to TAIR for my daily dose of robust debate. I was immediately taken with a comment from LC Staci (no webpage link), who asked:"but bottom line, how is keeping Terri alive and allowing her to recieve therapy infringing on Michael's rights? HOW??!!"I don't know about his rights--but what about Ms. Schiavo's rights? If shecasimirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05054652201503764954noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6372822.post-1111433016908232242005-03-21T10:50:00.000-08:002005-03-21T11:26:29.560-08:00WHY THE MEDIA IS ALL OVER THE SCHIAVO CASE: I just read Atrios today, on his puzzlement concerning the media's fascination with the Schiavo case:"It also should be emphasized just how out of touch the media (specifically, the cable nets) is on this issue. They've been almost completely on one side of this."It is not very hard to understand this at all. And it is not hard to understand the actionscasimirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05054652201503764954noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6372822.post-1109023582303620712005-02-21T14:00:00.000-08:002005-03-16T12:19:17.636-08:00BEYOND SADNESS: It is with deep sadness that I must report that a friend of mine, Bill Bassett, was murdered on Friday. He was at the Towson Town Mall and he was apparently accosted in a robbery gone very badly wrong. Thankfully, it appears that the police have caught the perpetrators. I feel angry. And lost. Bill was a good man; a gentle man. I will miss him.casimirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05054652201503764954noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6372822.post-1108063515829063532005-02-10T11:09:00.000-08:002005-02-10T11:25:15.830-08:00INTELLIGENT DESIGN: OR WHY WE HAVE AN AGENDA EVEN WHEN WE SAY WE DO NOT HAVE AN AGENDA--Well, the issue of intelligent design came up when I read this interesting article by the Grand Poobah of ID himself, Michael S. Behe. His claim is essentially:
"[t]he theory of intelligent design is not a religiously based idea, even though devout people opposed to the teaching of evolution cite it in their casimirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05054652201503764954noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6372822.post-1106923207489758372005-01-28T06:27:00.001-08:002005-01-28T08:18:19.353-08:00 of HOW MARKET FREEDOM LEADS TO FREEDOM... Since I am on this freedom thing, a look at the NY Times Op-Ed piece by Robert Wright is quite instructive. He writes
"capitalism helps drive history toward freedom via an algorithm that for all we know is divinely designed and is in any event awesomely elegant. Namely: Capitalism's pre-eminence as a wealth generator means that every tyrant has to casimirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05054652201503764954noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6372822.post-1106853852816601212005-01-27T11:13:00.000-08:002005-01-28T06:27:04.216-08:00"THIS UNTAMED FIRE OF FREEDOM": WHERE IS THIS GOING? So, there is a distinction between freedom and liberty. Liberty is a constrained freedom that we appreciate in functional democracies: it limits the extent and scope of my actions but also those of others so we can get along and enjoy the fruits of our labours. Freedom refers to freedom without constraints in the state of nature where "anythingcasimirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05054652201503764954noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6372822.post-1106853122063724692005-01-27T11:12:00.000-08:002005-01-27T11:12:50.113-08:00"THIS UNTAMED FIRE OF FREEDOM": SOME INTRODUCTORY THOUGHTS Much has been made of the President's heavy reliance of the words freedom and liberty in his second inaugural. Now it seems pretty clear that the President is using the words interchangeably. However, these words do tend to have distinct meanings as conceived by political philosophers. I cannot lay claim to what I am about to say as casimirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05054652201503764954noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6372822.post-1106850379929338802005-01-27T10:17:00.000-08:002005-01-27T10:26:19.930-08:00IT LIVES! I have not written anything for a while, and part of it is because we can face four more years of Messers Bush, Cheney, & al. I should say that i do not begrudge slightly more tha half of the public's desire to see President Bush in charge given the choices they faced. What depressed me (and still does) is that if we thought that the last four years were exciting, I am pretty certain casimirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05054652201503764954noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6372822.post-1100028101907898122004-11-09T07:37:00.000-08:002004-11-10T07:55:48.456-08:00ECONOMISTS AND THE VALUE OF HUMAN LIFE
I read this interesting article by Steven Landsman, an economist, who specializes in making interesting (some would say wacky) observations of human life. He starts by taking the neo-classical paradigm for a spin and applies it to some problem and offers a completely counter-intuitive suggestion that non-economists find startling (and some economists as wellcasimirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05054652201503764954noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6372822.post-1099479410900999112004-11-03T02:56:00.000-08:002004-11-03T02:56:50.900-08:00WELL, I CERTAINLY GOT THAT ONE WRONG....
casimirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05054652201503764954noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6372822.post-1099067146580278532004-10-29T09:18:00.000-07:002004-10-29T09:25:46.580-07:00PUTTING ONE'S MONEY WHERE ONE'S MOUTH IS
Well its time to make the prediction. i meant to put this up three months ago, but I will just say it now: Kerry wins by 50 or 60 electoral votes. And, he wins the popular vote. The main reason is not the librul media. Its just that the Iraqi mess has come home to roost, as i have said long, long, ago. Iraq is a 1200 watt stereo amplifier. It has exposed casimirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05054652201503764954noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6372822.post-1097851352630357562004-10-15T06:26:00.000-07:002004-10-15T07:42:32.650-07:00EXPLAINING THE OUTRAGE OVER MARY CHENEY
The centrist and moderate left blogosphere is having difficulty understanding why the Cheney's and others are "outraged" over the "outing" of their daughter. Josh Marshall and Digby question the coherence of these tactics. Its not that hard, really.
The issue is that the Bush-Cheney campaign understand quite clearly the massive advantage that Kerry gained casimirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05054652201503764954noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6372822.post-1097783869405602932004-10-14T13:33:00.000-07:002004-10-14T13:00:02.563-07:00THE DEAD ZONE, THE PRESIDENT, AND ONE MAN'S POSSIBLE QUEST
Warning: Major Spoilers for a Film, "The Dead Zone" Inside
This recent article explaining the tribulations of a possible would be assassin rang a cultural bell for me. Apparently crazy guy stalking the President (and John Kerry), looking for the opportunity to end the President's (or John Kerry's) life makes for a great story. What casimirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05054652201503764954noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6372822.post-1097777771100810142004-10-14T10:47:00.000-07:002004-10-14T11:18:39.026-07:00Bob Schieffer Did an Excellent Job; Or, What does Bob Schieffer Think of His Country?
I read with a chuckle, Atrios' claim that:
"Tonight we can expect Furious George to screech that over and over again. We can expect Kerry to pretty much do what he's be doing. And, we can expect moderator Bob Schieffer to direct a volley of "wedge issue" questions at Kerry and a bunch of softballs at Bush."
casimirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05054652201503764954noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6372822.post-1097756893778798522004-10-14T04:03:00.000-07:002004-10-14T05:28:29.246-07:00Describe the Rock, Rather than Describe Your Thinking About the Rock OK, I saw the debate last night, and listened to the talking heads. I was most struck by David Brooks on PBS. He pontificated that the President had wide themes (liberty on the march, Kerry is a liberal poopy-head, etc), and that Kerry was a factual policy wonk without a core message. To be fair, Mark Shields said the same thingcasimirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05054652201503764954noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6372822.post-1097751791790189432004-10-14T04:01:00.000-07:002004-10-14T04:03:11.790-07:00Back from Hiatus: Back on the AIr...
casimirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05054652201503764954noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6372822.post-1085108680917443062004-05-20T18:34:00.000-07:002004-05-20T20:04:40.916-07:00I SEE DEAD PEOPLE Tech Central Station has an amazing article. The claim of the article is that:
Whom do you picture as the wealthiest one percent? ...
Carl Haub, senior demographer at the Population Reference Bureau in Washington, D.C., has estimated that 106 billion humans have been born since Homo sapiens appeared about 50,000 years ago. That means that the richest one percent in history casimirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05054652201503764954noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6372822.post-1084914294920196892004-05-18T13:54:00.000-07:002004-05-20T20:25:17.726-07:00 The Great Bush Economy Bet
You want a piece of the action? Read on...
I've made the following long-term bet with Feces Flinging Monkey; he claims the economy will thrive if Bush is reelected, while I remain certain that it will tank instead.
We've got ten bucks on the line. This is serious stuff. Here are the rules:
IF Bush wins in November,
AND there are no major casimirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05054652201503764954noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6372822.post-1084474711976499052004-05-13T06:31:00.000-07:002004-05-13T11:58:31.976-07:00WHY WHAT GOES ON IN A PRISON IS NOT THE SAME AS FRAT HAZING, OR, CONTEXT IS EVRYTHING I watch with wonder as conservative pundits want to claim that the Au Ghraib scandal is not really that bad.
This is no different than what happens at the Skull and Bones initiation and we're going to ruin people's lives over it and we're going to hamper our military effort, and then we are going to really casimirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05054652201503764954noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6372822.post-1084454229734501162004-05-13T06:05:00.000-07:002004-05-13T06:17:09.733-07:00LEARNING SOME MORE ABOUT MUSLIM CULTURE Juan Cole has an interesting post up on the current fighting going on in Karbala, in which half of an historic mosque has been destroyed in fighting between the Army of the Mahdi (Muqtada al-Sadr's mob) and American forces (intervening at the behest of the US appointed Iraqi governor, Saad Sufouk). Dr. Cole ends his post thus:
I don't care what Sufouk told casimirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05054652201503764954noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6372822.post-1084418454059117332004-05-12T20:15:00.000-07:002004-05-12T20:20:54.060-07:00MISTAKES, WHAT MISTAKES? The Stratfor Group outlines tactical errors that it thinks the Bush Administration has made since it began the occupation of Iraq. It makes for interesting reading:
* A failure to detect that preparations were under way for a guerrilla war in the event that Baghdad fell.
* A failure to quickly recognize that a guerrilla war was under way in
Iraq, and a delay of months casimirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05054652201503764954noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6372822.post-1084417399624128742004-05-12T19:45:00.000-07:002004-05-13T02:56:19.866-07:00A CANARY IN THE MINESHAFT A friend emailed me a copy of an article from Stratfor. I will let him speak: "For those of you who aren't familiar with Stratfor, it is an essentially conservative organization that had, for most of the past year, been clearly supportive of the invasion of Iraq and had, until very recently,sustained the view that things were going well but just hadn't been described casimirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05054652201503764954noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6372822.post-1084411192961373992004-05-12T18:03:00.000-07:002004-05-12T18:19:52.960-07:00EVIDENCE THAT WE ARE IN REAL TROUBLE I read the newspaper the other day, specifically our home-town paper, the Baltimore Sun, and came upon this article.
Since the case gained wide attention more than a week ago, some U.S. lawmakers have called for the prison to be closed. However, [General] Miller said plans are only to reduce the inmate population from more than 3,000 to between 1,500 and casimirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05054652201503764954noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6372822.post-1083692648761926012004-05-04T10:44:00.000-07:002004-05-04T10:48:02.293-07:00TORTURING A RADIO LISTENER Heard Rush Limbaugh today courtesy of World O'Crap:
"In these American prisoners of war, have you people noticed who the torturers are? Women! The babes. The babes are meting out the torture. Well, I've just been asked if I'm surprised.
You know, I could get into a lot of trouble here with this. "
Do you think? I have images of a rather stately middle aged casimirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05054652201503764954noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6372822.post-1083593709579493252004-05-03T07:15:00.000-07:002004-05-03T07:19:23.403-07:00TORTURING A PRESDIENCY--ANOTHER WILD PROPHECY The Presdient's poll numbers have held up in the face of some pretty bad news up till now. I think the point of their free fall is near upon us (another prophecy bound to be shown wrong in the fullness of time!?). Why do I make this wild claim? The torture scandal, though not as heavily covered here as opposed to overseas makes it clear that WE are casimirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05054652201503764954noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6372822.post-1083593194915574802004-05-03T07:06:00.000-07:002004-05-03T07:10:48.840-07:00ON THE CONCEPT OF TIME An observation: Time is accelerating more quickly in this war cycle. It has taken a year for commentators to start talking about withdrawing. That is a lot quicker than the last really unpopular war the US was in. casimirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05054652201503764954noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6372822.post-1083593068946673142004-05-03T07:04:00.000-07:002004-05-03T07:08:42.903-07:00ONE MORE SUGGESTION Some places are just plain evil. Tear down these prisons in Iraq. Tear down Abu Ghraib, and make a park; or keep it as an empty monument to a darker time--but STOP using it and the others. Build new ones if we need to, but without the decades of pain and darkness etched irreversibly into their very brick, mortar, and steel.casimirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05054652201503764954noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6372822.post-1083592494852658832004-05-03T06:54:00.000-07:002004-05-03T07:05:46.043-07:00TORTURE AND IRAQ--AN UNCOMFORTABLE METAPHOR i have been having a fun time chatting with the people at the Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiller. I find the discussion there robust, rough and tumbled, but in a good natured and very passionate way. The torture issue has set many folks there to high levels of anger. Its clear to me that everyone is really angry at the guards. I think one reason for the depthcasimirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05054652201503764954noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6372822.post-1082498190975809762004-04-20T14:56:00.000-07:002004-04-20T15:00:50.920-07:00FUN WITH NUMBERS? I was stopping by The Anti-Idiotarian Rottweiller to catch up on what folks over there were doing, and I came across an interesting blog entry by Viscount Ian S. which led me to an interesting
article referring to the likely 70,000 Iraqis that would have been killed had the Coalition Forces had not invaded Iraq.
"They have been going methodically through the massive - and casimirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05054652201503764954noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6372822.post-1082396379777308152004-04-19T10:39:00.000-07:002004-04-19T10:45:37.293-07:00FOREIGN LEGION ANYONEI remember those great old movies like Beau Geste and thought wistfully of all that when I read this innocuous little article, on plans to help foreign countries help provide us with theri trained forces fro duties in Iraq. OK. Perhaps I am jumping the gun a bit (all right a lot), but I wonder where this is leading? Will the time come when America says: "No, no, that will notcasimirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05054652201503764954noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6372822.post-1081692046850225692004-04-11T07:00:00.000-07:002004-04-11T07:04:51.373-07:00WHAT WE NEED NOW IS A GOOD INQUISITION, BY TOLEDO! On looking at Best of Both Worlds, via Sully Watch I got a nice insight into the erudition of Andrew Sullivan. His question concerning Iraq:
"Iraq has been a free country for a single year after decades of fascism, mass murder, communal paranoia, hysteria, random violence, and economic collapse. Did we expect the place to become Toledo overnightcasimirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05054652201503764954noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6372822.post-1081620041287433452004-04-10T11:00:00.000-07:002004-04-10T11:05:27.013-07:00AN OBSERVATION ON THE STATE OF THE TIMES I think we are at a catastrophe cusp concerning the Bush Administration. Catastrophe Theory was developed by Rene Thom. "Thom's theory is an attempt to describe, in a way that is impossible using differential calculus, those situations in which gradually changing forces lead to so-called catastrophes, or abrupt changes.". Basically, loosely bend a piece casimirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05054652201503764954noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6372822.post-1081617831445587932004-04-10T10:23:00.000-07:002004-04-10T10:29:01.530-07:00THE PASSION OF CONDI BEGINS? Now that Dr. Rice has testified, the calm before the storm appears about ready to break open. The NY Times has not really been very enthusiastic about this whole issue of "Did he or didn't he know" so it came as a big surprise when the Grey Lady decides to say:
"President Bush was told more than a month before the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, that supporters of Osama casimirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05054652201503764954noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6372822.post-1081555677742781862004-04-09T17:07:00.000-07:002004-04-09T18:05:29.700-07:00LIES, DAMNED LIES, & STATISTICS I was reading Poop Throwing Monkey, and much to my surprise I noted the following statement:
"Even under the Bush Tax Cuts, the rich still keep paying more" together with a statistical table that purports to support the claim that the share of total federal tax liabilities by income quintile was rising, even with the tax cut. The relevant part of it is reproducedcasimirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05054652201503764954noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6372822.post-1081273645949855302004-04-06T10:47:00.000-07:002004-04-06T10:51:11.340-07:00TO ERR IS HUMAN, TO APOLOGIZE IS FOR SUCKERS; OR SAYING YOU'RE SORRY IS SO HARD TO DO I was just reading Art Buchwald's column online and I couldn't help noticing the the sad cynicism that Mr. Buchwald has for our politicians:
"Why will no one in Washington ever say he's sorry? It is a sign of weakness, politically wrong, and everyone in this city thinks it's just asking for trouble. By not casimirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05054652201503764954noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6372822.post-1081193535443663882004-04-05T12:32:00.000-07:002004-04-05T12:36:21.840-07:00THE RAIN IN SPAIN FALLS MAINLY ON RAILWAY TRACKS Poop Throwing Monkey has a line of argument that I think we will be seeing more of:
"Islamic fanatics are different than us. They think about things differently, they have different values and different expectations, different motives and different goals. You'll make a terrible mistake if you project your own point of view on to these people, and casimirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05054652201503764954noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6372822.post-1081175613823448432004-04-05T07:33:00.000-07:002004-04-05T07:37:24.170-07:00THE PASSION OF CONDI It would be easy to write about this after the 9/11 testimony that Dr. RIce will offer the Commission. AFter the fact we can all pontificate on whether she did a great job in defending her record, etc., but that wouldn't be very sporting. SO, I will make the claim up front, than be either right or wrong. Mea culpas to follow as needed...
Dr. Rice will end up being roughed casimirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05054652201503764954noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6372822.post-1081172011820653062004-04-05T06:33:00.000-07:002004-04-05T07:18:43.106-07:00THE CALM BEFORE THE STORM I have not written of late. I would like to think this was laziness, but I can't help thinking it is because there has been an awful lot to digest over the last two weeks: the 9/11 commission, the War in Iraq, and that apology that so many folks have found to be unacceptable, dammit!!! I want to say something about the upcoming "Passion of Condi", but some other posts casimirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05054652201503764954noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6372822.post-1079984685060420342004-03-22T11:44:00.000-08:002004-03-22T12:45:15.966-08:00THE PASSION ABOUT THE PASSION Well I went and saw The Passion so that I could judge for myself what was going on. Apart from the fact that some people I know think that I have condoned anti-semitism by my act, that I am a medievalist, someone who doesn't understand or know the Bible very well, and probably a bead short of a rosary myself as well as being an unwitting lackey of a corporate machinecasimirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05054652201503764954noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6372822.post-1079979491057782542004-03-22T10:18:00.000-08:002004-03-22T10:21:52.546-08:00THANK YOU MIKE A big thank you to Mike at the Poop Throwing Monkey for his very generous introduction. Mike has also helped me enter the world of PGP. If that website feels way too corporate, then go here. This feels more "against the MAN!!!!" Yeah!casimirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05054652201503764954noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6372822.post-1079626467408881052004-03-18T08:14:00.000-08:002004-03-18T08:26:58.466-08:00COMMON SENSE, APPEASEMENT, AND MATTERS OF FAITH I have been following the intense sense of betrayal in this country following the fallout of the Spanish election.
In less rational terms, this or this or this appears to cover quite some territory. Richard Pearle added his two cents worth on NPR this morning flaying the Spanish alive for their inability to stick with the program. Friedman seems casimirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05054652201503764954noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6372822.post-1078324907179544082004-03-03T06:41:00.000-08:002004-03-03T06:44:45.623-08:00IS GIBSON A NUT-JOB? or, WHY RELIGION IS ITSELF CAUSE FOR CONCERN Poor, Mel. After unburdening himself in an interview, he has convinced 60% of one group of viewers at least that he is a bead short of a rosary. The issue is that he thinks that those who are not Catholic will likely go to hell, including his wife.
"“There is no salvation for those outside the Church,” Gibson replied. “I believe casimirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05054652201503764954noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6372822.post-1077819496436831752004-02-26T10:18:00.000-08:002004-02-26T10:23:19.983-08:00GREENSPAN IS THE MAN!!!!!!! Everywhere in the liberal blogosphere (example, Atrios and Hesiod are bemoaning the fact that Greenspan APPEARS to be supporting the Presiden't tax cuts, whilst at the same time supporting a cut in social security benefits. The shock, the horror. This would be a terrible thing. Really? Josh Marshall appears to be getting the point, but let me make it explicit.
casimirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05054652201503764954noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6372822.post-1076698744023912032004-02-13T10:59:00.000-08:002004-02-13T11:03:11.966-08:00UP IS DOWN AND BACK AGAIN DEPARTMENT Given the diversity of wildlife on the web, I wondered when there would be a blog "Democrats for Bush". Well, now that it has happened, I guess good Christians everywhere will be looking for more signs of the approaching end of days, with increased membership in Jews for Jesus, Atheists for God (just kidding), or fucking a dead war for a living peace or somecasimirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05054652201503764954noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6372822.post-1076441102092140552004-02-10T11:25:00.000-08:002004-02-10T12:47:27.920-08:00This Op-Ed from Mr. Brooks in today's NY Times is mind-blowing!
"But I couldn't watch most of the Super Bowl and I didn't have a reaction to the whole halftime fiasco because I had to go to bed and be ready for the continuing war the next day. They say there is a cultural divide between the military and society. There is, and suddenly I am on the other side."
Say WHAT?
SO, the President casimirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05054652201503764954noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6372822.post-1076440704430673572004-02-10T11:18:00.000-08:002004-02-10T11:21:13.216-08:00I had the opportunity to read Greg Easterbrook's blog on the Maurice Clarett' "victory." I think it can count as quite a patronizing entry fro both student athletes and for NFL franchises.
My issues? A letter (and by the way, Mr. Eastbrook is not alone. Most of the sports commentators I read fell similarly):
dear easterblogg,
as much as i might sympathize with your worry that the nfl will casimirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05054652201503764954noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6372822.post-1076292121916575712004-02-08T18:02:00.000-08:002004-02-08T18:18:08.543-08:00I HEAR VOICES... Well, the President gave his interview. Trying to look at it with unjaundiced eyes (difficult I know), he appeared ill at ease on Iraq & WMDs, happier on the economy, and ill at ease again on the AWOL issue, though the "don't laugh at the fine men of the National Guard" line was a lovely bit of misdirection. What caught my eye was this exchange:
"Russert: ... Why not say, I casimirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05054652201503764954noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6372822.post-1076091446751676752004-02-06T10:17:00.000-08:002004-02-06T10:19:50.000-08:00The New York Times has Friedman warning of dire consequences in November if the Bush Administration doesn't pull it's head out of its arse. I was captivated by this:
"In Afghanistan, post-Taliban, the Bush team has started to build a moderate alternative in Hamid Karzai. In Palestine, though, it never really tried to do that, so could end up with Hamas calling the shots. In Iraq, the Bush teamcasimirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05054652201503764954noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6372822.post-1074871684070070432004-01-23T07:28:00.000-08:002004-01-23T07:30:07.810-08:00From the NY Times, Messers (Mother of) Pearle and (Drum the) Frum have this to say:
"Saudi Arabia provides about 10 percent of the 80 million barrels of oil the world burns every day, and earns about $63 billion a year. If we were to cut our oil consumption by some heroic amount, say 10 percent, it would be a drop in the barrel. Assuming everything else remained equal, the Saudis would still casimirhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05054652201503764954noreply@blogger.com0