"This was the voice of moderation until 13 Sept, 2025"
You know, I don’t know whether this is mere politics, or whether there’s some actual sentiment behind it… and I find that I do not much care. I am not overly fond of the woman, but I also have no real quarrel with her and I respect her political instincts, which are quite good – I approve of gestures of this nature, no matter if Senator Clinton’s* one of the ones making them. So, kudos.
And Happy Thanksgiving, folks, if I don’t get a chance to say that later.
Via Day by Day.
I’m going to NYC in about 45 minutes for a job interview and Thanksgiving, and when I return I will be in finals heck until December 17 or so. So blogging will be light to non-existent (depending on how bad a procrastinator I’m being) until then–but I trust Moe and Von will keep this place … Read more
In a post that strongly (and convincingly) rejects the idea of breaking Iraq into three countries, Juan Cole says: The alternative is to build into the new Iraq guarantees against a tyranny of the Shiite majority. Have a bicameral legislature that over-represents the Sunnis slightly. Have a bill of rights. Have elected provincial governors and … Read more
from the Cleveland Plain-Dealer: At a New Hampshire candidates’ forum, he was queried about first ladies,and the Cleveland Democratic congressman didn’t waste his chance to drop the proverbial handkerchief. “As a bachelor, I get a chance to fantasize about my first lady,” the twice-divorced Kucinich replied. “And you know, maybe Fox will want to sponsor … Read more
From a Washington Post article on Chalabi, via Atrios : “Nobody knows how the president will finally come down on Chalabi. Right now Bush reportedly remains unconvinced that Chalabi is the one to lead Iraq into a democratic future. Jordan’s King Abdullah didn’t help matters: When he met with Bush recently, he is said to … Read more
Crooked Timber’s discussing an interesting little event that went on at the National Book Awards dinner Thursday. Short version: Stephen King got an honorary award, made a speech where he essentially informed the judges that they needed to read more genre fiction and an author named Shirley Hazzard got contrasted to King by just about everybody commenting on it.
Now, looking over the links, it would seem that the proud philistine contingent is underrepresented in this debate, so I am stepping up to the plate.
Hopefully, it’ll automatically publish Monday morning (yup, playing with site features). So, anyway, I was reading through this dKos post and I was struck with something: why are the Democrats keeping him around as head of the DNC? Rather than scurrilously speculate, I decided to simply ask for commentary from, like, actual Democrats and stuff: … Read more
if you’ve read about the horrible events in Mosul, you’ll need it. So, here you go, from Aunty Beeb: “Mr Blair, who is said to be a big fan of the show, recorded his dialogue in April for an episode in which Homer Simpson meets him in London. Actor Sir Ian McKellen and Harry Potter … Read more
According to today’s Boston Globe, “Massachusetts residents, by a solid margin, said they supported the Supreme Judicial Court’s landmark decision legalizing gay marriage, according to a Boston Globe/WBZ-TV poll. The poll of 400 people, the first survey of Bay State residents since the court’s historic ruling, indicated that 50 percent agreed with the justices’ decision, … Read more
A lot has been written about the Republican ads in Iowa in New Hampshire, which begin, “some are now attacking the President for attacking the terrorists.” I don’t really have much to add about that line; I think you all can guess what my reaction was. But this line, via Maureen Dowd’s column today, was new to me:
” ‘It would take one vial, one canister, one crate slipped into this country to bring a day of horror like none we have ever known,” Mr. Bush says, in a State of the Union clip.”
I don’t usually have much patience for Dowd, but she has it right. This is fear-mongering for no good purpose. Experts generally agree that biological and chemical weapons kill people in horrible ways but are not any better than conventional weapons at killing large numbers of people (if it’s not done right, they’re probably worse). So one vial or one canister would not be very likely to bring a worse day of horror than 9/11. Nuclear weapons are a different story, but there was no serious nuclear threat from Iraq in the short or medium term, and we knew it.
And of course, it seems increasingly clear that Iraq had no biological or chemical weapons either.
They have a history of this sort of thing.