tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-63029922011-04-21T20:46:30.276-04:00Left FootPolitical Economy, News, and Ruminations on the War on TerrorPadraighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10873724601419173829noreply@blogger.comBlogger1991100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302992.post-1086464779709425652004-06-05T15:42:00.000-04:002004-06-05T15:46:19.710-04:00soros v. moon
Up on John Gorenfeld's web site, which is dedicated to blogging the Rev. Sun Myung Moon, is a handy-dandy chart comparing George Soros to the good Rev. Quite informative. Honestly, considering the Cleland-style character assasination currently being done by the RNC and CNN against Soros, it's high time we started high-lighting the fact that so many Republican organizations are Padraighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10873724601419173829noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302992.post-1086374191490754642004-06-04T14:27:00.000-04:002004-06-04T19:17:45.366-04:00Soldiers killed today in Iraq
An ambush killed 4 soldiers today after another IED went off near a convoy. WaPo has the story:
[There was little] information on the attack that killed four U.S. soldiers and wounded five others around midday in the eastern part of the capital. The deaths and injuries were attributed to an explosion from a powerful roadside bomb that destroyed the soldiers' Padraighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10873724601419173829noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302992.post-1086373553915227182004-06-04T14:13:00.000-04:002004-06-04T14:25:53.916-04:00horribly late updates and such
A quick note to my loyal readership (I love you both).
I haven't been updating recently because I moved to Iowa (yes, that Iowa) to work for the progressive organization America Coming Together. It's a 527 org that's being funded primarily by George Soros, the world's most socially responsible billionaire. Finally, there is a leftist equivalent to the Club for Padraighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10873724601419173829noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302992.post-1085168857615977342004-05-21T15:44:00.000-04:002004-05-21T15:47:37.616-04:00berg video raises questions
I haven't seen the video, and I'm not going to. I can't watch a man be beheaded, without being changed, and I don't know how it would change me, just that the change would be profound. But from what I've been reading, there are several questions about this video, and there seems to be a real possibility that Berg was dead before he was beheaded. If this is true, Padraighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10873724601419173829noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302992.post-1085166563323316062004-05-21T15:06:00.000-04:002004-05-21T15:11:17.156-04:00and the march of folly continues ...
From the files of "Oh, who are we kidding?" comes this fun story reported by Common Dreams:
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The Bush administration wants the U.N. Security Council to renew on Friday a controversial resolution exempting American peacekeepers from prosecution by the new International Criminal Court.
Although the resolution is expected to be Padraighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10873724601419173829noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302992.post-1085164884549229452004-05-21T14:28:00.000-04:002004-05-21T14:43:32.180-04:00the wedding party massacre was worse than I thought
It's hard to be disillusioned when you've already lost what illusions you've had. And yet, I'm disillusioned once again. The wedding party massacre was first explained as an accident, the result of a cultural misunderstanding between wedding celebrants firing into the air and nervous US helicopter pilots who thought they were under attack. Padraighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10873724601419173829noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302992.post-1085160518734406252004-05-21T13:21:00.000-04:002004-05-21T13:28:38.733-04:00and the scandal deepens
Still think it's just "blowing off steam", Rush?
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Hundreds of new images and sworn statements from Iraqis held at Abu Ghraib prison depict harrowing sexual humiliation and religious intimidation at the hands of U.S. soldiers well beyond abuses reported previously, The Washington Post reported on Friday.
(snip)
The 13 previously secret sworn Padraighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10873724601419173829noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302992.post-1085087710052908862004-05-20T15:11:00.000-04:002004-05-20T17:15:10.053-04:00liars
Check out this story on the wedding-party massacre.
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Grieving Iraqis said U.S. forces killed dozens of guests at a desert wedding but an American general insisted Thursday that the air strike had killed foreign guerrilla fighters and said "bad things happen in wars." (emphasis added)
So, we hit a bunch of terrorists, who were all grown men, despite the video evidence Padraighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10873724601419173829noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302992.post-1085077697351017652004-05-20T14:23:00.000-04:002004-05-20T14:28:17.350-04:00oh god, i love nancy pelosi!
Via Atrios, this lovely bit of rhetoric from the next speaker of the house:
"Bush is an incompetent leader. In fact, he's not a leader,'' Pelosi said. "He's a person who has no judgment, no experience and no knowledge of the subjects that he has to decide upon.''
(snip)
"He's gone,'' Pelosi said of Bush. "He's so gone.''Padraighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10873724601419173829noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302992.post-1085076820180618252004-05-20T14:11:00.000-04:002004-05-20T14:13:40.180-04:00Sgt. Provance says rummy's been lying
From the Washington Post:
Sgt. Samuel Provance said intelligence interrogators told military police to strip down prisoners and embarrass them as a way to help "break" them. The same interrogators and intelligence analysts would talk about the abuse with Provance and flippantly dismiss it because the Iraqis were considered "the enemy," he said.
(snip)
Padraighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10873724601419173829noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302992.post-1085075354104550552004-05-20T13:41:00.000-04:002004-05-20T13:49:14.103-04:00opec at a loss
According to Reuters, OPEC is saying it can't do a damn thing to help us out of this oil-crunch. And the Driving Season is just around the corner.Padraighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10873724601419173829noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302992.post-1085074587885736462004-05-20T13:33:00.000-04:002004-05-20T13:36:27.886-04:00it's enough to make one proud to be catholic!
Oh, my droogs, check this out!
VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - A senior American cardinal in the Vatican has accused the U.S. administration of "moral failure" and deception in Iraq and warned the war had severely compromised future relations with the Arab world.
(snip)
Stafford, who is close to Pope John Paul, said he feared the abuse of Iraqi Padraighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10873724601419173829noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302992.post-1085071792520117692004-05-20T12:47:00.000-04:002004-05-20T12:49:52.520-04:00the first sign of the apocalypse
Max Boot, horrible neo-conservative that he is, has written a good article on Gay Marriage, and his belief that the conservatives should give up on banning it. He makes the case that it doesn't hurt anyone who's straight, there's no good argument against it in a secular society, and that the 'slippery slope' argument is pretty fallacious. It's a good article, IPadraighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10873724601419173829noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302992.post-1085071041776397892004-05-20T12:29:00.000-04:002004-05-20T14:10:45.106-04:0068% of Iraqis support sadr
That's according to this Financial Times:
An Iraqi poll to be released next week shows a surge in the popularity of Moqtada al-Sadr, the radical young Shia cleric fighting coalition forces, and suggests nearly nine out of 10 Iraqis see US troops as occupiers and not liberators or peacekeepers.
(snip)
Conducted before the Abu Ghraib prisoners' scandal, it also Padraighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10873724601419173829noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302992.post-1085069521417498272004-05-20T12:06:00.000-04:002004-05-20T12:42:27.596-04:00new abuse photos
Great, this is gonna play well. Two of these new photos show Spc. Sabrina Harmon and Sgt. Charles Graner, respectively, standing over the body of Manadel al-Jamadi, a detainee killed through 'interrogation'. Must have had a tricky heart, I guess. These two have big fucking smiles on their face as they show off the dead body of a man tortured to death. Honestly, I think Padraighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10873724601419173829noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302992.post-1085068704168760102004-05-20T11:24:00.000-04:002004-05-20T12:02:56.306-04:00who called it? stick with the kid, baby!
Nader is gonna end up supporting Kerry, after Kerry agrees to move farther left on the war and on trade. I KNEW it! That meeting yesterday seems to have produced an understanding: nader is saying nice things about Kerry, and Kerry is saying how he respects Nader. It is, to put it mildly, a love feast:
Mr. Nader, whose campaign most likely cost Mr. Padraighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10873724601419173829noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302992.post-1085066581721891182004-05-20T11:19:00.000-04:002004-05-20T11:23:01.720-04:00us raids chalabi's house
Maybe the US is finally cracking down on the guy who stole so much money from the Kingdom of Jordan (several billion dollars) that he's under a death-sentence there, or maybe the US is trying to allow him to distance himself from the occupation, in order to make him more attractive to the Iraqis as a strongman. Or maybe the US is trying to distance itself from him: he'sPadraighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10873724601419173829noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302992.post-1085066277414024972004-05-20T11:11:00.000-04:002004-05-20T15:01:05.636-04:00sharon is an enemy of the US
It's hard to view this any other way.
RAFAH, Gaza Strip (Reuters) - Defying international fury and a rare U.S. rebuke, Israel expanded its bloodiest Gaza Strip raid in years on Thursday after killing 39 Palestinians in three days of fighting in the Rafah refugee camp.
(snip)
The U.N. Security Council urged an end to violence after Israeli forces killed 10 Padraighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10873724601419173829noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302992.post-1085065863264545492004-05-20T11:02:00.000-04:002004-05-20T15:03:12.573-04:00who needs truth when you have 'newspeak'?
So not only have we killed 45 civilians in a wedding party, including 10 women and 15 children, we're now just lying about it. The US is claiming it actually killed a bunch of, you guessed it, terrorists and captured $2,000,000 in Iraqi Dinari and weapons too. And all the terrorists were men. And it was a plane, not a helicopter that killed them all.Padraighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10873724601419173829noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302992.post-1085000483957722332004-05-19T16:59:00.000-04:002004-05-19T17:01:30.396-04:00check this out
A quite damning interview with Staff Sgt. Jim Massey, recently honorably discharged from the Marines. He's very pissed about the things he did in Iraq, and about the administration that lied to him about it. Here's the article.Padraighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10873724601419173829noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302992.post-1084999626529606932004-05-19T16:44:00.000-04:002004-05-19T16:47:06.530-04:00Way to go, bush
By golly, he'll turn as-Sadr into the Iraqi George Washington by June 30th, at this rate!
From the Boston Globe, via Hesiod:
NAJAF, Iraq (AP) Not long ago, U.S. officials and senior Shiite clergy viewed radical cleric Muqtada al-Sadr as a fringe figure with a narrow base of support. Times have changed.
In the six weeks since al-Sadr launched an anti-coalition uprising in Padraighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10873724601419173829noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302992.post-1084998092510031172004-05-19T16:15:00.000-04:002004-05-19T17:04:23.256-04:00and now for something completely different ...
Here at Leftfoot, we tend to stay on the angrier side of irresponsible Leftism. Rage, disillusionment, inchoate cries of despair, all that good stuff. But we do have a sense of humor, as this little story proves:
Oklahoma School Will Let Muslim Girl Wear Headscarf
An Oklahoma public school district that had suspended a Muslim girl for wearing a Padraighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10873724601419173829noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302992.post-1084994244269171782004-05-19T15:08:00.000-04:002004-05-19T17:05:45.400-04:00attention palestinians: come out and surrender, so's we can shoot you!
Does anyone really want proof that Israel under Sharon is stark raving mad? Well here you go; 2 stories on BBC.
First:
Israeli troops on a raid in southern Gaza have called for a mass surrender of male residents in part of the Rafah refugee camp.
Reports say army loudspeakers told males aged 16 or over in the Tel Sultan Padraighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10873724601419173829noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302992.post-1084992947124822742004-05-19T14:47:00.000-04:002004-05-19T15:00:03.300-04:00oh god
Why the fuck is this happening?
Via Kos:
BAGHDAD, Iraq - A U.S. helicopter fired on a wedding party Wednesday in western Iraq, killing more than 40 people, Iraqi officials said. The U.S. military said it could not confirm the report and was investigating.
Lt. Col Ziyad al-Jbouri, deputy police chief of Ramadi, said between 42 and 45 people were killed in the attack, which took place Padraighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10873724601419173829noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302992.post-1084992164998851852004-05-19T14:23:00.000-04:002004-05-19T14:42:44.996-04:00Boy, this administration REALLY doesn't like the press
Talk about your adversarial relationships:
U.S. forces beat three Iraqis working for Reuters and subjected them to sexual and religious taunts and humiliation during their detention last January in a military camp near Falluja, the three said Tuesday.
The three first told Reuters of the ordeal after their release but only decided to makePadraighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10873724601419173829noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302992.post-1084987137642985122004-05-19T13:05:00.000-04:002004-05-19T17:08:10.506-04:00'If only they'd taken 'Mein kampf' seriously'
Spend enough time with history majors, and you're certain to hear that little nugget of wisdom. If only more Germans had read Mein Kampf, and not mistaken it for mere rhetoric, then maybe WWII and the Holocaust could have been avoided. "Why, oh WHY, were those Germans so blase?", they ask. Well, we're living through the same deal now, friends. AndPadraighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10873724601419173829noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302992.post-1084986336422838732004-05-19T13:03:00.000-04:002004-05-19T13:05:36.423-04:00more from salon
So it looks like Iraq and Cuba aren't the only places a white boy is encouraged to kick the shit out of innocent Arabs. Apparently, Brooklyn is as fine a place as any.
The American guards took Mohamed Maddy's glasses before they slammed him into the wall. A portly middle-aged father of two, Maddy was crying, trying to move his shoulder in front of him so it would take the blow,Padraighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10873724601419173829noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302992.post-1084985943601789622004-05-19T12:53:00.000-04:002004-05-19T12:59:03.600-04:00you know what defuses an already tense situation? ...
Firing a missle into a crowd of demonstrators! Killing 10 of them! All children! And leaving 13 more in "hopeless condition"! And 23 more "critically wounded"! And 27 more merely "wounded"! Yay!
Or at least this seems to be what the IDF was thinking. As reported in Salon (subscription or day-pass required):
Israeli forces fired a Padraighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10873724601419173829noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302992.post-1084985456146776712004-05-19T12:45:00.000-04:002004-05-19T17:09:34.586-04:00back in action
So my car is dead. I've been forced into environmental friendliness, as I have to get a bike now. Well, I'll be in better shape (rather than the current 'round' shape I have going), and be a little more smug to boot.
Anyway, news time. Check out this report available at Common Dreams. Apparently, Kerry and Nader are going to meet to talk strategy and such. I think this is Padraighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10873724601419173829noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302992.post-1084482141384034432004-05-13T14:22:00.000-04:002004-05-13T17:03:43.743-04:00oil prices at all time high
NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. oil prices hit an all-time record high on Thursday amid concerns over thin gasoline supplies ahead of peak demand driving season and tight global crude stocks.
Benchmark U.S. light crude futures for June delivery climbed to $41.17 a barrel in after hours trade -- the highest level since October 1990 following the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. ItPadraighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10873724601419173829noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302992.post-1084471286852374522004-05-13T13:23:00.000-04:002004-05-13T14:01:26.853-04:00rage, rage against the dying of the light
Science Thursday, today. (not a regular dealie around here, but Malraux would want it that way).
From the NYTimes:
In the second half of the 20th century, the world became, quite literally, a darker place.
Defying expectation and easy explanation, hundreds of instruments around the world recorded a drop in sunshine reaching the surface of Earth, as Padraighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10873724601419173829noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302992.post-1084468798016182842004-05-13T13:13:00.000-04:002004-05-13T13:19:58.016-04:00Baghdadis condemn beheading
So all the LGF trolls can shut the fuck up now. As reported in the Boston Globe:
Most Baghdad residents yesterday condemned the beheading of a US civilian in Iraq, but many said his death was just the latest atrocity in a cycle of violence that is driving them to despair.
(snip)
Even in the Baghdad Sunni Muslim stronghold of Adhamiya, where opposition to the Padraighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10873724601419173829noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302992.post-1084466979528958642004-05-13T12:44:00.000-04:002004-05-13T13:05:01.443-04:00holy shit. Bush let az-Zarqawi go
Via Altercation, we find this story from NBC:
[...] NBC News has learned that long before the war the Bush administration had several chances to wipe out his terrorist operation and perhaps kill Zarqawi himself — but never pulled the trigger.
In June 2002, U.S. officials say intelligence had revealed that Zarqawi and members of al-Qaida had set up a weapons Padraighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10873724601419173829noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302992.post-1084466560231296072004-05-13T12:28:00.000-04:002004-05-13T13:02:08.333-04:00bush' popularity rating does its impression of a submarine
Check out my Man, Daily Kos, for some fun news and commentary on the fact that Bush is TANKING!Padraighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10873724601419173829noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302992.post-1084465643756370992004-05-13T12:06:00.000-04:002004-05-13T12:27:23.756-04:00and the leftist revival continues!
Break out that fucking Champagne, my boys! It's time to get drunk! India has turned decisively against the quasi-fascist Hindu Nationalist Party (the BJP) and elected the Congress Party, headed by Mrs. Sonia Gandhi! Yes, THAT Gandhi! And in the new colaition government she's forming, she'll be bringing in Leftist parties, after their "strong showing"! Padraighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10873724601419173829noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302992.post-1084384977382329892004-05-12T13:54:00.000-04:002004-05-12T14:04:19.690-04:00and gaza goes up in flames
So much for Sharon's winning strategy to combat terror. It turns out that if you just assasinate people, and kill enough civilians, and brutalize the fuck out of an occupied people, they will set their minds to, well, taking revenge. Islamic Jihad has now destroyed two Israeli APCs in as many days. The first one they took out with a mine, blowing 6 soldiers to Padraighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10873724601419173829noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302992.post-1084384259707115812004-05-12T13:48:00.000-04:002004-05-12T13:50:59.706-04:00oh, and opec can't meet the coming demand for oil
Reuters, again:
Oil prices burst to new 13-year highs above $40 a barrel on Wednesday on concern that OPEC may not pump enough oil to meet rapidly accelerating world oil demand.
A fresh fall in U.S. gasoline stocks reinforced concern that U.S. refiners will not be able to make enough of new gasoline grades for peak summer holiday driving Padraighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10873724601419173829noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302992.post-1084383945241393012004-05-12T13:28:00.000-04:002004-05-12T13:45:45.240-04:00i didn't report on this yesterday
Much to my chagrin. But it was simply too much to take in. Too gruesome and terrible. But it's big, and it's going to affect our lives and the war in Iraq, so here goes.
Yesterday, an Islamist web-site carried footage of the decapitation of Nick Berg, a private citizen and young business entrepreneur. The terrorists (they claim to be linked to al-Qaida, andPadraighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10873724601419173829noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302992.post-1084382722067740982004-05-12T13:02:00.000-04:002004-05-12T13:25:22.066-04:00biggest trade deficit ever. We're number one!
From Reuters:
Stronger U.S. economic growth and the highest oil import prices in 21 years combined forces in March to widen the U.S. trade deficit to a record $46.0 billion, according to a government report on Wednesday.
The monthly trade gap widened a much-larger-than expected 9.1 percent from February as the booming U.S. economy sucked in Padraighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10873724601419173829noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302992.post-1084379793565595332004-05-12T12:09:00.000-04:002004-05-12T12:36:33.566-04:00oh please let the adults be in charge
Sandwiched in a NYTimes article on the army invading a mosque in Karbala (more on that aspect later) was found this heartening paragraph:
The mosque attack came as news emerged that Adnan al-Zorfi, the American-appointed governor in Najaf, had offered to delay attempts to capture Mr. Sadr if he agreed to disband his militia, which seized control of the two Padraighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10873724601419173829noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302992.post-1084297041242971932004-05-11T13:32:00.001-04:002004-05-11T14:35:16.923-04:00boy, I wish i had invested in some oil companies
I'd be as rich as Cheney!
LONDON (Reuters) - Oil prices rebounded toward 13-year peaks on Tuesday on doubts that top world exporter Saudi Arabia's call for a rise in OPEC quotas would add much actual supply to a tight international market.
U.S. light crude rose 47 cents to $39.40 a barrel, back within 60 cents of the 13-year peak touched on Padraighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10873724601419173829noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302992.post-1084296614213335112004-05-11T13:22:00.000-04:002004-05-11T13:30:26.836-04:00this is interesting
I'm not certain what to make of this, but apparently hundreds of Shi'ites were out protesting as-Sadr in Najaf. This could be genuine, and if it is, it's good news for the US: if people blame the violence on Sadr, then he becomes the reason US troops are shooting people. But this does not mean that they're on our side: apparently, they're not asking him to disarm, but to Padraighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10873724601419173829noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302992.post-1084293884636874072004-05-11T12:42:00.000-04:002004-05-11T12:44:44.636-04:00this is real reporting
From Reuters:
As others condemned the reported abuse of Iraqi prisoners, U.S. Sen. James Inhofe on Tuesday expressed outrage at the worldwide outrage over the treatment by American soldiers of those he called "terrorists" and "murderers."
"I'm probably not the only one up at this table that is more outraged by the outrage than we are by the treatment," the Oklahoma Padraighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10873724601419173829noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302992.post-1084291631313757462004-05-11T11:52:00.000-04:002004-05-11T12:07:11.313-04:00Geneva convenshuns? we don' need no stinking geneva convenshuns!
Once again, via Atrios, a news article from July 2003:
By Thomas E. Ricks
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, July 28, 2003; Page A01
BAGHDAD -- Over the past six weeks a small but intense war has been conducted in the mud-hut villages and lush palm groves along the Tigris River valley, fought with far different methods than Padraighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10873724601419173829noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302992.post-1084288923633449962004-05-11T11:19:00.000-04:002004-05-11T11:22:03.633-04:00private, belay that 'hoody hoo'
This via Atrios. It is a column in the NY Post, of all places, and it says, well, read for yourself:
DON'T get too excited about all those new jobs that were supposed to have been created in April.
I'm not going to waste a lot of my precious space on this, but the bottom line is that most of the 288,000 jobs that the Labor Department says were created last Padraighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10873724601419173829noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302992.post-1084221660644381532004-05-10T16:39:00.000-04:002004-05-10T16:41:00.643-04:00you know, I guess the arabs don't hate us enough yet
Or so Bush seems to think.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Bush plans this week to impose economic sanctions on Syria for supporting terrorism and failing to stop guerrillas from entering Iraq, people involved in the deliberations said on Monday.
I wonder how many people in the middle east are going to find our moral opprobrium very Padraighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10873724601419173829noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302992.post-1084205879585246852004-05-10T12:07:00.000-04:002004-05-10T12:17:59.586-04:00Sadr declares war
Check out this story on Reuters. Sadr has announced that the insurgency has entered a new phase. Aside from the irony that Sadr is using the same types of language as the Bush administration to paper-over their failures, this is a serious situation. Basically, Sadr has decided to force us into open war. Our strategy, recently, has been to move slowly, kill a few dozen Padraighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10873724601419173829noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302992.post-1084205251777014182004-05-10T11:59:00.000-04:002004-05-10T12:21:19.440-04:00jobs are up! so of course, stocks must go down
From Reuters:
U.S. stocks slid on Monday, hitting their lowest levels of the year, as persistent fears the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates as early as June rattled investors and pushed markets lower around the globe.
(snip)
The major indexes, extending their losses from Friday, fell to their lowest levels since mid-December. The Dow Padraighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10873724601419173829noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302992.post-1083955368721384642004-05-07T14:39:00.000-04:002004-05-07T14:47:16.793-04:00letter writers of the world, unite!
Check out these letters from the NYTimes in response to Disney's refusal to distribute Michael Moore's new movie. They make you proud to be an American.Padraighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10873724601419173829noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302992.post-1083954710191570502004-05-07T14:30:00.000-04:002004-05-07T14:36:18.356-04:00new krugman
Mr.Krugman explains why we're facing a $40 barrel of oil despite having invaded the 2nd oil-richest nation in the world, and why we're not about to see the price fall anytime soon.Padraighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10873724601419173829noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302992.post-1083953614605947802004-05-07T14:09:00.000-04:002004-05-10T12:22:37.710-04:00hoody-hoo! Good fucking news!
So the hiring situation is improving. Thank God. 288,000 new jobs. That's something to celebrate. On the other hand, we don't know how many of these jobs are governmental, how many are low-wage, etc. Until we see the breakdown, we should hold off on that champagne (inflation being what it is). Anyway, here's the scoop from Reuters.Padraighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10873724601419173829noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302992.post-1083953360743402162004-05-07T14:07:00.000-04:002004-05-07T14:13:49.076-04:00Rummy's really cooked
Oh shit. Bush and co. are in real trouble. Apparently some protesters interrupted the testimony Skeletor, I mean, Rumsfeld, was giving to the committe, and, well, read for yourself:
Protesters heckled Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on Friday, shouting, "Fire Rumsfeld for war crimes" at a congressional hearing to probe the Pentagon's handling of the Iraqi prisoner Padraighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10873724601419173829noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302992.post-1083953122415979242004-05-07T13:45:00.000-04:002004-05-07T14:09:50.796-04:00sunni-sadr unity, but shi'ites divided
Apparently, the Sunni insurgents are really tying themselves to Sadr, doing their best to present the uprising as pan-Iraqi, and not merely sectional violence. But on the other hand, the moderate Shi'ite clergy is still willing to work with the US, if we respect their very clear boundaries on what we can and cannot do in the pursuit of Sadr. We do still Padraighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10873724601419173829noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302992.post-1083950036302467142004-05-07T12:03:00.000-04:002004-05-07T13:18:24.513-04:00hackworth and company are worried
Col. David R. Hackworth is probably going to be remembered as one of the more interesting American personalities of the late 20th and early 21st century. I don't agree with him on a lot of things, but there's no getting around the fact that the man is informed, smart, and willing to speak the truth as he sees it, in his own words to boot. An on Iraq, we are Padraighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10873724601419173829noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302992.post-1083945564727066552004-05-07T11:52:00.000-04:002004-05-07T12:03:52.246-04:00this is the way the right works
Not with a lie, but a chasm.
I've figured out why Rush Limbaugh et al are saying that the torture photos are a 'brilliant maneuver', and no worse than pornography: they've taken the Big Lie and run with it. They know that their audience only listens to them: they are self-selecting victims of propaganda. A right-winger who hears the truth about this atrocity (Padraighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10873724601419173829noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302992.post-1083861124770232302004-05-06T12:25:00.000-04:002004-05-06T12:37:02.890-04:00global capital strikes again
If there are any free-traders out there today, take a look at this story from the NYTimes. Apparently, cheap labour combined with incentives to international corporations leads to increased poverty. I, for one, am shocked.
India's economy is spawning a growing middle class, a host of world-class companies, a booming stock market and a new image for this nation of Padraighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10873724601419173829noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302992.post-1083860269726238152004-05-06T12:10:00.000-04:002004-05-06T12:22:16.530-04:00impeach greenspan
So Mr. Alan "I-don't-approve-of-deficits-unless-it's-Bush-selling-one" Greenspan is now saying that long term deficits are bad. He says this right here, in the NYTimes:
WASHINGTON (AP) -- America's soaring federal budget deficits represent a major obstacle to the country's long-term economic stability, Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan warned on Thursday.
(snip)
``OurPadraighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10873724601419173829noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302992.post-1083859647552231392004-05-06T11:44:00.000-04:002004-05-07T14:21:26.966-04:00rummy might get the ol' heave ho
But let's not celebrate just yet. From the NYTimes:
WASHINGTON, May 5 — President Bush on Wednesday chastised his defense secretary, Donald H. Rumsfeld, for Mr. Rumsfeld's handling of a scandal over the American abuse of Iraqis held at a notorious prison in Baghdad, White House officials said.
The disclosures by the White House officials, under authorization Padraighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10873724601419173829noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302992.post-1083858198260478812004-05-06T11:41:00.000-04:002004-05-06T11:48:55.450-04:00Striling newberry explains the insurgency for you
Everyone with the time to spare should read this post from Stirling Newberry's The Agonist. He explains the operation of a counter-occupation campaign, from the standpoint of the "Swamp Fox", the irregular general from the US Revolution. It's brilliant reading, and you can learn a lot about how military campaigns work.Padraighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10873724601419173829noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302992.post-1083799928237779432004-05-05T19:27:00.000-04:002004-05-05T19:41:11.746-04:00murder
Kevin Drum at the Washington Monthly has a piece of footage that has been playing on German, French, and Canadian television that shows us troops firing on three people. The people do not seem to be threats (but then, its hard to tell these things without more context) but the troops open fire with a machine gun, killing two instantly, and then fire on a third. The third man is not deadPadraighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10873724601419173829noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302992.post-1083791086464700092004-05-05T17:00:00.000-04:002004-05-05T17:52:09.500-04:00Bush must be straight; look at how he's fucking Haiti!
From the NYTimes:
Difficult as it may be to believe, people here say, life in the poorest nation in the hemisphere has gotten worse in the past two months.
Mounds of garbage choke the streets. Electricity in the capital has been scarce for weeks. The police force has fallen deeper into disarray, and crime has spiked, including a rash of Padraighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10873724601419173829noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302992.post-1083790496647960552004-05-05T16:51:00.000-04:002004-05-05T16:59:36.123-04:00and the other shoe drops
So, Bush' budget wasn't quite honest about the costs of occupation, now was it. Check out this story from the AP:
Official: Bush to Seek $25B for Iraq War
By ALAN FRAM
(AP) A U.S. Army Blackhawk helicopter departs the Abu Ghraib Prison after dropping off a fresh group of ...
Full Image
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Bush administration will ask Congress for an Padraighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10873724601419173829noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302992.post-1083790268120650272004-05-05T16:43:00.000-04:002004-05-05T16:55:33.293-04:00us troops raid Karbala and diwaniya
Apparently, the Army feels they have quieted Fallujah down enough to go back to getting Sadr. They launched an attack on two holy cities that are also strongholds for Sadrist militias. As reported in the NYTimes:
KARBALA, Iraq, May 5 — The American military launched its first major assault against insurgents led by Moktada al-Sadr, a rebel Shiite cleric, Padraighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10873724601419173829noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302992.post-1083788314226537622004-05-05T16:14:00.000-04:002004-05-05T16:22:59.810-04:00fahrenheit 911 ...
The temperature at which free-expression burns.
From the NYTimes, as reported in Common Dreams:
The Walt Disney Company is blocking its Miramax division from distributing a new documentary by Michael Moore that harshly criticizes President Bush, executives at both Disney and Miramax said Tuesday.
The film, "Fahrenheit 911," links Mr. Bush and prominent Saudis — including Padraighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10873724601419173829noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302992.post-1083717945812805272004-05-04T20:37:00.000-04:002004-05-04T20:50:10.076-04:00Victory is at hand! sadly, that hand has been blown 30 feet from its body
And just in case anyone thought our military might, oh, I don't know, get to rest anytime soon, here's another story from Reuters:
The United States, faced with growing military casualties in Iraq, announced on Tuesday that it was scrapping a plan to reduce its forces and would keep about 138,000 troops in that country Padraighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10873724601419173829noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302992.post-1083717323538493622004-05-04T20:32:00.000-04:002004-05-04T20:41:21.873-04:00those dead iraqis should stop whining ...
After all, it was just a little hazing, right?
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Two Iraqi prisoners were murdered by Americans and 23 other deaths are being investigated in Iraq and Afghanistan, the United States revealed on Tuesday as the Bush administration tried to contain growing outrage over the abuse of Iraqi detainees.
(snip)
Army officials said the Padraighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10873724601419173829noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302992.post-1083701998533824302004-05-04T16:19:00.000-04:002004-05-04T16:23:49.780-04:00New krugman
Read, my pretties!Padraighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10873724601419173829noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302992.post-1083701709715190162004-05-04T16:03:00.000-04:002004-05-04T16:19:39.436-04:00the senate grows a pair
It looks like the Senate Armed Services Committee is a little, well, upset about not being in the loop regarding the abuse allegations. Apparently, the report was leaked to the press before it was given to the committee. Oh well, at least Colin Powell has some company in that 'non-loop' area. From the NYTimes:
The furor over the abuse of Iraqi prisoners intensified Padraighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10873724601419173829noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302992.post-1083700328154753662004-05-04T15:41:00.000-04:002004-05-04T20:55:39.826-04:00well, oil be damned ...
Are you feeling a little concerned about the economy? A bit low, where energy costs are concerned? Is your morning commute starting to resemble throwing handfuls of dollars out the window? Well, then, don't read this report from Reuters whatever you do:
World oil prices forged to their highest level for 13 years on Tuesday as Middle East violence stoked concern over Padraighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10873724601419173829noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302992.post-1083688154823315502004-05-04T12:20:00.000-04:002004-05-04T12:33:08.950-04:00more allegations of abuse at abu ghraib
Reported in Reuters:
With six U.S. soldiers reprimanded and six others facing criminal charges, Iraq's prisoner-abuse scandal looked far from over Tuesday as more Iraqis came forward to allege maltreatment by U.S. troops.
"If the Americans ever come back to detain me I will commit suicide before I am taken to this place again," Sha'aban al-Janabi, a Padraighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10873724601419173829noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302992.post-1083619056800284112004-05-03T17:11:00.000-04:002004-05-04T20:58:05.700-04:00new fallujah general found
Stay the course, indeed. From Reuters:
U.S. Marines besieging Falluja brought in a new Iraqi general with a history of standing up to Saddam Hussein Monday to lead a force they have charged with putting down insurgency in the city.
Their initial choice, who outraged victims of the Baathist regime because of past service in Saddam's feared Republican Guard, said he Padraighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10873724601419173829noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302992.post-1083602662173173822004-05-03T12:26:00.000-04:002004-05-04T21:00:17.873-04:00sometimes I hate being right
So a friend of mine, Ethan, came to visit this weekend. He's a Bio pre-Doc at Harvard, and quite the genius in many fields, both scientific and artistic. We got to talking about the economy, and I made the case that soon we will all be living like actors: moving from one job to the next, no benefits, and no security, and always with the caveat that we can lose our Padraighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10873724601419173829noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302992.post-1083341912149486062004-04-30T12:17:00.000-04:002004-04-30T12:22:50.716-04:00terry jones
Here. Read this. Trust me.Padraighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10873724601419173829noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302992.post-1083341280860114762004-04-30T12:06:00.000-04:002004-04-30T12:12:19.530-04:00bremer wasn't actionable, I guess
From Reuters:
The head of the U.S.-led coalition in Iraq, Paul Bremer, warned six months before the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks that the Bush administration seemed to be paying no attention to the problem of terrorism and appeared to "stagger along" on the issue.
(snip)
"What they will do is stagger along until there's a major incident and then suddenly say, 'Oh,Padraighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10873724601419173829noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302992.post-1083339201312553642004-04-30T11:24:00.000-04:002004-04-30T11:37:39.700-04:00sullivan's racism gets loose
Sully quotes this letter from a military chaplain in Iraq.
This country became a welfare state under Saddam. If you cared about your well-fare, you towed the line or died. The state did your thinking and your bidding. Want a job? Pledge allegiance to the Ba’ath party. Want an apartment, a car, etc? Show loyalty. Electricity, water, sewage, etc. was paid by the Padraighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10873724601419173829noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302992.post-1083336772768699592004-04-30T10:37:00.000-04:002004-05-04T21:09:07.700-04:00money beats brains
Good piece in the NYTimes opinion pages that deals with the increasing disparity between stupid rich kids and smart poor kids in getting into college.
Yet another string of studies confirms what any high school senior or parent who has just weathered the college admissions mating dance already knew — it's a cutthroat competition where money matters more than ever. TeenagersPadraighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10873724601419173829noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302992.post-1083335399463613362004-04-30T10:29:00.000-04:002004-04-30T10:34:24.356-04:00new krugman
Read, my pretties.Padraighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10873724601419173829noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302992.post-1083334632618987262004-04-30T10:15:00.000-04:002004-04-30T10:21:54.860-04:00a headline is worth a thousand words
In today's Reuters, this story:
"US Marines Hand Fallujah to Former Saddam General"Padraighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10873724601419173829noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302992.post-1083334278196093852004-04-30T10:08:00.000-04:002004-04-30T10:18:25.606-04:00Torture and Rape
Check out this story from the Guardian. Apparently, those contractors we've been hiring have been in charge of interrogations at the Abu Ghra'ib prison in Baghdad, the place where we're holding those thousands of Iraqis who are under suspicion of insurgency.
Graphic photographs showing the torture and sexual abuse of Iraqi prisoners in a US-run prison outside Baghdad emerged Padraighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10873724601419173829noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302992.post-1083099976202073652004-04-27T17:03:00.000-04:002004-04-30T12:44:23.996-04:00we're shelling fallujah
And one year since 'Mission Accomplished' as Holden Caufield points out on Atrios' comments board. Check out Reuters for the story so far. What we know, is that a mosque has been hit, AC-130 warthogs are firing their guns at the city, we're using artillery, and one of the bigger explosions set off 2 more explosions, probably in a way that wasn't planned. I don't know Padraighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10873724601419173829noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302992.post-1083082432375640782004-04-27T12:08:00.000-04:002004-04-27T12:18:06.856-04:00oh for god's sake
So the IGC wants to bring the country together, unite the Sunnis and the Shi'ites and the Kurds in a happy family, and demonstrate their own legitimacy at the same time. So they declare Iraq has a new flag:
It was supposed to be the perfect symbol for a new and unified Iraq: an Islamic crescent on a field of pure white, with two blue stripes representing the Tigris and Padraighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10873724601419173829noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302992.post-1083081763589208442004-04-27T11:55:00.000-04:002004-04-27T12:06:58.170-04:00more violence in najaf
As reported in Reuters:
U.S. forces killed dozens of Iraqi fighters near Najaf overnight, hours after Washington issued an ultimatum to a radical cleric to clear his militia from mosques in the holy city.
Local television said Tuesday wounded people were dying for lack of blood and issued an urgent appeal for donors.
(snip)
About 64 militiamen were killed, U.S. Padraighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10873724601419173829noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302992.post-1083006239617183422004-04-26T14:23:00.000-04:002004-04-26T15:08:12.983-04:00woodwards little sins
In Sartrean Existentialism a lot is made of the problem of confession: in confessing, a person also defines his own sins. This can lead to real problems in terms of accuracy and honesty, since the guilty frame the question. For example, a man under suspicion of theft and murder might well plead confess to theft, thus establishing his good faith, and defusing the murder Padraighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10873724601419173829noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302992.post-1083002997249610872004-04-26T13:53:00.000-04:002004-04-26T14:14:20.716-04:00disturbing reports from the Independant
If what this article says is true, army discipline is evaporating.
Yesterday, a bloody incident in Baghdad in which US soldiers in Humvees killed four Iraqi children after coming under attack further inflamed anti-US feeling. One US soldier had died in an explosion on Canal Street and the four Iraqi children were killed immediately afterwards, shot dead Padraighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10873724601419173829noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302992.post-1083001151847247712004-04-26T13:34:00.000-04:002004-04-26T13:45:40.263-04:00Mylroie and Miller: they're a winning combination! If you like propagandists, that is.
Story in the Washington Monthly on Laurie Mylroie, the academic who has spent the last decade claiming that Saddam was an imminant threat to the US, and behind the first World Trade Center bombing to boot. She's the 'intellectual' basis for the whole Iraq-alQaida connection. Her theories have all been Padraighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10873724601419173829noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302992.post-1083000612082580512004-04-26T13:07:00.000-04:002004-04-26T13:37:34.966-04:00danger in fallujah
There's been a bunch of stories on Fallujah recently, and they're starting to freak me out. Not only has the violence continued, but Bush is still talking about invading. Check out this story from The Miami Herald:
U.S. officials set the stage Sunday for ending a weeks-long standoff with insurgent forces in two Iraqi cities, warning residents of Najaf that they must take Padraighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10873724601419173829noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302992.post-1082998826558829362004-04-26T12:59:00.000-04:002004-04-26T13:04:39.860-04:00back in action
After many adventures, I return to blogging. I'll be better this week, I swear. :)Padraighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10873724601419173829noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302992.post-1082577707402820572004-04-21T16:00:00.000-04:002004-04-21T16:05:53.983-04:00Spotty updating on the way
Sadly, I'm going to be unable to post for the next 4 days, or at least not able to post much. Check in now and then, cause, you know, you never know!Padraighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10873724601419173829noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302992.post-1082489236416583792004-04-20T15:26:00.000-04:002004-04-20T15:31:21.343-04:00oh yes. before I forget ...
It's April 20th. 4-20.
Smoke 'em if you got 'em.Padraighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10873724601419173829noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302992.post-1082484737983909212004-04-20T14:05:00.000-04:002004-04-20T14:16:22.983-04:00wolfowitz before the Senate foreign-relations committee
Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz on Tuesday denied that the Bush administration plotted and secretly financed preparations for the war in Iraq long before last year's U.S.-led invasion of that country.
But Wolfowitz, a primary architect of the war, conceded in response to criticism from Democrats at a Senate hearing that there werePadraighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10873724601419173829noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302992.post-1082484125843903792004-04-20T13:23:00.000-04:002004-04-20T15:31:39.623-04:00Bush ahead in latest poll
New poll out today, has Bush ahead by 5 points. Depressing? Yes. Terrible? No. The polls have been evenly divided for a while now, and this is most likely the latest up-tick for Bush, soon to be followed by a Kerry response, etc. The real story here is 'why has Kerry been running such a God-Awful campaign?' I think he's too tied to the 'Anybody but Bush' mantra, Padraighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10873724601419173829noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302992.post-1082475888419159522004-04-20T11:20:00.000-04:002004-04-20T11:52:20.483-04:00new study finds scary levels of wrongful imprisonment
Missed this story when it appeared in the NYTimes yesterday, got it instead from Common Dreams, a lefty news-clearinghouse. Anyway, here's the story:
A comprehensive study of 328 criminal cases over the last 15 years in which the convicted person was exonerated suggests that there are thousands of innocent people in prison today.
Almost Padraighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10873724601419173829noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302992.post-1082474095476537972004-04-20T11:09:00.000-04:002004-04-20T11:19:00.263-04:00presenting Antonin Scalia and the Supremes!
FYI, the Supreme Court is hearing the Gitmo detainees' case today (story available at Reuters). The US is arguing that Gitmo, since it is part of Cuba, is not US territory, and so the constitution does not apply there, even to US citizens. The danger of this argument is clear: it allows the US to have gulags, as long as they're not on US soil. The Padraighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10873724601419173829noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302992.post-1082473738791511832004-04-20T11:01:00.000-04:002004-04-20T11:13:19.750-04:00gee, do you think?
The fact that this didn't strike anyone as really, really obvious points out a real problem of perception for medical theory on infants. As reported in Retuers:
Having skin-to-skin contact with mom immediately after birth may help to ease a newborn's arrival into the world, according to a new study.
Known as "kangaroo care," such skin-to-skin contact is believed to give Padraighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10873724601419173829noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302992.post-1082470316460144842004-04-20T10:10:00.000-04:002004-04-20T10:16:21.216-04:00MY MAN KRUGMAN'S GOT MY BACK
New Krugman column out today. He provides the numbers to back up my ridiculous claims regarding the economy. Debt's a problem, interest rates are gonna rise, and soon, and will really hurt a lot of people financially, and Greenspan's a dope for recommending Variable-rate Mortgages. It's always nice to be right. :)Padraighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10873724601419173829noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302992.post-1082469166036409642004-04-20T09:45:00.000-04:002004-05-04T21:26:18.700-04:00Daschle gets it
For those of you following the Daschle run in S Dakota, you already know about Giago and his independant bid for Senator on an Indian Rights platform. The Native Community is about 10% of the population, and Giago was certain to cost Daschle the election if he ran. He has now pulled out and endorsed Daschle. The story comes from the WaPo, by way of Taegan Goddard's Political Padraighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10873724601419173829noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302992.post-1082406421264652072004-04-19T16:23:00.000-04:002004-04-19T16:31:04.763-04:005 years since columbine
Just a moment of reflection please. What sickness courses through our veins, that it happened, and that we went on as if it hadn't. Still no sensible argument on gun-control, or on violence in our society, or on ostracism in our schools, or even on the militia groups that have been spouting this hatred of the federal government for years, and occaisionally blowing Padraighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10873724601419173829noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302992.post-1082399346422260902004-04-19T14:24:00.000-04:002004-04-19T14:43:48.843-04:00Negroponte new Iraq mabassador
That's good. I was worried he didn't have enough to do. I remember back in the 80's, you couldn't schedule a lunch with him, he was so busy funding death-squads and encouraging the use of torture against a civilian population in El Salvador. Now, tho, he's stuck running our mission to the UN. Sure, it's higher level, and he gets respect and money for it, but hePadraighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10873724601419173829noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302992.post-1082397214473185222004-04-19T13:43:00.000-04:002004-04-19T13:57:38.250-04:00interesting editorial
from Vali Nasr, of the Naval Postgraduate School, in today's WaPo. The short of it is, the US shouldn't invade Najaf because it will inflame Shi'ite opinion, increase support for Sadr (or whatever radical cleric takes his place), isolate Sistani, and kill the possiblity of a more democratic Shi'ism. It's quite good, especially the reference to the Amritsar battle in IndiaPadraighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10873724601419173829noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6302992.post-1082395757067481862004-04-19T13:01:00.000-04:002004-04-19T13:36:57.810-04:00another key republican demographic bites the dust!
This is a marvelous story, not for ideological reasons, but because it really paints a precise picture of what's going on in rural America. From the LA Times, who are rapidly becoming a favorite of mine:
Like much of rural America, this isolated community south of the Columbia River Gorge is a place where people — like their parents before Padraighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10873724601419173829noreply@blogger.com