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Saturday, March 29, 2003
I sure hope this Brits get into Basra soon. If we're in this war, we have a duty to do it right, and that means doing all that liberating the hawks keep talking about. If we're going to be killing civilians (and it's unavoidable), then we damn well better not let Saddam keep doing it too. | Quote from a guy who kept singing the chorus of Bombs Over Baghdad over and over: "Dude, you guys don't even thinks that's funny, do you? Man, this is like the wrong place... I should go to like, Georgetown, I hear they're mad conservative over there." My friend, I think that song is a bit distasteful right now regardless of your political affiliation. But maybe that's just me. Whoever made this probably thinks I'm a moron. | So, as it turns out, Richard Perle didn't resign altogether from the Defense Policy Board at the Pentagon; he just relinquished the chair. He stayed on the board, supposedly at the request of Mr. Rumsfeld, who just couldn't bear to lose an all-weather, right-or-wrong ally like Perle. Well, it's still a step. | I was just reading Slate. I'd heard good things about it, but never actually read it before. From what I can tell so far, it's somewhat similar to Salon. Unlike Salon, it's owned by Microsoft after a buyout... can't say how much of an effect that has. I was going through their archive of worldwide Iraq-related cartoons. Quite a number of them are very, very good, although a few are pretty much incomprehensible. Take a look. American soldier to his buddy: "It could be worse... we could be rich and only getting half the tax cut we expected." | Thursday, March 27, 2003
Richard Perle resigned!! That man was right on top with the suspicious characters in Washington, holding a top civilian position at the Pentagon while serving on the boards of several defense companies and in the employ of Global Crossing as a consultant on their proposed sale to a Hong Kong based company (a sale that is likely to be blocked for national security reasons... unless someone were to convince the military otherwise, of course...) One more step toward a legitimate government. | Ruben Bolling runs a cartoon on Salon called Tom the Dancing Bug. It's of variable quality, in my opinion, but this week's parody of Bush's tax cut argument is pretty darn good. You can check it out here, but it might not let you in without a subscription. For that reason, I'll provide a brief summary below: ------- Can you spot the DOUBLE TAXATION in this chain of events? A. Boss pays an Employee, who is taxed B. Employee pays his Plumber, who is taxed C. Plumber buys DVDs from a Shop, which is taxed D. Shop makes loan payment to Bank, which is taxed E. Bank pays dividend to Stockholder, who is taxed F. Stockholder tips his Caddy, who is taxed Answer: Obviously, E is the one place in which the same income is taxed twice. ------- | Last night, I mentioned the Iraqi column coming out of Baghdad, safe from air attack due to a major sandstorm, and asked "Why we can't just carpet bomb the column from 40,000 feet with B-52s, I'm not sure - I don't think the sandstorm reaches quite that high." Well, that's what they did. | It appears CNN has dropped Connie Chung Tonight, in retaliation for which she has left the network. The Chicago Sun-Times has a good article on this. I have to agree with the decision. While Chung has built quite a name for herself, her show was pap. It was just so softball, so touchy-feely... it had no business on CNN. They say they're trying to rebuild their hard news roots, stop trying to "out-fox FOX". I applaud that effort. America needs a place to turn for real news. FOX News has the market on right-wing propaganda and sensationalist bull cornered for the moment, and frankly, no network with any class would want that market. Let FOX have it until they fall apart under the weight of their own lunacy. Give people a better alternative. I hope CNN can become what it once was. | Wednesday, March 26, 2003
I have to post a link to this... I don't know whether to day it's in extremely bad taste or just humorously and unfortunately accurate. Anyway, it's the Gulf War Drinking Game. | Interesting times in Iraq. "Interesting" is about the best word I can use, not being there. Supposedly we're in control of Basra, and then 100 tanks come rolling out of it toward Umm Qasr, which we also are supposed to control. Saddam supposedly has authorized the use of the chemical weapons he doesn't have, although that's not confirmed. Half the Republican Guard seems to be pouring out of Baghdad toward the US spearhead, and our air power is mainly grounded in the sandstorm. Why we can't just carpet bomb the column from 40,000 feet with B-52s, I'm not sure - I don't think the sandstorm reaches quite that high. The airborne just landed in Kurdistan, taking an airfield, which should open the area up for armored units brought in by air. Of course, no one's sure what the Turks are going to do. If they go in to keep the Kurds out of Turkey, or prevent an independent Kurdistan from forming, or take over the Kirkuk oil fields, or whatever it is they want, then God only knows what'll happen. Oh man. Not much I can do about it from here. | So it looks like the Senate really meant it about slashing the Bush tax cut. Today, they voted 52-48 to keep the cut-cutting amendment of yesterday, and then passed the budget 56-44. It's still got to go to conference, since the House passed a budget with the full $726 Billion in cuts, but the budget only passed in the house by 3 votes out of 435 cast. That razor margin, combined with the Senate's higher stature, and the fact that the Senate's heavy-hitting moderates, especially McCain, are on board with the reduced tax cut, make me optimistic that the final budget will be closer to the Senate's. Here's hoping. | Tuesday, March 25, 2003
So, it looks like the Senate changed its mind. After earlier reaffirming its support for the president's $750 Billion tax cut plan, they voted 51-48 today to cut it in half, with the provision that the remaining money be used to either shore up Social Security or pay down the national debt. What do you know, they did two things that make sense in rapid succession (the other being keeping the Arctic refuge closed to oil drilling.) Now that's unusual. But regardless, I offer them my heartiest congratulations and thanks. | So who gets the multibillion dollar contract to rebuild Iraq's oil fields? That's right, our friends Halliburton, through their subsidiary Kellogg Brown & Root, the same company contracted to run the US Army infrastructure in Kuwait. Does it coun't as nepotism if the actors are only members of the same corporate family? | Sunday, March 23, 2003
You know what the great thing about running a blog (especially one nobody reads) is? You can write about whatever you want, ignore your own promises, and it's all good! Honestly, I don't much want to complete yesterday's report on speeches on American foregin policy. Maybe I'll finish that report sometime. Maybe I won't. I do want to note that maybe 20% of the auditorium was filled for those speakers (it's a smallish auditorium, maybe fits 400). For "Haverford Idol" tonight, where 12 contestants sang for FABULOUS CASH PRIZES, the auditorium was nearly filled. I really expected better out of college. Maybe that intellectual haven just doesn't exist. Just proves a maxim a person I didn't really want to listen to at the time once said: "if you want things to change, you have to do something different." As much as I'd like it to, a change of scenery might never be enough to solve the burning problems of life. Actually, a lot of things are sort of falling into place lately. A friend of mine recently said that all interpersonal relationships really are are the process of learning what someone has to teach. I didn't really see the point of that dictum at first. Later, however, it proved invaluable. After learning of some rather unflattering remarks an acquaintence of mine was making behind my back, my first reactions were just sadness and anger. But later, my friend's words came back to me, and I realized there was something to be learned here. She had just effectively ended her relationship with me, along with friends of mine who were angered by her actions. Perhaps she knows exactly where the rest of her life is going, and knows that none of us can possibly help her in the future. I, however, do not have that certainty. The lesson, as I see it, is this: If you don't know where you're going, you'd best not burn any bridges. | |
