I really can't get a good read on what is up with the drafting of the Iraqi Constitution. Some say its done:
Sheik Humam Hammoudi, a Shiite and chairman of the drafting committee, said 5 million copies of the constitution will be circulated nationwide in food allotments each Iraqi family receives monthly from the government. Unlike the January elections, Iraqis will not be allowed to vote outside the country because of the difficulty in applying the three-province veto.
Others seem not quit ready to sign off:
Sunni negotiators delivered their rejection in a joint statement shortly after the draft was submitted to parliament. They branded the final version as "illegitimate" and asked the Arab League, the United Nations and "international organizations" to intervene against the document.
Intervention is unlikely, however, and no further amendments to the draft are possible under the law, said a legal expert on the drafting committee, Hussein Addab.
This is not the clear victory that the Bush team was looking for to stop the bleeding. In the past they have been able to use one-time events like the Jan election or the capture of Saddam to halt or even reverse the steady drip, drip of bad news. But it is a real open question as to the ratification of this new Constitution.
Although Sunnis account for only 20 percent of Iraq's estimated 27 million people, they still can derail the constitution in the referendum due to a concession made to the Kurds in the 2004 interim constitution. If two-thirds of voters in any three provinces reject the charter, the constitution will be defeated. Sunnis have the majority in at least four provinces.
Defeat of the constitution would force new elections for a parliament that would begin the drafting process from scratch. If the constitution is approved, elections for a fully constitutional parliament will be in December.
I think its time to start putting some polls in the field. Is the Constitution going to pass?
August 28, 2005
Big Trouble in the Big Easy
Katrina is now a catagory five hurrican. The scale goes to five. It is on track to hit New Orleans directly. The city in under a manditory evacuation order. The reports are now using words like "doomsday scenario" and "catastrophic." The storm is also going to hammer US oil operations, so everybody is going to feel pain from Katrina. Nothing left to do but brace yourselves.
August 27, 2005
Here Comes Trouble
The problem with always being up on the news is that I find new things to worry about. In this case its Hurricane Katrina (kind of a pretty name for something about to wreck your house) which is now gaining strength and bearing down on Louisiana or Mississippi. The added fun it that this bitch could hit New Orleans, whose One million souls, including at least one very dear friend, lies 12 feet under sea level. Like I said, something new to worry about.
August 26, 2005
Wes Clark for Something
Good God I wish Wes Clark was something right now. Sec Defense, Sec State, National Security Advisor, something. Clark is a former NATO Supreme Allied Commander, ran for President in 04, got beat and would have made a great hire in a Kerry administration. Tough break there. To see what the road not traveled would look like check out Clark's proposal for Iraq:
Unfortunately, the Administration didn't see the need for a diplomatic track. Its scattershot diplomacy in the region – threatening some of Iraq's neighbors with a variety of economic and diplomatic measures and allusions to further military action, expounding aims in the region that sound grandiose, and to many of those who live there, naïve and even somewhat imperialistic, failing to reinforce the US efforts with more culturally and linguistically capable regional allies, and turning away other assistance which might have made US leadership less obtrusive – have been ill-advised and counterproductive. The diplomatic failure magnified the difficulties facing the political and military elements of US strategy by contributing to the increasing infiltration of jihadists, the surprisingly resilient support of the insurgency, and the underlying political difficulties of bringing together representative Iraqi elements
...
On the political side, the timeline for the agreements on the Constitution are less important than the substance. It is up to American leadership to help engineer a compromise that will avoid the "red lines" of the respective factions and leave in place a state that both we and the neighbors can support. So, no Kurdish vote on independence; a restricted role for Islam, and limited autonomy in the south. And no private militias.
...
The growing chorus of voices demanding a pull-out should seriously alarm the Bush Administration. For President Bush and his team are repeating the failure of Vietnam – failing to craft a realistic and effective policy, and in its place, simply demanding that the American people show resolve. Resolve alone isn't enough to mend a flawed approach. If the Administration won't adopt a winning strategy, then the American people will be justified in demanding that the Administration bring our troops home.
If we can't do it right we have to get out. And Bush isn't doing it right.
Unfortunately, the Administration didn't see the need for a diplomatic track. Its scattershot diplomacy in the region – threatening some of Iraq's neighbors with a variety of economic and diplomatic measures and allusions to further military action, expounding aims in the region that sound grandiose, and to many of those who live there, naïve and even somewhat imperialistic, failing to reinforce the US efforts with more culturally and linguistically capable regional allies, and turning away other assistance which might have made US leadership less obtrusive – have been ill-advised and counterproductive. The diplomatic failure magnified the difficulties facing the political and military elements of US strategy by contributing to the increasing infiltration of jihadists, the surprisingly resilient support of the insurgency, and the underlying political difficulties of bringing together representative Iraqi elements
...
On the political side, the timeline for the agreements on the Constitution are less important than the substance. It is up to American leadership to help engineer a compromise that will avoid the "red lines" of the respective factions and leave in place a state that both we and the neighbors can support. So, no Kurdish vote on independence; a restricted role for Islam, and limited autonomy in the south. And no private militias.
...
The growing chorus of voices demanding a pull-out should seriously alarm the Bush Administration. For President Bush and his team are repeating the failure of Vietnam – failing to craft a realistic and effective policy, and in its place, simply demanding that the American people show resolve. Resolve alone isn't enough to mend a flawed approach. If the Administration won't adopt a winning strategy, then the American people will be justified in demanding that the Administration bring our troops home.
If we can't do it right we have to get out. And Bush isn't doing it right.
August 25, 2005
A Real Comment on Society
And now a word about the comments. I welcome comments and encourage all of my readers to put in their 2 cents and read what others have to say by clicking on comments. My thoughts are usually the best, but still some worthy things are written. That said,
NO CALLING FOR THE KILLING OF THE PRESIDENT IN COMMENTS.
I mean it. I have enough to deal with in my life without the Secret Service kicking my door in. Don't do that. Joking or not, do not do that.
In other comments news, WingNut has an interesting phenomenon in her comments section - Spam Comments. They look like real posts that say stuff like "That's an interesting post" and then link to a page trying to sell you something. Something for the Craigorian Chant Tech staff to look at. How did they do that? Do you think someone did it manually or could you do something like that with a bot?
UPDATE: Ack The spam-bots have struck this very post. Was it talk of comments that attracted then or was cause I linked to an infected blog? Unsafe linking leads to trouble.
NO CALLING FOR THE KILLING OF THE PRESIDENT IN COMMENTS.
I mean it. I have enough to deal with in my life without the Secret Service kicking my door in. Don't do that. Joking or not, do not do that.
In other comments news, WingNut has an interesting phenomenon in her comments section - Spam Comments. They look like real posts that say stuff like "That's an interesting post" and then link to a page trying to sell you something. Something for the Craigorian Chant Tech staff to look at. How did they do that? Do you think someone did it manually or could you do something like that with a bot?
UPDATE: Ack The spam-bots have struck this very post. Was it talk of comments that attracted then or was cause I linked to an infected blog? Unsafe linking leads to trouble.
August 24, 2005
Oh Boy
So in Iraq it appears that the give and take between groups over the Constitution is now being conducted with guns.
If you actually take a look at the political forces at work in Iraq it is not encouraging:
This is a country whose secular minority largely overlaps with the ethnically distinct and geographically concentrated Kurds. Kurdish political leaders feel that it's worth making a great deal of compromises about how Iraq should be governed in exchange for the right to govern themselves as they see fit. Consequently, outside of Kurdistan, public opinion seems to be strongly Islamist. Indeed, the single most important political leader in the country is the country's chief Shiite cleric. There are various good things you can say about the Grand Ayatollah, but as you'll see here he clearly has retrograde views on a variety of key social issues. The political party of the prime minister (al-Dawa) is a socially conservative Islamist party. Its main coalition partner, SCIRI, is a more socially conservative, more Islamist party. The most powerful opposition movements in the country are a super-violent Islamism-inflected Sunni insurgency and the frankly anti-democratic, Khomeinist movement of Muqtada al-Sadr.
Keep in mind that these are the guys who are working on the Constitution, These are not the insurgents. These are the guys that our guys are protecting. That our guys are fighting and bleeding for. Oh Boy.
If you actually take a look at the political forces at work in Iraq it is not encouraging:
This is a country whose secular minority largely overlaps with the ethnically distinct and geographically concentrated Kurds. Kurdish political leaders feel that it's worth making a great deal of compromises about how Iraq should be governed in exchange for the right to govern themselves as they see fit. Consequently, outside of Kurdistan, public opinion seems to be strongly Islamist. Indeed, the single most important political leader in the country is the country's chief Shiite cleric. There are various good things you can say about the Grand Ayatollah, but as you'll see here he clearly has retrograde views on a variety of key social issues. The political party of the prime minister (al-Dawa) is a socially conservative Islamist party. Its main coalition partner, SCIRI, is a more socially conservative, more Islamist party. The most powerful opposition movements in the country are a super-violent Islamism-inflected Sunni insurgency and the frankly anti-democratic, Khomeinist movement of Muqtada al-Sadr.
Keep in mind that these are the guys who are working on the Constitution, These are not the insurgents. These are the guys that our guys are protecting. That our guys are fighting and bleeding for. Oh Boy.
Write a Blog, Lose Your Job
I guess us civillian types don't have to worry. Yet:
Jeff Howe may have expected to be drummed out of the Army for being gay; after all, he had made a conscious decision to keep his sexual identity secret in order to serve in the military. But he probably didn’t expect that blogging would cost him his job.
Howe, who was serving as a specialist with the 4th Battalion, 1st Field Artillery, part of a brigade currently attached to the 3rd Infantry Division in Iraq, says he was kicked out of the service last month in reprisal for posting the photo of a destroyed vehicle on his blog. According to Howe, he was halfway through his second deployment to Iraq when he was informed that he was being separated from the service for violating the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, which prohibits servicemen and women from being openly gay.
The final irony:
Howe said he had made a conscious decision to stay closeted in order to enlist, post-September 11, at the age of 30. Ironically, he was due to leave the Army in November 2004, but was “stop-lossed” (involuntarily retained) before his unit rotated back to Iraq.
“I had my papers in my hand to get out, and starting to out-process,” he said. “And I was told, ‘The Army cannot live without you, Jeff Howe.’”
Jeff Howe may have expected to be drummed out of the Army for being gay; after all, he had made a conscious decision to keep his sexual identity secret in order to serve in the military. But he probably didn’t expect that blogging would cost him his job.
Howe, who was serving as a specialist with the 4th Battalion, 1st Field Artillery, part of a brigade currently attached to the 3rd Infantry Division in Iraq, says he was kicked out of the service last month in reprisal for posting the photo of a destroyed vehicle on his blog. According to Howe, he was halfway through his second deployment to Iraq when he was informed that he was being separated from the service for violating the military’s “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy, which prohibits servicemen and women from being openly gay.
The final irony:
Howe said he had made a conscious decision to stay closeted in order to enlist, post-September 11, at the age of 30. Ironically, he was due to leave the Army in November 2004, but was “stop-lossed” (involuntarily retained) before his unit rotated back to Iraq.
“I had my papers in my hand to get out, and starting to out-process,” he said. “And I was told, ‘The Army cannot live without you, Jeff Howe.’”
August 23, 2005
Top This
One of the problems with being Pat Robertson is you have to keep saying more and more outrageous stuff. He has to maintains right-wing religious nut status. In the latest he has called for the assassination of Venezuela's President:
He has destroyed the Venezuelan economy, and he's going to make that a launching pad for communist infiltration and Muslim extremism all over the continent.
You know, I don't know about this doctrine of assassination, but if he thinks we're trying to assassinate him, I think that we really ought to go ahead and do it. It's a whole lot cheaper than starting a war.
Robertson has said some whoppers before, but this one has the added spice of an international incident. Venezuela is crying foul and the White House is distancing itself as far as it can.
Pat Robertson: The one-man international incident.
Update: Robertson tries and explain himself and fails:
Robertson said that his remarks about Chavez were taken out of context and that he never called for the killing of the Latin American leader.
"I didn't say 'assassination.' I said our special forces should 'take him out.' And 'take him out' can be a number of things, including kidnapping; there are a number of ways to take out a dictator from power besides killing him.
That has got to be the lamest explination ever. When I was 5 and all the cookies went missing I was able to come up with at better line that this. "Take Him Out" does mean assasination?
He has destroyed the Venezuelan economy, and he's going to make that a launching pad for communist infiltration and Muslim extremism all over the continent.
You know, I don't know about this doctrine of assassination, but if he thinks we're trying to assassinate him, I think that we really ought to go ahead and do it. It's a whole lot cheaper than starting a war.
Robertson has said some whoppers before, but this one has the added spice of an international incident. Venezuela is crying foul and the White House is distancing itself as far as it can.
Pat Robertson: The one-man international incident.
Update: Robertson tries and explain himself and fails:
Robertson said that his remarks about Chavez were taken out of context and that he never called for the killing of the Latin American leader.
"I didn't say 'assassination.' I said our special forces should 'take him out.' And 'take him out' can be a number of things, including kidnapping; there are a number of ways to take out a dictator from power besides killing him.
That has got to be the lamest explination ever. When I was 5 and all the cookies went missing I was able to come up with at better line that this. "Take Him Out" does mean assasination?
August 22, 2005
The First Draft of History
Or is that the first draft is history? The Iraqis get the draft Constitution done right before the (second) deadline, but then declare that three more days are needed to work out small details like, How the Government will be Organized. Does it worry anybody that the Iraq Constitutional convention is actually much, much worse than I am about hitting deadlines? I mean in the end even I get my stuff done in time. And I don't have the motivation of possible Civil War if I don't pull it out.
So buckle down people, drink your coffee, and try not to completely strip women of all civil rights. It would be a shame if 1868 US soldiers died to create an Islamic Republic.
So buckle down people, drink your coffee, and try not to completely strip women of all civil rights. It would be a shame if 1868 US soldiers died to create an Islamic Republic.
How Low...
...Can he go?
Bush job approval ratings now stand at just 36% with 58% disapprove. New rule: no one is allowed to use the words "Bush" and "popular" together in the same sentence. Every again. Also does anybody know a hardcore Republican who changed his/her mine lately. Because 36% approval means some very solid GOP supporters have switched. So do you think its one thing or just all the Stuff (Iraq, Sheehan, Rove) building up?
Bush job approval ratings now stand at just 36% with 58% disapprove. New rule: no one is allowed to use the words "Bush" and "popular" together in the same sentence. Every again. Also does anybody know a hardcore Republican who changed his/her mine lately. Because 36% approval means some very solid GOP supporters have switched. So do you think its one thing or just all the Stuff (Iraq, Sheehan, Rove) building up?
August 21, 2005
Going Out With Style
I think one of the problems of being Hunter S Thompson is that you always had to top yourself. Well Hunter had just one final act and he made the most of it:
With a deafening boom, the ashes of Hunter S. Thompson were blown into the sky amid fireworks late Saturday as relatives and a star-studded crowd bid an irreverent farewell to the founder of "gonzo journalism".
As the ashes erupted from a tower, red, white, blue and green fireworks lit up the sky over Thompson's home near Aspen.
"I'll always remember where I was when Hunter was blown into the heavens," said Thompson's neighbor, Rita Sherman, who watched the spectacle from the deck of her house.
With a deafening boom, the ashes of Hunter S. Thompson were blown into the sky amid fireworks late Saturday as relatives and a star-studded crowd bid an irreverent farewell to the founder of "gonzo journalism".
As the ashes erupted from a tower, red, white, blue and green fireworks lit up the sky over Thompson's home near Aspen.
"I'll always remember where I was when Hunter was blown into the heavens," said Thompson's neighbor, Rita Sherman, who watched the spectacle from the deck of her house.
August 20, 2005
David Ignatius Ruins My Morning
So I read this crap from David Ignatius and it has pissed me off and totally ruined my relaxed Saturday morning vibe:
Rather than lead a responsible examination of America's strategy for Iraq, they (Democrats) have handed off the debate to a distraught mother who is grieving for her lost son. Rather than address the nation's long-term fiscal problems, they have decided to play politics and let President Bush squirm on the hook of his unpopular plan to create private Social Security accounts.
Sandy Sheehan is not setting the strategy for the Iraq war for anybody, let alone the Democratic Party. All she is doing is asking a single, unanswerable, devastating question: What is the "noble cause" that her son died for?
There is this guy called The President of United States. He started this war and right its his job to find a way to end it. Bush just loves being commander-in-Chief. Well, its a real job, not just a title. The democrats job as the oppostition is to point out everything that he is doing wrong. When the Democrat's create a "responsible examination" of the Iraq war (See Kerry Campaign, et al) they get their heads beat in being called pro-terrorist, anti-American, and anti-solder. So why should democrat's offer policies on Iraq that can be attacked and give Bush cover, when it is very clear to anyone with eyes that Bush will not take any outside ideas under consideration?
As far as Social Security goes, why should liberals save Bush from his own bad policies. Bush made private accounts the centerpiece of his domestic agenda. Liberals opposed that agenda. Liberals are winning. Why shouldn't "Bush squirm on the hook of his unpopular plan" The opposition is supposed to oppose. That's what they do. David Ignatius seems to think the oppositions job is to save the Administration from it own bad policies. That's not our job. We don't end policy debates. We win them.
More: Matthew Yglesias makes the point that the Dems have plenty of policy ideas if you just spent five seconds to find then. Up yours two times David Ignatius.
Rather than lead a responsible examination of America's strategy for Iraq, they (Democrats) have handed off the debate to a distraught mother who is grieving for her lost son. Rather than address the nation's long-term fiscal problems, they have decided to play politics and let President Bush squirm on the hook of his unpopular plan to create private Social Security accounts.
Sandy Sheehan is not setting the strategy for the Iraq war for anybody, let alone the Democratic Party. All she is doing is asking a single, unanswerable, devastating question: What is the "noble cause" that her son died for?
There is this guy called The President of United States. He started this war and right its his job to find a way to end it. Bush just loves being commander-in-Chief. Well, its a real job, not just a title. The democrats job as the oppostition is to point out everything that he is doing wrong. When the Democrat's create a "responsible examination" of the Iraq war (See Kerry Campaign, et al) they get their heads beat in being called pro-terrorist, anti-American, and anti-solder. So why should democrat's offer policies on Iraq that can be attacked and give Bush cover, when it is very clear to anyone with eyes that Bush will not take any outside ideas under consideration?
As far as Social Security goes, why should liberals save Bush from his own bad policies. Bush made private accounts the centerpiece of his domestic agenda. Liberals opposed that agenda. Liberals are winning. Why shouldn't "Bush squirm on the hook of his unpopular plan" The opposition is supposed to oppose. That's what they do. David Ignatius seems to think the oppositions job is to save the Administration from it own bad policies. That's not our job. We don't end policy debates. We win them.
More: Matthew Yglesias makes the point that the Dems have plenty of policy ideas if you just spent five seconds to find then. Up yours two times David Ignatius.
August 19, 2005
Priorities
Which do you think does more damage to American life Pot or Meth?
Anyone who says pot should post in the comments section, where Tyler and Laura will then take turns beating you for stupidity. This is just one of those duh questions. And like many duh questions, its one the Bush administration gets wrong:
More than two decades after it was launched in response to the spread of crack cocaine -- and in the midst of a brand-new wave of methamphetamine use sweeping the country -- the government crackdown has shifted from hard drugs to marijuana. Pot now accounts for nearly half of drug arrests nationwide -- up from barely a quarter of all busts a decade ago. Spurred by a Supreme Court decision in June affirming the right of federal agents to crack down on medical marijuana,
The Drug Enforcement Administration has launched a series of high-profile raids against pot clinics in California, and police in New York, Memphis and Philadelphia have been waging major offensives against pot smokers that are racking up thousands of arrests.
...
"Americans will be disappointed to learn that the War on Drugs is not what they thought it was," says Mitch Earleywine, associate professor of psychology at the University of Southern California. "Many of us grew up supporting this war, thinking it would imprison high-level traffickers of hard drugs and keep cocaine and heroin off the streets. Instead, law enforcement officers devote precious hours on hundreds of thousands of arrests for possession of a little marijuana."
Since taking over as drug czar, Walters has launched an extraordinary effort to depict marijuana as an addictive "gateway" to other, more powerful drugs. "Marijuana use, especially during the teen years, can lead to depression, thoughts of suicide and schizophrenia," he declared in May. Trying to capitalize on fears of terrorism, Walters has linked drugs to terror, running a much-derided series of television ads suggesting that the money marijuana users spend on pot winds up funding terrorist groups such as Al Qaeda.
Find me one cop who thinks pot is a bigger problem then meth or one news headline that reads "Town destroyed by Pot" and then we will talk.
The war on pot diverts money and manpower from fighting far more harmful drugs. While the feds target pot smokers, a burgeoning meth epidemic is swamping rural communities, especially in the West and the Great Plains. Nearly half of state and local law-enforcement agencies identify meth as their greatest drug threat -- compared with only one in eight for marijuana -- and more than 1 million Americans use the highly addictive drug, which is linked to violent crime, explosions and fires at meth labs, severe health problems, and child and family abuse. In 2003, drug agents busted a staggering 10,182 meth labs, and the fight against meth is straining the resources of local police and sheriffs in small towns. But the White House has proposed slashing federal aid for rural narcotics teams by half. "If those cuts go through, they're going to totally wipe us out," says Lt. Steve Dalton, leader of a drug task force in southwest Missouri.
A lot of small town and rural voters went for Bush in a big way. Wonder how they feel about that now.
Anyone who says pot should post in the comments section, where Tyler and Laura will then take turns beating you for stupidity. This is just one of those duh questions. And like many duh questions, its one the Bush administration gets wrong:
More than two decades after it was launched in response to the spread of crack cocaine -- and in the midst of a brand-new wave of methamphetamine use sweeping the country -- the government crackdown has shifted from hard drugs to marijuana. Pot now accounts for nearly half of drug arrests nationwide -- up from barely a quarter of all busts a decade ago. Spurred by a Supreme Court decision in June affirming the right of federal agents to crack down on medical marijuana,
The Drug Enforcement Administration has launched a series of high-profile raids against pot clinics in California, and police in New York, Memphis and Philadelphia have been waging major offensives against pot smokers that are racking up thousands of arrests.
...
"Americans will be disappointed to learn that the War on Drugs is not what they thought it was," says Mitch Earleywine, associate professor of psychology at the University of Southern California. "Many of us grew up supporting this war, thinking it would imprison high-level traffickers of hard drugs and keep cocaine and heroin off the streets. Instead, law enforcement officers devote precious hours on hundreds of thousands of arrests for possession of a little marijuana."
Since taking over as drug czar, Walters has launched an extraordinary effort to depict marijuana as an addictive "gateway" to other, more powerful drugs. "Marijuana use, especially during the teen years, can lead to depression, thoughts of suicide and schizophrenia," he declared in May. Trying to capitalize on fears of terrorism, Walters has linked drugs to terror, running a much-derided series of television ads suggesting that the money marijuana users spend on pot winds up funding terrorist groups such as Al Qaeda.
Find me one cop who thinks pot is a bigger problem then meth or one news headline that reads "Town destroyed by Pot" and then we will talk.
The war on pot diverts money and manpower from fighting far more harmful drugs. While the feds target pot smokers, a burgeoning meth epidemic is swamping rural communities, especially in the West and the Great Plains. Nearly half of state and local law-enforcement agencies identify meth as their greatest drug threat -- compared with only one in eight for marijuana -- and more than 1 million Americans use the highly addictive drug, which is linked to violent crime, explosions and fires at meth labs, severe health problems, and child and family abuse. In 2003, drug agents busted a staggering 10,182 meth labs, and the fight against meth is straining the resources of local police and sheriffs in small towns. But the White House has proposed slashing federal aid for rural narcotics teams by half. "If those cuts go through, they're going to totally wipe us out," says Lt. Steve Dalton, leader of a drug task force in southwest Missouri.
A lot of small town and rural voters went for Bush in a big way. Wonder how they feel about that now.
August 18, 2005
Blogging Makes You Smart
Just more proof that I, your humble correspondent, am better and smarter than you because I am a blogger.
This blog post I found from Political Animal claims that blogging will make you smarter. Highlight:
5. Blogging combines the best of solitary reflection and social interaction.
Research using the Lemelson-MIT Invention index found that invention is best fostered in solitude (66%); yet other research has shown the beneficial effects of brainstorming with a community of intellectual peers. So blogging may combine the best of "working by yourself" and "working with other people." Bloggers have solitary time to plan their posts, but they can also receive rapid feedback on their ideas. The responses may open up entirely new avenues of thought as posts circulate and garner comments.
Blogs combining the best of social interaction and nerdy solitary thinking stuff. No wonder I'm so cool.
This blog post I found from Political Animal claims that blogging will make you smarter. Highlight:
5. Blogging combines the best of solitary reflection and social interaction.
Research using the Lemelson-MIT Invention index found that invention is best fostered in solitude (66%); yet other research has shown the beneficial effects of brainstorming with a community of intellectual peers. So blogging may combine the best of "working by yourself" and "working with other people." Bloggers have solitary time to plan their posts, but they can also receive rapid feedback on their ideas. The responses may open up entirely new avenues of thought as posts circulate and garner comments.
Blogs combining the best of social interaction and nerdy solitary thinking stuff. No wonder I'm so cool.
Lions and Elephants, Oh My
This is different:
If a group of prominent ecologists have their way, lions and elephants could someday be roaming the Great Plains of North America.
The rapid extinction of dozens of large mammal species in North America -- perhaps due to a combination of climate change and overhunting -- triggered a landslide of changes to the environmental landscape. Relocating large animals to vast ecological parks and private reserves would begin to repair the damage, proponents say, while offering new ecotourism opportunities to a withering region.
Now is this one of those so clever its massively stupid ideas or is the thought of going on safari right here in the USA going to win people over.
If a group of prominent ecologists have their way, lions and elephants could someday be roaming the Great Plains of North America.
The rapid extinction of dozens of large mammal species in North America -- perhaps due to a combination of climate change and overhunting -- triggered a landslide of changes to the environmental landscape. Relocating large animals to vast ecological parks and private reserves would begin to repair the damage, proponents say, while offering new ecotourism opportunities to a withering region.
Now is this one of those so clever its massively stupid ideas or is the thought of going on safari right here in the USA going to win people over.
August 17, 2005
Its a Gas
So how about the price of gas? Keeps going up. I thought that after the war oil would be free. Some guys on the radio were asking this question:
How expensive does gas have to get to change your lifestyle?
What will it take for someone to really change their life. Drive less, carpool, get a smaller car and so on. Three bucks? Four? Five?
What will it take, and how different will we be, when gas gets that expensive?
How expensive does gas have to get to change your lifestyle?
What will it take for someone to really change their life. Drive less, carpool, get a smaller car and so on. Three bucks? Four? Five?
What will it take, and how different will we be, when gas gets that expensive?
August 16, 2005
Linking
Chris sends me a great blog link I want to share. Its called 365 and a wake up and its written by a soldier in Iraq. The guy is a poet and philospher and overall just an amazing read.
Check it out:
365 and a Wake Up
Check it out:
365 and a Wake Up
August 15, 2005
Watching, Waiting.
Don't you just hate when world events don't unfold in a timely manner, thus keeping you from offering timely comentary into the global impact of said events.
The Iraqi Constitution is being delayed, seems that there are some rather sticky issues to be worked out still. Like will Iraq become an Islamic Theocracy? Small details. Wait and see.
Gaza pull out underway, marked by what is termed "some violence" which means no one has died yet. Its going to take all week to get this done and it remains to be seen if every will survive. The survival of the current Israeli government is also an open question.
This all means a lot. As soon as I figure it out, you, my loyal readers will be the first to know.
The Iraqi Constitution is being delayed, seems that there are some rather sticky issues to be worked out still. Like will Iraq become an Islamic Theocracy? Small details. Wait and see.
Gaza pull out underway, marked by what is termed "some violence" which means no one has died yet. Its going to take all week to get this done and it remains to be seen if every will survive. The survival of the current Israeli government is also an open question.
This all means a lot. As soon as I figure it out, you, my loyal readers will be the first to know.
August 14, 2005
Who Tells Bush?
Frank Rich declares the Iraq War over. The only thing left is will anybody tell Bush:
LIKE the Japanese soldier marooned on an island for years after V-J Day, President Bush may be the last person in the country to learn that for Americans, if not Iraqis, the war in Iraq is over. "We will stay the course," he insistently tells us from his Texas ranch. What do you mean we, white man?
The pentagon has been gone off the reservation, with the General in Iraq, Casey talking about withdrawing troops and a move to try and rename the "War on Terror."
Mr. Bush's top war strategists, starting with Mr. Rumsfeld and Gen. Richard Myers, have of late tried to rebrand the war in Iraq as what the defense secretary calls "a global struggle against violent extremism." A struggle is what you have with your landlord. When the war's uber-managers start using euphemisms for a conflict this lethal, it's a clear sign that the battle to keep the Iraq war afloat with the American public is lost.
We also have the classic "senior official" quote in the Washington Post massively lowering expectations in Iraq:
The United States no longer expects to see a model new democracy, a self-supporting oil industry or a society in which the majority of people are free from serious security or economic challenges, U.S. officials say.
...
But the realities of daily life are a constant reminder of how the initial U.S. ambitions have not been fulfilled in ways that Americans and Iraqis once anticipated. Many of Baghdad's 6 million people go without electricity for days in 120-degree heat. Parents fearful of kidnapping are keeping children indoors.
Barbers post signs saying they do not shave men, after months of barbers being killed by religious extremists. Ethnic or religious-based militias police the northern and southern portions of Iraq. Analysts estimate that in the whole of Iraq, unemployment is 50 percent to 65 percent.
The question is, will anybody tell Bush? Do we really need to tell him? Or will the Pentagon and the rest of his administration just let him prattle on about "Freedom is on the march" and "Stay the Course" as they pull troops out and try and salvage something from this entire fiasco. Time will tell.
LIKE the Japanese soldier marooned on an island for years after V-J Day, President Bush may be the last person in the country to learn that for Americans, if not Iraqis, the war in Iraq is over. "We will stay the course," he insistently tells us from his Texas ranch. What do you mean we, white man?
The pentagon has been gone off the reservation, with the General in Iraq, Casey talking about withdrawing troops and a move to try and rename the "War on Terror."
Mr. Bush's top war strategists, starting with Mr. Rumsfeld and Gen. Richard Myers, have of late tried to rebrand the war in Iraq as what the defense secretary calls "a global struggle against violent extremism." A struggle is what you have with your landlord. When the war's uber-managers start using euphemisms for a conflict this lethal, it's a clear sign that the battle to keep the Iraq war afloat with the American public is lost.
We also have the classic "senior official" quote in the Washington Post massively lowering expectations in Iraq:
The United States no longer expects to see a model new democracy, a self-supporting oil industry or a society in which the majority of people are free from serious security or economic challenges, U.S. officials say.
...
But the realities of daily life are a constant reminder of how the initial U.S. ambitions have not been fulfilled in ways that Americans and Iraqis once anticipated. Many of Baghdad's 6 million people go without electricity for days in 120-degree heat. Parents fearful of kidnapping are keeping children indoors.
Barbers post signs saying they do not shave men, after months of barbers being killed by religious extremists. Ethnic or religious-based militias police the northern and southern portions of Iraq. Analysts estimate that in the whole of Iraq, unemployment is 50 percent to 65 percent.
The question is, will anybody tell Bush? Do we really need to tell him? Or will the Pentagon and the rest of his administration just let him prattle on about "Freedom is on the march" and "Stay the Course" as they pull troops out and try and salvage something from this entire fiasco. Time will tell.
August 13, 2005
Quote of the Day
You know, it’s really none of my business. I’m not fighting. I’m not in the Army. I’m not in any of the armed forces. I’m not Donald Rumsfeld. And I’m certainly not in Iraq—an Iraqi person who has to deal with all the bulls—t in my country. I’m not Afghani. I wouldn’t know what that reality is like, to sit in your home and to have soldiers raiding your house because they think your kid is a spy. And explosions happening at your kids’ schools. I don’t know if I could have a real educated opinion about it all. I just think it’s f—ked up, whatever’s happening over there.
Jessica Alba
Jessica Alba
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