Cold War Kids - Hang Me Up To Dry
August 25, 2007
August 24, 2007
Bit by Bit
So senior GOP Senator Mark Warner, The Joint Chiefs and GOP Voters in the State of Iowa all want to see the withdrawal of troops from Iraq. Now these these are not full withdrawals Warner and the Joint Chiefs are talking about, but it is moving in the right direction. It could just be a stall tactic, withdrawal a little, so we don't have to withdraw a lot, but I think withdrawal will have a momentum of its own once it gets started. Which is why Bush will do anything to keep a drawdown from beginning.
The Iowa poll number is more interesting. If actual GOP voters check out on Iraq then the politicians will fallow. After all they keep backing massive subsidies for corn ethanol in order to keep Iowa happy, and that is far more stupid policy than withdrawing troops from Iraq.
The Iowa poll number is more interesting. If actual GOP voters check out on Iraq then the politicians will fallow. After all they keep backing massive subsidies for corn ethanol in order to keep Iowa happy, and that is far more stupid policy than withdrawing troops from Iraq.
August 23, 2007
Dumber Nation
The President, more than any other individual, sets the national debate. So when the President makes a mind boggling dumb speech invoking Vietnam in support of his Iraq adventure, he renders the entire nation dumber.
As Kevin Drum says:
Another longtime conservative fantasy makes its way out of the fever swamps and into the public discourse, where we'll all be expected to stroke our chins and pretend to take it seriously for the next week or so.
We can't ignore these lunatic ravings, because they aren't coming from that guy with crazy eyes down on the corner. They are coming from the President of the United States. These ideas gain credence just because the President has said them. Add making us dumber to the long list of damages that Bush has inflicted on the Country.
As Kevin Drum says:
Another longtime conservative fantasy makes its way out of the fever swamps and into the public discourse, where we'll all be expected to stroke our chins and pretend to take it seriously for the next week or so.
We can't ignore these lunatic ravings, because they aren't coming from that guy with crazy eyes down on the corner. They are coming from the President of the United States. These ideas gain credence just because the President has said them. Add making us dumber to the long list of damages that Bush has inflicted on the Country.
August 22, 2007
August 21, 2007
Harmful
To children and other living things.
But I do think this kind of thing is happening because of, no despite, Bush's poor approval ratings. When you are down to 30% approval you can afford to do unpopular things, cause you ain't going any lower. When 55% of people approve of you, things need to be done to keep that number up.
But the 30% are going to stick with Bush even if he implements a Federally funded puppy kicking program.
But I do think this kind of thing is happening because of, no despite, Bush's poor approval ratings. When you are down to 30% approval you can afford to do unpopular things, cause you ain't going any lower. When 55% of people approve of you, things need to be done to keep that number up.
But the 30% are going to stick with Bush even if he implements a Federally funded puppy kicking program.
August 20, 2007
Counterintuitive!
Ah, Victor Davis Hanson, the right-wing's favorite historian. Deservedly thumped both at this blog and many, many others.
But I shall surprise my audience and win myself New Republic style counter intuitive points by agreeing with something his has written. Read his call to study military history. I agree. There should be more study of military. So we can put the interpretation of military matters out of the hands of people like Victor Davis Hanson. Liberals need to study military history.
Hanson is right that military history is out of fashion on campus. During my undergraduate years I took courses on both the American Revolution and The Civil War, and both professors took extreme care in avoiding any discussion of military matters. We dealt with economics, sociology, government, everything except the battle, tactics, and strategy. Not say this stuff isn't interesting, or important, but it leaves one unequipped to deal with the Hansons of the world.
Look, you know about things you like and don't spend time on things you don't. Conservatives love war so they study war. Which mean when the time comes to debate this war or the next war, conservatives can invoke Thucydides or Germany 1944 and liberals come back with who?, when? You've got to know that their interpretation of Thucydides is complete crap and that Germany 1944 has nothing to do with the current situation.
And to know that, you must study military history. So Professor Hanson is right. About that one thing. Nothing else.
But I shall surprise my audience and win myself New Republic style counter intuitive points by agreeing with something his has written. Read his call to study military history. I agree. There should be more study of military. So we can put the interpretation of military matters out of the hands of people like Victor Davis Hanson. Liberals need to study military history.
Hanson is right that military history is out of fashion on campus. During my undergraduate years I took courses on both the American Revolution and The Civil War, and both professors took extreme care in avoiding any discussion of military matters. We dealt with economics, sociology, government, everything except the battle, tactics, and strategy. Not say this stuff isn't interesting, or important, but it leaves one unequipped to deal with the Hansons of the world.
Look, you know about things you like and don't spend time on things you don't. Conservatives love war so they study war. Which mean when the time comes to debate this war or the next war, conservatives can invoke Thucydides or Germany 1944 and liberals come back with who?, when? You've got to know that their interpretation of Thucydides is complete crap and that Germany 1944 has nothing to do with the current situation.
And to know that, you must study military history. So Professor Hanson is right. About that one thing. Nothing else.
August 19, 2007
August 18, 2007
August 17, 2007
Tragedy On Tragedy
3 rescue workers have died and six have been injured in an attempt to rescue six trapped miners in Utah.
August 16, 2007
He Is. And he Is.
Some folks are born
made to wave the flag,
Ooh, they're red, whit and blue.
And when the band plays "Hail to the chief",
they point the cannon right at you.
It ain't me,
it ain't me.
I ain't no senator's son.
John Fogerty - Fortunate Son
From the news today -
The son of Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden is preparing for deployment to Iraq next year.
Capt. Beau Biden, a Judge Advocate General in the Delaware National Guard and the state's attorney general, is part of the 261st Signal Brigade that has been told to prepare for duty in Iraq in 2008. They have not been given a date of deployment yet.
"I don't want him going," Delaware Sen. Joe Biden said from the campaign trail Wednesday, according to a report on Radio Iowa. "But I tell you what, I don't want my grandson or my granddaughters going back in 15 years and so how we leave makes a big difference."
made to wave the flag,
Ooh, they're red, whit and blue.
And when the band plays "Hail to the chief",
they point the cannon right at you.
It ain't me,
it ain't me.
I ain't no senator's son.
John Fogerty - Fortunate Son
From the news today -
The son of Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden is preparing for deployment to Iraq next year.
Capt. Beau Biden, a Judge Advocate General in the Delaware National Guard and the state's attorney general, is part of the 261st Signal Brigade that has been told to prepare for duty in Iraq in 2008. They have not been given a date of deployment yet.
"I don't want him going," Delaware Sen. Joe Biden said from the campaign trail Wednesday, according to a report on Radio Iowa. "But I tell you what, I don't want my grandson or my granddaughters going back in 15 years and so how we leave makes a big difference."
Oh no
Not to alarm anybody but it appears that Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps is about to designated a terrorist group by the US government. The Revolutionary Guard is a unit of the Iranian army. And as we all know, we are engaged in a great "War on Terror" Which leads one to believe the next step is to go to war with Iran. Which I'm sure will go just fine.
August 15, 2007
Everwhere is Texas Now
One of the things that makes California different from Texas (Its a long list) is how we administer the death penalty. Both States hand it out very frequently but in California appeals take a long, long time, while Texas has itself a express lane of death. I'm on record as wanting my death penalty to take as long as possible.
Bush now wants everyone to apply the same "kill em fast" standard as his home state. New rules give the Attorny General the power to speed up death penalty appeals in Federal Court. Yes, that would Attorny General "I don't recall" Gonzales power of life and death. Comforting thought, isn't it?
Bush now wants everyone to apply the same "kill em fast" standard as his home state. New rules give the Attorny General the power to speed up death penalty appeals in Federal Court. Yes, that would Attorny General "I don't recall" Gonzales power of life and death. Comforting thought, isn't it?
August 14, 2007
Fine, Do It
Micky Kaus, who has been calling, loudly, for a enforcement only approach to immigration now is now facing the possibility that enforcement might be a political nightmare. As if removing millions of people from the labor pool and millions of people from the Country was going to be an easy, pain-free process. So he blames the Bush administration for moving to enforcement only in order to undermine enforcement only. But Kaus has been claiming that enforcement only is not only good policy, but good politics. Oh the "idea" is just great. But in the real world it means families broken up, businesses shut down, crops rotting in the fields, and so on. Kaus thinks this could be avoided if only the policy is better implemented. Call it the immigration version of the "The Incompetence Dodge." Stupid idea actually put into play, turns disastrous. Blame execution. Can work for wars, firing prosecutors, and so on.
Qoute of the Day
“George Bush is counting the minutes till he gets out of town. I always felt about George Bush — that he wanted to win desperately, I’m not sure he really wanted to be president and he’s looking enviously at Karl Rove as he heads back to Texas.”
Howard Fineman on Countdown.
Howard Fineman on Countdown.
August 13, 2007
Gone, Baby, Gone.
Karl Rove to Resign.
We really can't call this resigning in disgrace, I don't think that Rove is going to get indicted for anything next week. Rove faces a kind of creeping disgrace, as his work to create a Republican majority is buried, dug up, staked, burned and buried again.
Still, the man was able to get worst President in American history both elected and re-elected, so his entry in the history books is secure.
We really can't call this resigning in disgrace, I don't think that Rove is going to get indicted for anything next week. Rove faces a kind of creeping disgrace, as his work to create a Republican majority is buried, dug up, staked, burned and buried again.
Still, the man was able to get worst President in American history both elected and re-elected, so his entry in the history books is secure.
August 12, 2007
August 11, 2007
August 10, 2007
August 9, 2007
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