Bill_Millan

The Shield of Achilles

2006-05-30T00:17:00.000-10:00

I am posting this here because the PDF needed to be edited for clarity.Michael Barone - The Shield of AchillesHere's a fascinating interview by Matthew D'Ancona, former deputy editor of the Sunday Telegraph and now editor of the Spectator, with Philip Bobbitt, author of the provocative and ambitious The Shield of Achilles. The interview was conducted at the top-notch British think tank Policy

ALOHA!

2006-05-11T19:16:00.000-10:00

As the sun sinks slowly in the West,I am leaving this blog dormant for a while.

Musing on Iran

2006-04-26T05:00:00.000-10:00

No one likes us-I don't know why We may not be perfect, but heaven knows we tryBut all around, even our old friends put us downLet's drop the big one and see what happens We give them money-but are they grateful?No, they're spiteful and they're hatefulThey don't respect us-so let's surprise themWe'll drop the big one and pulverize them Asia's crowded and Europe's too oldAfrica is far too hotAnd

Goood Morning to the Mainland!

2006-04-24T00:53:00.000-10:00

NYT front page Moves Signal Tighter Secrecy Within C.I.A. By SCOTT SHANE and MARK MAZZETTI A highly unusual polygraph test for the agency's independent watchdog was part of a crackdown on leaks. Vote for Mayor Points to Change in New Orleans By ADAM NOSSITER Low black turnout in the first round

Goood Morning to the Mainland!

2006-04-23T15:15:00.001-10:00

Goood Morning to the Mainland!

2006-04-23T15:15:00.000-10:00

Tony Blair in a "Telegraph" interview

2006-04-22T23:52:00.000-10:00

Said: " I keep saying to people: one of the greatest failures of progressive politics in my lifetime has been that, in the anti-American parts of the progressive Left, we have ended up on the wrong side with someone as evil as Saddam. Even now, when we have been there with a UN resolution, we are on the wrong side of the battle between terrorism and democracy. I can't understand how progressive

Goood Morning to the Mainland!

2006-04-22T23:45:00.000-10:00

NYT front page Protests Mount as Nepal Parties Reject King's Bid By SOMINI SENGUPTA Neither curfew, tear gas, nor King Gyanendra's offer to give up control of the country could stem the fury of his subjects on Saturday. Young Officers Join the Debate Over Rumsfeld By THOM SHANKER and ERIC SCHMITT

Oil Econ 101

2006-04-22T10:24:00.000-10:00

With people blaming Bush for high gas prices, now is a good time to review Arnold Kling's essay: "My instinct is to oppose any policy initiative that is touted to fight child pornography or the drug menace. It's not that I'm in favor of child porn or drug abuse. However, I am conditioned by experience to expect proposals supposedly aimed at those problems to turn out to be ineffectual while

2006-04-22T10:11:00.000-10:00

REDSTATE tells us Who's on the Sunday Morning Talk Shows

The Secret War against President Bush

2006-04-22T07:59:00.000-10:00

John Gibson on the CIA firing:What is really going on here is the secret war by CIA-types against President Bush and his policies. This is the group inside the CIA — think Valerie Plame — who think their opinions and analysis of the world should trump whatever it is the president thinks. If the president goes against their opinion, they call The New York Times and start leaking embarrassing

2006-04-22T00:32:00.000-10:00

The Leaker"In From the Cold" blog tells us: Ms. McCarthy had been an agency employee for 22 years at the time of her dismissal. She had strong ties to the Clinton Administration; disgraced former National Security Advisor Sandy Berger (of "Secrets Down My Pants" fame) engineered her appointment as Special Assistant to the President for Intelligence Programs in 1998. Before that, she held a

Goood Morning to the Mainland!

2006-04-22T00:12:00.000-10:00

NYT front page Shiites Settle on Pick for Iraqi Premier By RICHARD A. OPPEL Jr. The decision to nominate Jawad al-Maliki, a hard-line Shiite leader, could resolve Iraq's political deadlock. Graphic: A New Government C.I.A. Fires Senior Officer Over Leaks By DAVID JOHNSTON and SCOTT SHANE Several

2006-04-21T12:00:00.000-10:00

A View from the Eye of the Storm The Arab who wrote this is Haim Harari, Chair, Davidson Institute of Science Education. This organization has a website and is headquartered in IsraelThe root of the trouble is that this entire Moslem region is totally dysfunctional, by any standard of the word, and would have been so even if Israel had joined the Arab league and an independent

2006-04-21T11:33:00.000-10:00

Predator Educates Global HawkDefense Tech Says:Every Army battalion commander, Air Force targeting cell and special operations team in Iraq wants access to a Predator drone at all times. The demand for these versatile little birds has skyrocketed in recent years. To meet the demand, General Atomics is rolling Predators off the production line as fast as it can. But there's a mismatch on the Air

2006-04-20T22:14:00.000-10:00

Fired CIA officer reportedly gave information to WP's PriestBy jromenesko@poynter.org (Jim Romenesko)Read the articleNBC News The officer failed a polygraph exam before being fired on Wednesday and is now under investigation by the Justice Department. Robert Windrem and Andrea Mitchell report he allegedly gave information about

Goood Morning to the Mainland!

2006-04-20T18:20:00.000-10:00

The NYT front page Shiite Drops Bid to Keep His Post as Iraqi Premier By KIRK SEMPLE and RICHARD A. OPPEL Jr. The move by Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari, made under intense pressure, could help break a political deadlock. F.D.A. Dismisses Medical Benefit From Marijuana By GARDINER HARRIS The

Andrew McCarthy on the Pulitzers

2006-04-20T13:35:00.000-10:00

These awards unmistakably announce that organized journalism, a.k.a. the mainstream media, is embarked on its own version of the al-Arian defense for Dana Priest, James Risen, and Eric Lichtblau. These are the reporters who, along with their powerful newspapers (respectively, the Washington Post and the New York Times), took it upon themselves to decide what national-security secrets were not

Goood Morning to the Mainland!

2006-04-19T23:08:00.000-10:00

The NYT Front Page Rove Is Giving Up Daily Policy Post to Focus on Vote By ELISABETH BUMILLER White House adviser Karl Rove's role shrank for the first time, and spokesman Scott McClellan said he was stepping down. Resignation: Transcript | VideoVideo: Elisabeth BumillerRecent White House Changes

From the 9th Circuit? Amazing!

2006-04-19T08:07:00.000-10:00

Appeals court denies rehearing on terror indictmentsAssociated PressSAN FRANCISCO - Seven Los Angeles area residents indicted on accusations of raising hundreds of thousands of dollars for a terror organization lost a federal court challenge in a bid to prove their innocence.The seven wanted to challenge a determination by the State Department that a group they funded was a terror

Country boy

2006-04-19T07:45:00.000-10:00

Nina Burleigh wrote this piece for "Salon." She is famous as the woman who announced that she "would be happy to give him a blowjob just to thank him for keeping abortion legal. I think American women should be lining up with their presidential kneepads on to show their gratitude for keeping the theocracy off our backs." She obviously has no idea what it reveals about herself. Some excerpts:

Moving to the Right

2006-04-19T01:20:00.000-10:00

Howard Kurtz tell us that Brit Hume's Path Took Him From Liberal Outsider to The Low-Key Voice of Conservatism on Fox News. A large excerpt:As a senior Fox News executive and anchor who landed the only interview with Vice President Cheney after his hunting accident, Hume has traveled light-years since his early days as a dogged investigator. He has made the transition from newspaper reporter

Goood Morning to the Mainland!

2006-04-18T15:31:00.000-10:00

The New York Times Front Page: China's Rising Need for Oil Is High on U.S. Agenda By DAVID E. SANGER China's oil demand, which the U.S. has blamed in part for rising prices, will be a subject of President Hu Jintao's visit. Video: Times's David SangerChinese Leader's U.S. Visit Begins in Washington State New York Offers Housing Subsidy as Teacher Lure By DAVID M. HERSZENHORN The

Major Piece by Michael Yon

2006-04-18T00:08:00.000-10:00

Urozgan and Heland Provinces, AfghanistanMore than a year ago, I wrote from the "Sunni Triangle" that Iraq was in the midst of a civil war, words that received little attention then. I had published that dispatch about three weeks after the unexpected but overwhelming success of the first Iraqi elections. People were understandably distracted by the post-vote euphoria, while the media was largely

Professor Put on Leave After Abortion Spat

2006-04-17T23:15:00.000-10:00

AP - HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. -- A college professor has been put on leave and will retire at the end of the semester after admitting she told students to destroy an anti-abortion display on campus. Sally Jacobsen, a professor in the literature and language department at Northern Kentucky University, will not return to the school, President James Votruba said.

Illegal aliens recruit workers

2006-04-17T22:56:00.000-10:00

AP says: A growing number of U.S. employers in need of cheap labor are turning to illegal workers to recruit friends and relatives back home, and to smugglers to find job seekers. ''It continues to become clear who controls immigration: It's not governments, but rather the market'' /break/ In one case, a single smuggler purportedly earned $900,000 over 15 months placing 6,000 migrants in jobs at

Zinni's Zinger?

2006-04-17T22:50:00.000-10:00

Brit Hume says: Former Clinton CENTCOM commander, Anthony Zinni — the most prominent of the retired generals attacking Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld — now says that, in the run-up to the war in Iraq, "What bothered me ... [was that] I was hearing a depiction of the intelligence that didn't fit what I knew. There was no solid proof, that I ever saw, that Saddam had WMD."But in early 2000,

Goood Morning to the Mainland!

2006-04-17T22:40:00.000-10:00

The NYT leads:Suicide Bombing in Israel Kills 9; Hamas Approves By GREG MYRE and DINA KRAFT The president of the Palestinian Authority condemned the attack, reflecting a split in the Palestinian leadership. Photos: The Aftermath Storm Evacuees Found to Suffer Health Setbacks By SHAILA DEWAN Families displaced by Hurricane Katrina are much more likely to have mental disorders,

An Ugly Reality

2006-04-17T20:43:00.000-10:00

Thomas Sowell says: Thank heaven for the massive marches across the country by those favoring illegal immigrants. These marches revealed the ugly truth behind the fog of pious words and clever political spin from the media and from both Democrats and Republicans in Washington. "Guest workers"? Did any of the strident speakers, with their in-your-face bombast in Spanish, sound like guests? Did

How Welfare Reform Worked

2006-04-17T18:54:00.000-10:00

Kay S. Hymowitz at "City Journal" says: "Though successful beyond anyone’s wildest dreams, welfare reform left key problems unsolved." Here is her summary.Ending welfare dependency, then, is not likely to turn poor mothers and fathers into child-centered soccer parents. Though researchers haven't found that reform has had any adverse effect on children, they haven't found much positive impact,

The Pulitzer Prize for Treason

2006-04-17T14:06:00.000-10:00

Scott Johnson at Powerline - .........................Following in the footsteps of the AP last year, New York Times reporters James Risen and Eric Lichtblau won the Pulitzer Prize today for their treasonous contribution to the undermining of the highly classified National Security Agency surveillance program of al Qaeda-related terrorists. As I wrote in a column for the Standard, the Risen/

Cynthia Tucker gets mugged by reality

2006-04-17T12:46:00.000-10:00

I used to watch Cynthia on Fridays "Editor's roundup" on PBS. She is a classical black liberal. She normally never deals with anybody outside of her little group of chatterers. PERMANENT BLACK UNDERCLASS POSES TROUBLE DOWN THE ROADThe black men I know best are all hard-working, accomplished professionals. They include my brother, a physician, and my buddies -- lawyers, college

Clueless Joe Wilson

2006-04-17T12:41:00.000-10:00

Former Ambassador Joseph WilsonChristopher Hitchens says: How did the CIA's special envoy miss Zahawie's trip to Niger?Nobody appears to dispute what I wrote in last week's Slate to the effect that in February 1999, Saddam Hussein dispatched his former envoy to the International Atomic Energy Agency, and former delegate to non-proliferation conferences at the United Nations, to Niger. Wissam

Dobbs's Disciples

2006-04-17T10:16:00.000-10:00

Excellent essay at TCS Daily BY Donald Boudreaux :Economist Paul Craig Roberts has joined recently with the likes of Lou Dobbs and Sen. Charles Schumer to denounce so-called "outsourcing" -- that is, the importation of services.Roberts is aware that, throughout history, free trade has raised the living standards of ordinary people. But, he says, this historical record is irrelevant to today's

Great post at "Modern Conservative"

2006-04-16T10:24:00.000-10:00

The Associated Press: Genocide Deniersby Christopher CookUpdate: The AP decided to augment the text of its original article, so the text of the original is appended to this post.The Associated Press reported today on attacks by Egyptian Muslims on Egyptian Copts. As is typical of the Associated Press, their first two sentences are decidedly lacking in a vital piece of information: "Worshippers at

Jack Risko of Dinocrat has a great post

2006-04-16T08:11:00.000-10:00

Iran’s Rhineland Moment April 16th, 2006 Iran’s gaudy announcement of its uranium enrichment capabilities, in defiance of the international community, coupled with its threat of the elimination of Israel in “one [presumably nuclear] storm” may be considered its Rhineland Moment — the equivalent in our time of Hitler’s remilitarization of the Rhineland in

Bloodless theories, bloody wars

2006-04-16T06:51:00.000-10:00

Ralph Peters says that Easy-win concepts crumble in combatThe primary problem we face in preparing for future wars is an intellectually corrupt budgeting and procurement process, a system that forces the services — especially the Navy and Air Force — to make extravagant, impossible-to-fulfill claims for the weapons they wish to buy. It isn’t possible to argue that a system will be “useful.” To

REDSTATE is pessimistic

2006-04-16T06:37:00.000-10:00

Thoughts On An Imminent WarI fear we are on the cusp of war, real war, with Iran. As the situation concerning Irans possession of either nuclear weapons or the technology capable of producing nuclear weapons spins out of control it is difficult to see how this situation ends short of an actual war. We simply cant afford the strategic blow that would follow acquiescing to Iranian possession of

Mark Steyn today

2006-04-16T06:34:00.000-10:00

"You know what's great fun to do if you're on, say, a flight from Chicago to New York and you're getting a little bored? Why not play being President Ahmadinejad? Stand up and yell in a loud voice, "I've got a bomb!" Next thing you know the air marshal will be telling people, "It's OK, folks. Nothing to worry about. He hasn't got a bomb." And then the second marshal would say, "And even if he did

Minorities fight back against oppressors in Teheran

2006-04-16T06:24:00.000-10:00

James Brandon on Mt Qandil, on the Iran border and Colin Freeman, Telegraph UKSitting on the floor of a stone hut, deep in the mountains on the border between Iran and Iraq, the leaders of Pejak, a Kurdish Iranian militant group, outlined their plans to fight Teheran's hard-line Islamic government. "The Iranian government's plan to create a global Islamic state is destroying our people's culture

Apple to exploit Guernsey loophole

2006-04-16T06:14:00.000-10:00

Telegraph UK tells us that Apple, the US computer giant, is planning to set up business on Guernsey to exploit a tax loophole that will allow it to sell VAT-free music to British consumers. Over the past two years Tesco, Asda, Britannia, HMV, Amazon and Woolworths have all set up delivery operations in the Channel Islands to exploit a law which allows retailers outside the European Union to sell

Goood Morning to the Mainland!

2006-04-15T15:46:00.000-10:00

The NYT Front Page:Pentagon Memo Aims to Counter Rumsfeld Critics By MARK MAZZETTI and JIM RUTENBERG A one-page memo offers a direct challenge to the criticisms made by retired generals about Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld. Revival in Japan Brings Widening of Economic Gap By NORIMITSU ONISHI There are increasing signs that Japan's growing economy is destroying one of the

Great account at "Newsbusters"

2006-04-15T15:36:00.000-10:00

A Liberal Civil War: The Nation’s Alterman and Vanden Heuvel vs. TIME’s Joe KleinIn TimeYou really couldn’t script this any better: Three prominent liberal media members (the third is a player to be named later!) challenging another over what Democrats stand for. And, the beauty is that these folks are actually blogging their disgust with one another for all to read.

Time to Fight the Real War

2006-04-15T14:33:00.000-10:00

Robert Tracinski is the editor of The Intellectual Activist and TIADaily.com.He has an excellent piece on Iran.The wars we have fought so far, against the Taliban in Afghanistan and the Baathist regime in Iraq—were necessary, but they left the largest, most dangerous Islamist regime untouched. The Iranians know it. Sensing American weakness, they are moving against us on all fronts—and any

BROWN IS THE NEW BLACK

2006-04-15T01:18:00.000-10:00

Ann Coulter says: This is the only country on Earth that thinks it's not sporting to consider our own interests in choosing immigrants. Try showing up in any other country on the planet, illiterate and penniless, and announcing: "I've seen pictures of your country and it looks great. I think I'd like to live here! Oh, and by the way, would you mind changing all your government and business phone

Europe Stalls on Road to Economic Change

2006-04-15T01:10:00.000-10:00

That's the NYT headline. These quotes show that they understand the problem. "Everybody in Europe agrees that things can't go on the way they are going," said Wolfgang Nowak, a German economist who is in charge of the Deutsche Bank's International Forum. He was speaking about the near-zero-growth economies with high deficits, rigid labor markets and intractable levels of unemployment and social

Goood Morning to the Mainland!

2006-04-15T00:01:00.000-10:00

The NYT has: Rumsfeld Gets Robust Defense From President By JIM RUTENBERG and MARK MAZZETTI President Bush strongly backed Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, in an effort to blunt retired generals' calls for his resignation. White House Statement For Immigrants and Business, Rift on Protests By MONICA DAVEY Hundreds lost their jobs after skipping work to attend rallies

This makes sense, but it isn't "PC"

2006-04-14T22:55:00.000-10:00

Law to Segregate Omaha Schools Divides Nebraska NYT - Sam DillanThe law calls for dividing public schools into three racially distinct districts, one black, one white and one Hispanic.Ernie Chambers, the only African-American in the Nebraska Legislature, was a major force behind a law enacted this week that calls for dividing the Omaha school district into three districts defined largely by

Ahmadinejad

2006-04-14T19:10:00.000-10:00

What are we going to do about him? He is acting like Bin Ladin did back in 911 time. Osama wanted us to attack him in Afghanistan because he believed, based on what they did to the Russians, that they could defeat us. Just how apocalyptic is Ahmadinejad?AP - The president of Iran again lashed out at Israel on Friday and said it was "heading toward annihilation," just days after Tehran raised

If we don't retailiate against this move, we haven't got a hair......

2006-04-14T18:51:00.000-10:00

Palestinians to get Russian aidRussia has said it will grant the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority urgent financial aid, in opposition to the policy of the EU and the US.Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov made the pledge to authority President Mahmoud Abbas in a telephone call, Moscow said.The US and EU cut off aid after Hamas took power on 30 March because the militant group refused to renounce

We finally get rid of him

2006-04-14T17:39:00.000-10:00

Al-Arian update from AP: WASHINGTON - Federal authorities have decided to deport a former University of South Florida professor and long-time Palestinian rights activist after failing to convict him on charges he helped finance terrorist attacks in Israel. Two lawyers familiar with the case say Sami Al-Arian has reached an agreement with prosecutors to plead guilty to a lesser charge and be

Why they hate him so

2006-04-14T17:28:00.000-10:00

American Thinker says: This quotation from Winston Churchill, one of the great military leaders of modern times, seem to speak directly to the ongoing controversy surrounding Donald Rumsfeld: Never, never, never believe any war will be smooth and easy, or that anyone who embarks on the strange voyage can measure the tides and hurricanes he will encounter. The statesman who yields to war fever

Zarqawi, al Qaeda are heading out, U.S. general says

2006-04-14T14:05:00.000-10:00

The Washington Times says:Al Qaeda in Iraq and its presumed leader, Abu Musab Zarqawi, have conceded strategic defeat and are on their way out of the country, a top U.S. military official contended yesterday. The group's failure to disrupt national elections and a constitutional referendum last year "was a tactical admission by Zarqawi that their strategy had failed," said Lt. Gen. John R.

Woods apologises for spaz reference at Masters

2006-04-14T12:02:00.000-10:00

(Reuters) - Tiger Woods has apologised for comments he made during a television interview after the U.S. Masters at Augusta National Golf Club on Sunday.The American world number one, who tied for third place three strokes behind winner Phil Mickelson, was criticised for using the term "spaz" to describe his poor putting in the final round."Tiger meant nothing derogatory to any person or persons

John Stossel Tonight

2006-04-14T11:03:00.000-10:00

There's a new 20/20 John Stossel special on tonight at 10 Eastern with Freakonomics authors Steven Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner. You can watch a clip online.

AOL was really stupid with this move.

2006-04-14T10:45:00.000-10:00

This block was pulled after it was published. Here is the comment on the block, and a link to the letter that caused it. What really gets me is that AOL thinks it can get away with this two-tiered Email system. They must think they have a monopoly on Email accounts.San Francisco - AOL is blocking delivery to AOL customers of all emails that include a link to www.DearAOL.com. Today, over 100

Race Games in Maryland

2006-04-14T10:40:00.000-10:00

The NY Post tells us: a strategist hired by the Democratic National Committee who polled black Maryland voters has issued a stern warning to the party: "Steele's messaging to the African-American community has clearly had a positive effect - with many voters reciting his campaign slogans and his advertising."Democrats must be aggressive. Steele is a unique challenge. Democrats can not afford to

2006-04-14T08:44:00.000-10:00

Statement by the PresidentEarlier today I spoke with Don Rumsfeld about ongoing military operations in the Global War on Terror. I reiterated my strong support for his leadership during this historic and challenging time for our Nation.The Department of Defense has been tasked with many difficult missions. Upon assuming office, I asked Don to transform the largest department in our government.

OSU librarian slapped with "sexual harassment" charge for recommending conservative books for freshmen

2006-04-14T08:41:00.000-10:00

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Officials at the Ohio State University are investigating an OSU Mansfield librarian for "sexual harassment" after he recommended four conservative books for a freshman reading program. ADF has demanded that OSU cease its frivolous investigation, yet the university is pressing forward, claiming that it takes the charges "seriously.""Universities are one of the most hostile places

IRAN

2006-04-14T03:26:00.000-10:00

Michael Ledeen says:For those who think there is no chance for democratic revolution in Iran, consider this roundup of labor unrest, courtesy of Spiegel Online: Angered by unpaid salaries and generally low wages, workers in the northern Iranian provincial capital Rasht blocked streets and protested in front of government offices a fortnight ago brandishing banners that read: "We are hungry!"

PR Disasters for the Taliban

2006-04-14T03:08:00.000-10:00

Strategy Page reports: It was a bad week for the Taliban. A Taliban rocket fired into Kabul landed in a school yard, killing seven children and wounding some twenty more. This is very bad for the Taliban, as during the 1990s, Kabul was largely destroyed by rockets and artillery fired into the city by Islamic militant militia. Thousands of civilians died, and the bombardment is still remembered

Goood Morning to the Mainland!

2006-04-14T01:45:00.000-10:00

Slate says thatThe New York Times leads with two new public calls for Rumsfeld's resignation by retired U.S. generals, bringing the total to six. Even more retired generals have anonymously expressed similar opinions in the past few days, according to the NYT. The Washington Post leads with reports of "vast sums of waste and misspent funds" in the $10 billion for housing aid allocated by the

Comedy Central did censor "South Park"

2006-04-13T19:52:00.000-10:00

WaPo has the story. Ed Morrissey says the solution is "Go HBO."Parker and Stone were angered when told by Comedy Central several weeks ago that they could not run an image of Muhammad, according to a person close to the show who didn't want to be identified because of the issue's sensitivity.The network's decision was made over concerns for public safety, the person said.Comedy Central said in a

Capitalism: The Movie

2006-04-13T19:24:00.000-10:00

Clive Crook writes in "The Atlantic" [$] about why Americans don't value markets enough—and why that matters:....Capitalism is not much loved, even in the parts of the world it has served best. If only one country were to dote on free enterprise, America surely ought to be it. With world-beating companies, breast-beating CEOs, a timid political Left, dwindling and unpopular labor unions, and

Most people don't want to believe they mean it.

2006-04-13T15:42:00.000-10:00

Moussaoui: 'No Regret, No Remorse'Reasserting his role in Sept. 11, al-Qaida conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui told jurors Thursday he has "no regret, no remorse," was disgusted by the heart-rending testimony of victims and relatives and only wished they had suffered more.He said hearing a Navy officer sobbing in court made his day."So you would be happy to see 9/11 again?" Prosecutor Rob Spencer

From "Stimulus Progression" to "Audio Branding" in 60 Years: A Short History of Contemporary Capitalism

2006-04-13T12:35:00.000-10:00

THE SOUNDTRACK OF YOUR LIFENew YorkerMuzak in the realm of retail theatre.

What's New in Firefox 1.5.0.2

2006-04-13T12:19:00.000-10:00

Firefox 1.5.0.2 provides native support for Macintosh with Intel Core processors, and stability and security enhancements that are part of our ongoing program to provide a safer Internet experience for our users. We recommend that all Firefox users upgrade to this latest version.Here's what's new in Firefox 1.5.0.2: * Universal Binary support for Mac OS X which provides native support for

Bush Blames Democrat for Immigration Impasse

2006-04-13T12:13:00.000-10:00

NYT— President Bush lashed out today at the Senate's Democratic leader, Harry Reid of Nevada, accusing him of using gimmickry to stall an immigration bill that millions of Americans want enacted."I was encouraged last week when members of the United States Senate reached a promising bipartisan compromise on comprehensive immigration reform," Mr. Bush said at a gathering of small-business leaders

The Neighbors Are Nervous, and Suddenly Helpful

2006-04-13T01:28:00.000-10:00

Strategy Page tells us:The rising threat of a sectarian civil war appears to be helping to avert one. Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, and some other nations bordering Iraq are increasing measures to curb extremist support in Iraq, and are curbing assistance to groups responsible for actions that are feeding sectarian tensions. Apparently leaders in these countries have decided that an Iraqi civil war along

Goood Morning to the Mainland!

2006-04-12T23:19:00.000-10:00

It's "spring break" and not much is going on. I can tell it's spring break because the Hotel pool outside my lanai is full of frolicking teenagers, and the band plays every evening.Slate says: The Washington Post leads with the release of the long-awaited federal government guidelines for rebuilding New Orleans and a $2.5 billion plan for levee reconstruction. Under the plans, 98 percent of the

We see this over and over, but the Pols never do

2006-04-12T23:07:00.000-10:00

The WSJ tells us[$]:Going Postal"Neither rain, nor sleet, nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds." Hurricane Katrina was another story.A week ago Monday the Times-Picayune reported that the U.S. Postal Service's New Orleans processing and distribution center would reopen the following day -- more than seven months after Katrina hit. The paper

Globalizing Good Government

2006-04-12T21:28:00.000-10:00

The New York Times had a great op-ed Monday. Richard W. Fisher and W. Michael Cox are, respectively, the president and the chief economist of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. Thomas Barnett says, Basic gist: It uses the Foreign Policy measurements of globalization connectivity to compare and contrast the least and most globalized societies and … no surprise, the most globalized have the

2006-04-12T18:30:00.000-10:00

Arms Control Wonk has this. You will notice that Armitage ignores the reason we don't want bi-lateral with NK. They welshed on the last deal.Chris Nelson included this interview with Richard Armitage from The Oriental Economist in a report last week. Read the whole thing, but here’s one of the more interesting portions: TOE:Would you clarify a controversial episode regarding NorthKorea

Don't believe the Iranians

2006-04-12T18:14:00.000-10:00

The NYT starts what will be the DNC position on Iran.Analysts Say a Nuclear Iran Is Years AwayWestern nuclear analysts said yesterday that Tehran lacked the skills, materials and equipment to make good on its immediate nuclear ambitions, even as a senior Iranian official said Iran would defy international pressure and rapidly expand its ability to enrich uranium for fuel."

Excellent comment from David Frum Today

2006-04-12T18:05:00.000-10:00

".........And here, finally, a thought about Mexico and the origins of this mass migration. Some readers have wondered why NAFTA did not (as promised) help curb Mexican migration to the US. I have often wondered that myself. Part of the answer may lie in Mexico's bad timing: It opened itself to US investment in 1994, at precisely the moment that China's even lower-wage workforce was joining the

We Are Not Going to Nuke Iran

2006-04-12T17:37:00.000-10:00

I have just found a very good blog called 'Arms Control Wonk." His latest is a detailed discussion of what it would take to wipe out Iran's Nuclear facility and why.Excerpt:One enormous weakness of Natanz is that it lacks the best defense any HDBT can have: concealment. Concealment includes both hiding the location and layout of the strcuture and inhibiting battle damage assessment to know when

These two-faced Bas*******

2006-04-12T15:26:00.000-10:00

Saudi Arabian Crown Prince calls terrorism a "disease"Crown Prince Sultan bin Abdul Aziz, who is also deputy prime minister and defence minister, said terrorist acts are contrary to the teachings of Islam. Saudi Arabia "has emphasized its strong rejection and condemnation of all forms of terrorism," he said at a lecture in Singapore organized by the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies. "

Oh, Great

2006-04-12T15:14:00.000-10:00

Migrants rush to Arizona border anticipating passage of guest-worker planOLGA RODRIGUEZ - MacCleansNOGALES, Mexico (AP) - At a shelter overflowing with migrants airing their blistered feet, Francisco Ramirez nursed muscles sore from trekking through the Arizona desert - a trip that failed when his wife did not have the strength to go on.He said the couple would rest for a few days, then try again

This is the story that Ed Morrisey jumped on

2006-04-12T14:46:00.000-10:00

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House on Wednesday angrily denied a newspaper report that suggested President George W. Bush in 2003 declared the existence of biological weapons laboratories in Iraq while knowing it was not true. [...]White House spokesman Scott McClellan called the account "reckless reporting" and said Bush made his statement based on the intelligence assessment of the CIA and

Iran Focus

2006-04-12T11:27:00.000-10:00

Tehran, Iran, Apr. 12 – Iran's radical President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in a fiery sermon demanded that "Iran's enemies", or the West, bow down before Iran and apologize for having held back Tehran's nuclear program for three years. He also warned the West that it would "burn" in the "fire of the nations' fury"."Those who insulted the Iranian nation and set back Iran's movement for progress for

The Kurdish Disaster in Eastern Turkey

2006-04-12T11:20:00.000-10:00

Michael Totten tells us that: "From a distance it appears that the biggest problem in the Middle East is Islamism. That's probably because Islamism is the worst of the Middle East's exported problems. Up close, though, the biggest source of conflict seems to be ethnic nationalism. The crackup of the Ottoman Empire has still not settled down into anything stable. Arab nationalism, Turkish

Google makes 12 cents every time you search

2006-04-12T11:07:00.000-10:00

BBC Says; "That may not sound like much but it all adds up when you realise that Americans alone did more than 2.7 billion searches via Google in January 2006, according to figures gathered by Nielsen/NetRatings.The analyst firm estimates that 48% of the 5.7 billion searches carried out by Americans in January were done via Google.It also said that 39% more searches were done in January 2006 than

Learning from Failure

2006-04-12T09:34:00.000-10:00

Craig J. Richardson writes,[Hat Tip - Econlog]But while many problems cited by the IMF and others are important, they do not provide a full explanation for how a country can lose fifty years of economic progress in only five years. In fact, Zimbabwe's collapse can be traced to a single policy: its fast track land reform program, under which the Mugabe government, beginning in 2000, seized

THINKING GLOBAL

2006-04-12T09:13:00.000-10:00

Fred Kempe, at the WSJ says: The Bush administration has quietly opened what senior officials consider a third front in a global campaign against Islamist extremism, this one aimed at the rising threat from Europe. The first post-Sept. 11 front was al Qaeda terrorists themselves and their supporters, prompting a war in Afghanistan and a host of international counterterrorist actions. Next came

"In the cockpit! If we don't, we die!"

2006-04-12T08:59:00.000-10:00

Moussaoui Jurors Hear Flight 93 Tape

Exaggerating Dire 'Scientific' Warnings

2006-04-12T05:30:00.000-10:00

John Stossel says:If you're a scientist working for private industry, it helps to invent something useful. But if you're a scientist trying to get funding from the government, you're better off telling the world how horrible things are.And once people are scared, they pay attention. They may even demand the government give you more money to solve the problem.Usually the horrible disaster never

Let's not be nasty to the Jihadists

2006-04-12T04:58:00.000-10:00

Reuters reports:EU lexicon to shun term "Islamic terrorism" Tue Apr 11, 2006 10:15 AM BST By Mark Trevelyan, Security CorrespondentBERLIN (Reuters) - The European Union, tiptoeing through a minefield of religious and cultural sensitivities, is discreetly reviewing the language it uses to describe terrorists who claim to act in the name of Islam.EU officials are working on what they call a "

Growing poverty seen stoking Zimbabwe protests

2006-04-12T04:43:00.000-10:00

Need anymore be said?Last week Zimbabwe's annual inflation rate, measured through the consumer price index (CPI), jumped to 913.6 percent for the year to March from 782 percent in February.

The Minority Report

2006-04-12T03:56:00.000-10:00

Ed Morrisey tells us that:The Washington Post runs a deceptive and dishonest report about the evaluation of the Iraqi trailers that had been identified as biological weapons labs prior to the invasion in March 2003. Their front-page story announces breathlessly that the Bush administration ignored the findings of a team of experts who concluded that the trailers could not have acted as portable

Racism 101 at Duke

2006-04-12T03:47:00.000-10:00

American Thinker examines this common college problem:..........Lawyers for the players have stood firm throughout the ordeal. Attorney Joe Cheshire says the whites will be owed an apology after the specifics of the case come out. If he believed his clients were guilty he would most likely have tried to cut deals to reduce the sentence (the three whites face a minimum sentence of 16 to 20 years

AN IDEA FOR HOUSE REPUBLICANS

2006-04-12T03:15:00.000-10:00

David Frum has a reader who suggests:"If you really want to stop hiring of illegals cold without having to boost the ranks of enforcement staff by huge amounts, simply make this simple change to the tax code:'Expenditures for wages and benefits of employees shall be deductible for tax purposes only for those employees that the employer can prove are legal residents of the US.'"To make this work,

Climate of Fear

2006-04-12T02:44:00.000-10:00

The WSJ says "Global-warming alarmists intimidate dissenting scientists into silence."M. Lindzen is Alfred P. Sloan Professor of Atmospheric Science at MIT. ....So how is it that we don't have more scientists speaking up about this junk science? It's my belief that many scientists have been cowed not merely by money but by fear. An example: Earlier this year, Texas Rep. Joe Barton issued letters

The Long-Distance Journey of a Fast-Food Order

2006-04-12T02:21:00.000-10:00

The NYT has an article on outsourcing fast food order taking. They are doing it with 17 year old California kids.Customers pulling up to the drive-through menu are connected to the computer of a call-center employee using Internet calling technology. The first thing the McDonald's customer hears is a prerecorded greeting in the voice of the employee. The order-takers' screens include the menu

When they dropped, the NYT didn't say one word

2006-04-12T02:11:00.000-10:00

Deaths of U.S. Soldiers Climb Again in IraqAt least 33 soldiers have been killed this month, already surpassing American military deaths for all of March."

Goood Morning to the Mainland!

2006-04-11T22:54:00.000-10:00

Slate says: The New York Times, Wall Street Journal's world-wide newsbox, Washington Post, and Los Angeles Times all lead with Iran's announcement that it has enriched a bit of uranium for use in civilian reactors, though far below the quantity and purity needed for nukes. "Iran has joined the nuclear countries of the world," said President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, in a ceremony filled with music,

Jack Cafferty goes Populist - Blitzer is bewildered

2006-04-11T16:12:00.000-10:00

From today's "Situation Room." JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, Wolf. Once again, the streets of our country were taken over today by people who don't belong here.In the wake of Congress failing to pass immigration legislation last week, America's cities once again were clogged with protesters today. Taxpayers who have surrendered highways, parks, sidewalks and a lot of television news time on all

Yesterday's Demonstrations, From Coast to Coast

2006-04-11T09:43:00.000-10:00

Powerline has full video coverage of the demonstrations and says:International A.N.S.W.E.R. passed out thousands of mass-produced, yellow and black signs with exactly the same message. You can see them prominently displayed in our video footage from New York. Here, though, is what I think is even more interesting. At either of the two New York Times pages linked above, you can also link to the

Disastrous

2006-04-11T09:23:00.000-10:00

National Review says: Brilliant improvisers as they are, Italians will be hard put to find a way through the horrible bog in which the elections have now landed them. Not just bad, things are disastrous, virtually intractable. Italy's national debt is one of the highest in the world, far exceeding the limits that the European Union allows. Victims of the unloved euro, Italians have priced their

Facing Down Iran

2006-04-11T00:36:00.000-10:00

Mark Steyn says, "Our lives depend on it."Once again, we face a choice between bad and worse options. There can be no “surgical” strike in any meaningful sense: Iran’s clients on the ground will retaliate in Iraq, Lebanon, Israel, and Europe. Nor should we put much stock in the country’s allegedly “pro-American” youth. This shouldn’t be a touchy-feely nation-building exercise: rehabilitation may

"COUP D’ETAT BY THE LEFT IN ITALY"

2006-04-10T23:52:00.000-10:00

That's what "Publius Pundit" says it is:Yes, it is a coup d’etat. There have been numerous Italian regions that, although had elected left-leaning administrations, have voted for Berlusconi this time. In Italy, the right is still very popular. And yet, with its usual dictatorial method rooted in its DNA, the Left claims victory only because of the votes of the Italian expatriates!"