The World's Most Confused Jew

2003-06-15T19:23:00.000-04:00

Just A Note

Everyone please remember to ADJUST YOUR LINKS! Again, the new site is: www.deadends.net .

2003-06-13T02:47:00.000-04:00

Taps

No more non-working permalinks! No more random, ill-timed outages! No more of that stupid hyperlink insertion button that NEVER LINKS THE TEXT YOU @#$%ING HIGHLIGHT!!! Err. Sorry.

As of this post, The World's Most Confused Jew is no more...in weblog form, anyway. It's been fun, but it'll be even more fun over at the new digs; please head over to deadends.net and see my blog v2.0. And again, many thanks to new blogfather Dean Esmay for his work in making this happen.

2003-06-12T18:37:00.000-04:00

Type, type, type..."@#*$"

This is generally how my day has gone. Dean, to my shock and pleasure, got the new site up and running in something more like 18 hours instead of the promised 72. But now, it's my turn to make the site look like I want it to; on my meager HTML skills and nonexistant CSS ones, this hasn't been easy. There have been a lot of catastrophic "Shit, that wasn't supposed to happen" moments over the past couple of hours. Nevertheless, I'm hacking away at this thing and should have it running tomorrow...hopefully.

2003-06-12T16:23:00.000-04:00

Great Cartoon

On Israel, over at the Israpundit. Though I'm sticking to my line that Israel's rediscovered taste for retaliation isn't doing anything for them.

2003-06-12T15:20:00.000-04:00

Things I'm Definitely Going to do at Law School

Click here for the best book-disposal method known to man. In fact, if I learn how to shoot by the time I graduate, this is going to become a semesterly event, methinks.

2003-06-11T22:54:00.000-04:00

On the Clock

Thanks to the help of Dean Esmay, who I will be praising loudly and often over the next few days, and his Blogspot Jihad, this blog's days are numbered. In 72 hours, I'll be up and running with MT on my own domain *chorus of angels sing in the background*. I'd say that there's a clock keeping count on the sidebar, but true to form, Blogger isn't even letting me view my own damned page at the moment; this can only be some sick form of revenge.

Do your worst, Blogspot! We beat you, anyway! Mwahahahahahaha....

2003-06-11T14:19:00.000-04:00

Bastards

Well, there goes the peace. But we expected that. More importantly, there goes Israel's chance to make the right reaction: no reaction at all.

Some of the blogosphere is happy that Israel retaliated so quickly, but for once I'm not going along. The thing to do here was to ignore the attacks and press on. We saw glimmers of this recently, but that faded with the infamous botched assassination that prompeted this latest attack. This is a sentiment that chafes against every instinct I've got, and for a number of reasons: it could be seen as unduly weak by both sides; it does nothing in the immediate short-term; the bastards deserve their deaths; it would undoubtedly be exploited by Hamas and company as a free pass to continue bombings. But that last point is the important one. The bombings would go on, guaranteed. These groups are after the destruction of Israel via suicide bombing, not a peaceful settlement. And with Israel doing its best keep at the peace table and ignore them no matter how severe the pain, this would become obvious even to the most ardent apologists. Israel has a massive PR stroke and peace process turning point waiting whenever it wants it, and it's high time to take it.

2003-06-11T07:12:00.000-04:00

Early Morning

Laura Ingraham was sparring with Bernie on this morning's Imus and hit on an interesting point: when we do find whatever we do in Iraq, is it going to be enough for Paul Krugman types? She thinks not, and I'm with her all the way on this one.

2003-06-11T02:24:00.000-04:00

Blegging Time

Thanks to Dean Esmay's recent jihad against Blogspot, I'm extremely close to moving to my own domain and MT. And when I mean close, I'm talking 48 hours and twenty bucks, so this is basically inevitable (Don't worry, this isn't a bleg for money).

That having been said, I need a blog title/domain name but quick. My current favorite is deadends.net -- that's part of my idea for the soon-to-be-new title, the whole of which, for the extremely curious, can be found as the title for a previous popular post -- but I'm not sold on it, and, as Dean e-mailed, you want to be damned sure of your URL before you're stuck with it. So, if you've got ideas, they'd be greatly appreciated. Like my blog? Got a creative friend? Let him/her know, too! Time is of the essence and I need some witty ideas!

2003-06-10T17:18:00.000-04:00

From the Corner

Ramesh Ponnuru has some of the smarter things to be said about California politics vis a vis the Republicans:

Rather than look for gimmicks or celebrity saviors, the California GOP ought to be recruiting a strong challenger to Barbara Boxer. She should be beatable next year, as she will presumably not have the strong top-of-the-ticket help she got from Clinton in 1992 and Davis in 1998. Opposition to her is one of the great unifying forces in the state's fractious Republican party, and beating her would be the first step to rebuilding.

Very true. And it bears noting that this applies equally to the author of everyone's new favorite autobiography as well, something that the national GOP fortunately seems to know.

The real question is finding a candidate. Doug Ose, unfortunately, is out. And those who are talking Arnie in 2004 need to remember that he's only a means to an end. Getting him the governorship to give the California GOP some teeth is a great idea; in the Senate, he'd be voting with Arlen Specter at best, but more likely with the blue dog set. With justices to nominate, no thanks. Larry Elder seems to be a similarly bad choice. For one, I doubt anyone can get away with speaking their mind plainly and winning public office, so his radio show precludes that. Also, he used to be a libertarian until very recently.

Anyone familiar with left-coast politics, feel free to drop a comment on likely candidates.

2003-06-09T19:03:00.000-04:00

Yessssssssssssss!!!

Mary Louis White, you are awesome!

I knew this wishlist was gonna pay off! I just walked outside to find a wonderful package from Amazon waiting for me. Many, many thanks to Mary Lou, who generously used her ~~ill-gotten gains~~ hard-earned cash to get me a copy of Alfred Thayer Mahan's The Influence of Sea Power Upon History. My Naval Science instructors would be so proud.

If anyone knows Mary Lou personally, be sure to shower her with loud and gratutious public praise for me.

2003-06-09T18:49:00.000-04:00

A Little More on Israel

Eliana posted the text of an old Chaim Herzog speech on Israeli settlements. It's an interesting read, and relevant, but bears some serious scrutiny.

While posting the link, Eliana asks "Are the Israeli Settlements the Problem?" The Problem? No. Anyone who tells you that settlements are the root of Israeli-Palestinian problems is likely clutching at straws for a terrorism apology. By the same token, anyone who says that settlements are a non-issue is similarly nuts (or, alternately, a member of Shinui). The whole issue belongs in that category of Matters That Need To Be Conceded To The Other Side, a la the aforementioned right to return. No matter the individual position on settlements, it's fairly safe to say that no peace will be achieved without doing away with settlements. Just like no peace will be achieved unless the right to return is abandoned. This is what Rabin got, and what Sharon, however reluctantly and behind the curve, seems to be warming up to.

2003-06-09T18:25:00.000-04:00

Creases In the Road Map

It seems like Abu Mazen is about to lose what was left of his credibility with the Israelis. By my count, the road map has been proceeding about as well as anyone could have hoped for, i.e. it hasn't been a non-starting train wreck. A lot of that has to do with the fact that both Sharon and Mazen have been agreeing to fairly impressive concessions. The follow-up is obviously going to be much more difficult than the rhetoric, but the talk is there for the first time since Oslo. At least until this:

But some experts are also asking whether Mr. Abbas has been crippled by the events of the last few days, and whether he is a viable partner for peace even if Israel is fully prepared to carry through on its side. In what may be a sign of the difficulties he faces, Mr. Abbas, who normally shuns publicity, plans to hold a news conference on Monday. He is expected to commit himself to many goals important to Palestinians but omitted from his Aqaba speech, such as the right of return for Palestinian refugees and the release of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.

If this is true, it's unequivocally the end of the road map. Supporting the right of return is a denial of Israel's right to exist, period; even if you don't believe that, that's the way Israelis view the situation. Mazen's concessions seemed viable up to this point because he looked willing to smooth over, if not drop, the right of return and deal with Isreal as an equal partner. If he starts pandering to his "base" (read: the extremists who might take a shot at him if he doesn't) now, he'll already be going the way of Arafat as far as Sharon is concerned.

2003-06-05T22:40:00.000-04:00

God Hates Me, Cont'd

Yeah, so guess who's out of a house again? This is the end of my run in DC for what is < sarcasm > clearly the best summer ever < /sarcasm >. The next time I show up, it'll be from the sunny and terminally boring confines of the good old family home in Connecticut. Until then, I certainly hope everyone else is finding a stable roof over their heads for more than two days at a time.

2003-06-04T03:11:00.000-04:00

At Least Tom Friedman Gets It

In a backhanded sort of way. Friedman's latest opens up nicely enough:

The failure of the Bush team to produce any weapons of mass destruction (W.M.D.'s) in Iraq is becoming a big, big story. But is it the real story we should be concerned with? No. It was the wrong issue before the war, and it's the wrong issue now.

Exactly. Kind of. No, the WMD issue wasn't the base reason to go to war, but no, it wasn't the "wrong" reason. That the idea that Iraq was pursuing, or might have been pursuing, or could have agressively pursued WMDs was a probably accurate but highly ancillary justification doesn't somehow invalidate that whole line of thinking. And this is basically the gist of the rest of the piece: Friedman generally nails the basic issue - Iraq was about effecting necessary change in the Middle East - but skews the details based on false assumptions - Bush and his advisors played a dishonest shell game running up to the war.

I hardly agree with his classfications of the reasons for the war; what he calls the "real" and "right" reasons for the war are pretty much inseperable. He turns really, really preachy for a stretch. And, of course, there is the usual barely restrained paranoia about "the neocons". But on the overarching point, Friedman gets it, and its nice to see that he does.

2003-06-04T00:45:00.000-04:00

Conspiracy

Rachel Lucas recently wrote a post that I think is a must-read. It's one of her myriad WWII-related musings, and she brings up some interesting points about Jews resisting the Germans, which alone make it worth reading. What caught my eye, though, was the fact that a movie called Conspiracy set her to writing.

Conspiracy is a movie that HBO made a couple of years ago. Some friends know that it's my favorite movie of all time; I noticed a couple of minutes ago that there's a copy out on my desk right now. It is, in my opinion, amazingly well acted and has a stunning cast (Kenneth Branagh, Colin Firth, Stanley Tucci, to name some). It is also possibly the most frightening movie I have ever watched.

The movie is an account of the Wannsee Conference, the meeting where the SS essentially railroaded the rest of the German government into accepting their particular version of the Final Solution. Accordingly, there are nasty roles to be played. Kenneth Branagh plays Reinhard Heydrich, the SS general who was in charge of implementing the extermination of the Jews. Stanley Tucci is Adolf Eichmann, a role that should give people chills just by hearing the name. Colin Firth plays the man who wrote the Nuremburg Laws. For two hours, they do nothing other than sit at a table, poring over charts and figures on the most efficient manner of death, discussing the merits of forced labor versus execution, and, in Firth's case, giving a frightening, convincing speech about the need to respect the law in the elimination of the Jews; he delivers it with what is seemingly total and well-reasoned conviction. "Do they even have a hell?" one actor asks of the Jews. "They do now. We provide it," says Branagh. This is, of course, in between compliments on the quality of the food and drink. It is "the banality of evil" in a stunningly vivid nutshell.

I should probably be repulsed by this movie that sent Rachel Lucas into a rage, but I watch it over and over again. I find it fascinating in the same way that I love Robert J. Harris' Fatherland, a book in which Nazi Germany essentially wins WWII and achieves a Jew-free Europe. Of course, I marvel at the acting/writing and get immersed in the plot, etc. But, frighteningly, I always start to laugh at the witty lines and sympathize with some characters and get impatient along with the hard-liners, nodding inward approval at their skill at cowing opposition; and my subconscious screams Holy shit, they're all talking about conquering Europe and murdering millions and making jokes about sterilizing children !! What are you doing?!?! And that's what really makes this movie unnerving. The truly scary part about evil isn't showing it or getting people to portray it with accuracy, but getting someone else - even a Jew! - to play along and treat it like just another conversation.

I always come back and watch Conspiracy, but never without trepidation. And for precisely that reason, I reccomend it to everyone. It sparks different reactions, but I present it as a reminder that there are ways to nearly convince even the victim of the myth that kills him. In any case, it is guaranteed to be a powerful film.

2003-06-03T01:26:00.000-04:00

New Layout...Again...

Bear with me while I work on yet another new layout; the switch was inspired by Eliana the Yale Diva, whose blog everyone should take a look at. It's both a great read and another piece of my ongoing Yale obsession.

Comments are appreciated, and anyone who knows how to make the blog item title thing in the new-version-of-Blogger layouts work correctly, please let me know so I can un-jury rig my code.

2003-06-02T17:54:00.000-04:00

Woohoo!!

I've got an apartment!! And damn, am I lazy: I've rearranged my room so that I can vegetate on the bed, keyboard and optical mouse on my lap, and surf/blog without moving any more than a finger to click on webpages.

And on that note, it's officially summer.

2003-05-29T15:56:00.000-04:00

"Hipublicans"

Apropos good stuff from NRO today, Jonah Goldberg has a great piece on the aforementioned NYT Magazine campus conservatives piece. Commentary to follow post-plane ride.

2003-05-29T15:45:00.000-04:00

Back! Kinda.

Well, I've got housing, but won't be moving in permanently until Sunday. In the meantime, I'll be back in Connecticut and well within the loving embrace of the household LAN for the weekend, so blogging is back on track.

A note in the interim: Andrew Stuttaford notes that Saturday is "World No Tobacco Day". We both heartily urge you to grab the largest cigar you can find and do irrevocable damage to your lungs. If you missed Buy a Gun for Michael Moore Day, here's your low(er) cost chance to make up for it!

2003-05-24T14:53:00.000-04:00

Short-Term Outage

As my summer housing refugee status becomes larger and larger, I'm now moving again. Hence, no clue when the computer will be set up and available again for blogging. Hopefully I'll have a roof permanently over my head and a cable line to use by the end of the week. Seeya then!

2003-05-23T16:50:00.000-04:00

Open Minds on the Left

This week's New York Times Magazine has a long article on campus conservatives, notably the Bucknell Conservatives Club. I haven't read the article yet, and I don't imagine it's anything earth-shattering; the now-legendary Time article on the Cal Patriot seemed to do things justice in the span of a page.

What's worthwhile to note is the discussion board that was set up along with the piece. The first entry, which is sadly relatively mild, is telling:

I feel sorry for the poor deluded children. Hopefully, college will help them become free-thinkers, and help them move away from the facist political beliefs they espouse.

The irony of referencing "free-thinkers" becomes pretty evident as posters launch a universal ad hominem Shock and Awe campaign. Nearly every post either refers to the BCC students as Nazis or Hitler Youth, or goes the "what a bunch of losers" route, or just decides that calling President Bush "TURDBOY" covers everything. Or, frequently, all three. Hell, there's everything to be found besides actually addressing an argument.

Now, who's doing the "crushing of dissent" again?

2003-05-23T03:15:00.000-04:00

Shameless Panhandling for Reading Material

OK, I finally caved and made the obligatory Amazon wishlist, since it seems to be working nicely for Jared over at The Politiblog. I'll be posting a link on the sidebar; any and all generous souls are welcome to help keep my attempts at educational self-improvement properly funded. If you really like what you see here, you can help finance my budding career as a second-rate amateur photographer!

To those who might be considering it, I thank you profusely in advance. With broke college student budgets and schedules, it's not easy to find the time or money for pleasure reading. Now that I've at least got the time, I want to make the most of the chance. If you feel inclined to help, it's greatly, greatly appreciated.

2003-05-23T01:54:00.000-04:00

Since I Didn't Mention It Before

Guess who got to see Dubya himself at The President's Dinner on Wednesday? Oh, yeah, and I've even got the cheap t-shirt to prove it!

Since it's late and I'm lazy, I'll be adding more about the evening when I get the pictures back from the group disposable camera we interns chipped in for. A synopsis: tons of people, all the free booze you could want, and a GREAT speech (I saw it! Live! hehehehehehhe). There's definitely something about watching it with your own eyes and hearing the voice echo off the walls. For those fifteen minutes, I was a Believer. Truth, Justice, The American Way, and a 5,000 dollar donation to the NRCC. Good thing I don't have the money to donate.

2003-05-23T01:34:00.000-04:00

On the Death of the New York Times

That title is, of course, more than a little hyperbolic, but I think it's more accurate than either the Times or the Blue America set are willing to admit.

It seems relevant to note that this pains me to write. I have been known on occasion to refer to The Washington Post as "the poor man's New York Times" (three cheers for intellectual elitism). It took me a while to adjust to the former's (superior) Op-Ed page because, damnit, it didn't look like NYT. Of course, all the sentimentality in the world will not save the Times from what it may or may not deserve: a complete destruction of its role as a serious voice in news.

The Times is certainly guilty of more than letting Jayson Blair slide, as the rest of the Blogosphere has pointed out. This is just the nail in a coffin made of reflexive, sneering elitism [Aren't you an elitist? -- ed. I'm the good kind. So...you're elitist with elitists? -- ed. Oh, shut up.], a depressing corral of Op-Ed writers, and long-anemic sports coverage, among other things. But those, unlike the Blair fiasco, were correctable problems. More importantly, they were issues that didn't cancel out or overshadow its strengths, of which it still has many.

This brings us back to the destruction of serious voice point; the Times certainly deserves credibility for parts of its coverage, especially in foreign affairs. In that area, I and many others find it unmatched anywhere in the nation. But for the next few months or possibly years, it won't have even that limited respect, something that the debate over the scandal should make clear. All of sudden, whenever the Times says something you don't like, the instant tension-breaking, two-word response is "Jayson Blair". A knowing wink and an oblique, cutting aside have replaced serious argument as the method to discredit anything written by an NYT reporter. It's being done everywhere from blogs toNational Review to Congress; this post was prompted by a snotty Blair crack by some Congressman during the floor debate over the Healthy Forests Initiative.

When the average man on the street with a decent sarcastic sense of humor can take down the Newspaper of Record with a sentence, something has clearly gone wrong. It doesn't fully deserve it, but the Times as a whole now finds itself in that situation, and it will take a very long time to recover.

2003-05-19T22:10:00.000-04:00

Bill Whittle

New one. Go.

2003-05-19T16:52:00.000-04:00

Pot Calling the Kettle Black

I'd like to do that, but according to the ever-hypocritical Bob Herbert, that would just be one more shred of evidence of America's unhealthy fixation on race. I didn't read the Op-Ed in question (I try not to read Herbert where possible), but Jonah Goldberg has outstanding comments at The Corner:

BLAIR & HERBERT [Jonah Goldberg]

Bob Herbert laments the fixation Jayson Blair's race. He writes: "Now this would be a juicy story under any circumstances. But Mr. Blair is black, so there is the additional spice of race, to which so many Americans are terminally addicted."

I'm sorry. This is simply not a charge Bob Herbert gets to make. He writes about race whenever it suits his purposes. He cannot say that anyone else who takes an interest in race has an unhealthy addiction. If that were the case, Herbert's addiction would have killed him a hundred times over already. Indeed, if race-talk is a drug, he's a dealer.

I think that does it nicely.

2003-05-14T02:30:00.000-04:00

People Who Shame My Blogging Skills, Cont'd.

Today's surf of Instapundit brought me to this outstanding blog, which is something like an amusing series of intelligence reports from an enemy re-education camp. San Francisco schools, I think, fit that description aptly. Anyway, go check this blog out; it's well-written and hilarious.

2003-05-13T01:36:00.000-04:00

Rumblings

Tacitus seems to think that he's losing stature among the blogosphere right, to which I have to say to those bashing him: if you can't deal with depatures from the "party line" [you mean the party that Tacitus isn't really a member of? -- ed.], then why are you blogging in the first place? This is the medium, after all, for the discussion of divergent opinion. That, plus Tactius is another one of those conservatarian hybird types; his value is in his intelligence and writing skills, not being a strict follower of ideology.

Note: I have no clue where that editor came from. He will be killed off at the earliest possible convenience.

2003-05-06T22:15:00.000-04:00

Funniest. Song. Ever.

Oh, somebody loves me. I was really starting to miss Mohammed Said al-Sahaf, when all of a sudden...

Record producers now hope to exploit the ex-minister's fame by releasing a dance track sampling some of his more colorful phrases such as his reference to U.S. troops: "God will roast their stomachs in hell at the hands of Iraqis."

The song, called "I can't believe what I'm hearing," was written by songwriter Alton Bryan and will be released in shops and clubs in two weeks.

There's a clip available along with the story, and it's goddamned hilarious. The song, to be honest, doesn't sound great, but the dub-overs are a work of art. This is such a blessing; I was really afraid MSS was going to go the way of Chief Moose, but thankfully we've got more sense than that.

2003-05-06T13:08:00.000-04:00

While I'm Busy Not Talking About Politics

I keep coming back to this blog and I don't know why. AND IT'S REALLY STARTING TO IRK ME; I am not a personal blog reading kind of person.

I think it may be a) I ran across this one when I first starting blogging and was struck by a very similar moment that we both blogged on, so there's some sort of blog nostalgia connection ("Hey, I wonder what Maggie's been up to") or b) she reminds me very much of a good friend from my Germany summer that I haven't heard from in quite some time.

2003-05-06T13:00:00.000-04:00

Ending On a Middle Note

I am the f@#&ing man if you want to know anything about Descartes, Kant, Nietzsche, or Hume. On the other hand, please do not ask me questions about theology. That's a pretty good approximation of how my Liberal Arts final just went; I did pretty well on the philosophy half, and then proceeded to flop miserably on theology. You always know it's bad when your semi-testing self-deprecating comment as you're walking out the door is met only with a chuckle that just says "Yeah, you done f*%#ed it up, son."

Whatever. This year, and more specifically Liberal Arts Seminar, is over at last!

2003-05-06T02:22:00.000-04:00

I Could've Sworn I Said Something About This

Me, May 2nd:

It's not I would really object to seeing Castro toppled; I wouldn't. But it's coming soon enough, and it requires absolutely zero military effort on our part. So someone ice these guys down quickly before someone starts to think this idea makes sense.

OpinionJournal, May 5th:

You Heard It Here First

"Why not at least consider having a little Iraq-style war to liberate Cuba?"--Best of the Web Today, May 2

"Why wouldn't we think about liberating the people of Cuba the way we liberated the people of Iraq?"--Tim Russert to Colin Powell, "Meet the Press," May 4

Well, f@#$.

2003-05-06T02:03:00.000-04:00

Betcha Weren't Expecting THAT, Were You???

Yeah, things have changed a bit around here. This is just an interim shuffle-up while I hatch plans for the *fanfare, chorus of angels* all-new design MT blog. That, and this design turned out to more of a hassle than I thought to set up and uglier than it looked to boot. But anyway, it is what it is. On the other hand, I saved the old code, so drop me a comment and tell me what you'd prefer so I can generally ignore the suggestions and feel self-important. No, seriously, let me know.

On another note, the picture in the corner that needs a resizing is from the London vacation: that's the London Eye and County Hall as seen from the top of the Westminster tube stop (note my flawless handling of touristy London jargon?). It's Photoshopped with a nifty little Lomo effect, too.

2003-05-04T23:41:00.000-04:00

Procrastination, Continued

A very nice e-mail just floated into the Inbox:

hi - I have visited your blog a few times and I must say I enjoy reading it tremendously.
I would like to know if I could link your blog to mine? you can take a peek at: http://themassivewhingher.blogspot.com.

looking forwad to hearing from you soon,

Well, the answer is yes, and it's because this is the most charmingly British website I've ever run across. Libertarian Samizdata is great, but it's far too intellectual to be quirky, at least in a cultural sense. This one, however..."gobs"..."chuffing"..."whinge"...I'm in post-London-vacation heaven!

There is, however, a rather unfortunate post about ManU winning the Premiership, which is trying its best not to be a gloat but doing poorly at it. I personally can't stand ManU. Given, I know extremely little about soccer other than it sucks unless you're watching the non-American variety. But it doesn't matter. The whole matter is this simple: if you despise the Yankees (as I do), you must despise ManU; it's the Unrendable Garment theory of sports. Renowned, high-payroll, perenially-good teams that random people flock to suck (NOTE: this theory is contingent on success, and thus my beloved Rangers are notably exempt). End of story.

Nevertheless, go check it out.

2003-05-04T21:35:00.000-04:00

Oh, Yeah

I think I should mention that change is in the wind. For one, this template has turned a tad stale for my liking. There's also a name change in the works; the original idea behind "The World's Most Confused Jew" was a little self-deprecating dig indicating that I'm not your usual Member of the Tribe in a political sense. Unfortunately, I not only found a disturbing number of conservative Jews out here in the real world, but people kind of blew off the joke and started saying stuff like "Hey he doesn't seem so confused to us" when they linked to me, which of course defeated the whole purpose of the joke and made me sound like an idiot with a bad sense of humor (which I well may be)... Anyway, rant over; the name sucks, and it's going away very soon.

If all goes to plan, things should be moving over to an MT blog with my very own server space and a redesign and yada yada yada. Here's hoping.

2003-05-04T21:23:00.000-04:00

Mid-Study Thoughts

So generally everyone (or at least the thirteen people that were paying attention) agrees the Democratic debate was more or less a wash: nothing really lost, nothing really gained. And, of course, that's the way it should be eighteen months out.

But some people, who I also happen to agree with, are saying that the debate pointed to at least one important thing: divisions. No surprise that the Dems' pack is in-fighting, but it seems like they've got problems in the way that they're doing it. On domestic policy -- i.e. the economy -- everyone can get up and blame Bush; the squabbling is limited to method. But no one's really listening to them in that regard. Whether or not the Dems like it, this is going to be a foreign policy election, and that poses problems. The only field in which The Nine find themselves doing more than unanimously blasting Bush and nitpicking over minor difference is in foreign policy, so all of a sudden they've been automatically handicapped. The war supporters, who won't get smacked around by the average voter/average Dem, are fine; the anti-war crowd is thoroughly screwed.

Then again, that doesn't really do much. If it's the staunch anti-war candidates that are getting the pillory, then who's out? Two non-starters (Moseley-Braun and Sharpton), a fringe vote (Kucinich), and one kinda-sorta-might've-been-serious-but-not-anymore (Dean). And this tells us nothing we didn't already know, but has encouraging signs for the Bush campaign. If this group is really doomed from the start, as it appears, but keep fighting anyway (as at least Dean is certain to), it's nothing but a win for Republicans. I'm looking forward to the next debate.

2003-05-03T14:47:00.000-04:00

Dem Debate

I'm going to be blogging the Democratic candidate's debate over at BushBlog2004, yet another group endeavour I've gotten involved in. All are cordially invited to give it a look.

2003-05-03T13:49:00.000-04:00

Don't Confuse Me With the Facts

This is a particularly telling post on judicial nominees from the Angry Clam.

2003-05-02T18:21:00.000-04:00

Amusing Jewish Moment of the Day

The nine Democratic candidates plan their first debate, tomorrow night in Columbia, S.C. It doesn't start until 9 p.m. Eastern Time, in deference to Sen. Joe Lieberman, an Orthodox Jew who keeps the Sabbath.

I love it.

2003-05-02T18:07:00.000-04:00

Signs Things are Getting Out of Hand...

Speaking of neocon foreign policy, someone seriously needs to give the guys over at OpinionJournal a cold shower:

The death toll from a war to liberate Cuba would be far less than that of Castro's regime itself, especially if you include all the Cubans who've perished in the Florida Straits trying to swim for freedom. Postwar reconstruction would be a far easier task in Cuba than in Iraq, since there are millions of well-educated Cuban exiles and Cuban-Americans living within an hour's flight of Havana. And President Bush ought to be able to win support for such a move across the political aisle. A free Cuba would mean fewer Cuban immigrants and thus fewer Republican voters in Florida. What Democrat would oppose that?

Uhhhhh...anyone else afraid? I can't think of a country I'm less concerned about and least willing to entertain invading than Cuba at this point. And I'm not just saying this because I'm one of those neocons that thinks "because it's the right thing to do" is bad justification for applying American force globally (though, for the record, I am one of those neocons). This is just a bad idea. First of all, contact is what allows dissident intellectuals to gain support and average Cubans to come into close proximity with what Cuba doesn't have to offer. Second of all, Cuba? What the f@#$? Don't we have better things to be worrying about?

It's not I would really object to seeing Castro toppled; I wouldn't. But it's coming soon enough, and it requires absolutely zero military effort on our part. So someone ice these guys down quickly before someone starts to think this idea makes sense.

2003-04-29T18:24:00.000-04:00

I'm Almost There...

A cartoon in today's WaPost really got me pissed off this afternoon. Random observations on neocon foreign policy in general and an article that blew me away in specific are bubbling as well. But I'm still not there.

In the meantime, if you haven't been over to Bill Whittle's to witness the Victory, you're two days late. Get going.

2003-04-27T22:08:00.000-04:00

She's Gone

And it sucks. A lot. Not as much as I thought, but very, very close.

The rest of the night is dedicated to entertaining unnerving questions about why the girls I manage to attract are the ones who aren't around me on any regular basis.

2003-04-26T14:50:00.000-04:00

Addenda

London was great. I'm all atwitter with amusing understatements and classically British turns of the phrase.

On the heels of the London trip, I'm working on a photoblog. Funding issues abound, but I'm hopeful. I just got a great new digital camera and have been running around for two weeks taking shots of everything; this should be a nice new endeavor until I feel like screaming about politics again.

So I met a girl. Kind of; I hadn't seen her in two years. Things I'd forgotten: she's beautiful; we have the exact same sense of humor; we can talk for hours (at least I think so, but even the silence is amazingly comfortable; she'll use your name when she talks to you and it sparks some strange little thrill. I used my lifetime's allottment of charm and wit and conversationalism over a single dinner, but I swear it was worth it. Oh yeah, and I did I mention she's leaving tomorrow? Fuck. Oh, well.

2003-04-03T11:22:00.000-05:00

The Dreaded Hiatus

As may be apparent, blogging is on hold. I don't know how long...I don't have guarantees or estimates. I will say this, though: life sucks. Really.

For those who care to stick around, thanks, and I'll see you when I see you.

2003-04-01T19:07:00.000-05:00

Attack of the Op-Eds

WSJ, unsurprisingly, has a great piece focusing on the affirmative action cases and diversity concerns at law schools. A Northwestern law professor and a student at Columbia Law argue that ideological diversity is far more endangered than racial diversity.

WaPost also has a reality check on the war from retired Army Col. Jim McDonough; a good solid military (not armchair general) analysis of the position Coalition forces are really in. The other Op-Eds are also well worth a look.

2003-04-01T14:02:00.000-05:00

SCOTUS

For those with some time in the very immediate future, the oral arguments for Gratz v. Bollinger are still ongoing and can be heard here.

Very interesting stuff, but I don't like the way that it's going. From what I can tell, Ted Olson was skirting too thin of a line; the position that he got stuck in with the government's wimp-out brief is really bad. He wasn't free to just say "all race considerations are invalid" and had to tailor an argument that didn't really exist. On the other hand, Michigan's lawyer is getting his ass kicked; he's clearly trying to skirt around the issue of quotas/percentages even though the argument he started to give hinged on the idea of appropriate numbers. "Critical mass", my ass.

More, and better commentary, to be found here.

UPDATE: For those who missed the fun, the Court has decided to air the audio tapes at 7 pm on NPR.

2003-03-31T00:37:00.000-05:00

Five things to be afraid of in the Navy

1. A Seaman saying, "I learned this at boot..."
2. A petty officer saying, "Trust me, sir..."
3. A DivO saying, "Based on my experience..."
4. A j.g. saying, "I was just thinking..."
5. And a Master Chief chuckling, "Watch this shit..."

Thanks to That Girl Ain't Right for the Army version.

2003-03-30T15:34:00.000-05:00

Bill Whittle's Latest

It's up. Go read it. Now.

2003-03-27T13:34:00.000-05:00

"We're Anti-War, We're Not Anti-American!!"

The "We Support Our Troops When They Shoot Their Officers Sign" could be chalked up to offensive stupidity. This.... I have no words for this.

(Original source)

2003-03-25T18:27:00.000-05:00

Now That's Journalism...

I like this report from Sean-Paul Kelley:

The Ba'ath Party headquarters in Basra has just 'been wiped off the map' by a 2000 pound missile fired by an F18. BBC Reports.

That's what I like to hear. I was also a big fan of an earlier story from CNN or NYT (can't remember which), which noted that one of the Russian GPS jammers was taken out using a GPS-guided weapon. Heh heh. Nice try, guys.

2003-03-25T17:41:00.000-05:00

Great Idea

National Review has a great new feature up: a gallery of pictures and small blurbs about troops stationed/operating in the Gulf right now. Families and friends can post images and small biographical notes; there are already two touching memorials to Captain Christopher Seifert from ex-ROTC classmates. Definitely worth a look.

2003-03-25T16:54:00.000-05:00

Tax Cuts

Would someone explain to me how this is a "stinging setback" for the President?

Here's a few reasons why I'm thinking no one, especially Republicans, should be getting blown out of shape about this:
1. A majority of the Senate just voted for a tax cut. Think about that. So it's smaller...who cares? I was personally never too wild about this cut in the first place; on the other hand, I'm one of those conservatives who thinks that there's no such thing aa a bad opportunity to give people their money back. That's what just happened, and it's a credit to the nature of current debates that the debate was about the size of the cut rather than whether it should've happened at all.
2. This is a complete non-issue. There's a war on. Yeah, partisan whining is funny as hell, but there's no way it's even close to being as important as the war. Let the Senate work on the President's appropriations supplement; which brings me to my next point...
3. The war/reconstruction effort needs money anyway, and that's the real priority. They want to yank $100 billion from the tax cut to fund it? Go ahead. Give 'em 2! When it comes down to world stability vs. better dividends, my choice isn't that hard.

Bottom line? I see no reason why everyone shouldn't be happy with this call. Everyone involved seems to have better things to do anyway, especially the Commander-in-Chief.

UPDATE: Surprise, surprise, the media loves the overplayed lines. BBC is reporting that "Senate reverses Bush tax cut"...*sigh*...a) courts reverse, not legislatures and b) they didn't; the bill was altered, not killed.
Everyone. Calm. Down.

2003-03-24T19:06:00.000-05:00

And now for Something Completely Different

Bracket update time: both of my teams for the championship game are still in...but that's about all that can be said for my bracket. Things have been very ugly for my predictions of late.

So, now that my dreams of pool glory are shattered, I'm left to find amazing ideas like this one from Ernie Chambers. The permalink is messed up, so scrolling down is required, but the search is worth it. Best. Basketball Idea. Ever.

2003-03-24T13:21:00.000-05:00

War News Continued

I'm also now reccomending Sgt. Stryker to anyone who would like up-to-the-minute war coverage. In my mind, he and Sean-Paul Kelley are offering the best coverage so far; the Command Post is prolific, but they have a pretty clear bias and often post conflicting or confusing reports.

I also noticed today that I'm starting to be able to recognize individual people by their server log entries, especially from academic domains; american.edu means "Oh, there's Josh Heit" or swarthmore.edu now translates to "Cool, Carla visited again". In case you can't tell, I'm very excited about my own imagined importance. Anyway, I post this because I'd appreciate any regulars just popping in with a short email and saying hi, it's nice to know who's out there. This especially goes for the recurring usmc.mil hit from the Central time zone and the people at Universität Passau that seem to be checking in.

2003-03-23T14:06:00.000-05:00

On the 101st Airborne Attacker

So Rod Dreher just posted this news at the Corner:

THE OFFICIAL STORY [Rod Dreher]
Fox News, quoting the military, says the Camp Pennsylvania suspect apparently was upset because he wasn't being sent to the front. End of story. Nothing to see here, folks, move on along.

Which would seem to refute the idea that, since the soldier was apparently a Muslim convert, he carried out his attack in solidarity with Iraqi Muslims against U.S. "crusaders".

Hmmmm. So who's right? I'm wondering if the Fox News/military story isn't an attempt to play down the religious aspect of the incident; it is very easy to imagine distrust of or physical backlash against other Muslim servicemen starting to spring up. And if that's right, I find myself in reluctant agreement with these conclusions (warning: you have to read both to understand the whole issue) from Dixie Flatline. I really, really don't want to have to think this way, but reality is reality. Here's hoping we're wrong.

UPDATE: Jonah Goldberg has the word:

IT'S OFFICIAL: AKBAR A TREASONOUS COMBATANT [Jonah Goldberg]
MSNBC reporting that two high-ranking military sources say Akbar was opposed to the war. He was not "disgruntled" about not being deployed, as first reported. He was opposed to the killing of Muslims.

Damnit.

2003-03-23T13:52:00.000-05:00

Keeping Tabs

As should be obvious, my attention as of late is focused on other places, namely Iraq. I don't have a TV, but I'm spending my free time shuttling back and forth between the New York Times, CNN.com, and a collection of other blogs looking for updates. Here's a list of some of the better resources.

The Agonist - Sean-Paul Kelley has near-constant updates
Command Post - another site with near constant-updates; I'm thinking of taking up temporary residence here for the next couple of weeks, but the company is above my level
The Corner - K-Lo has been throwing in some good links lately
Instapundit - Of course...
Nick Denton's Invasion Map - not as useful as I would've liked, but it's the only way I've been able to get a good "force vectors" kind of picture...there's also one at the Agonist
BBC Reporter's Log - Beeb correspondents warblogging from various places...very interesting takes

I'll post more as I find them.

UPDATE: My suggestion for any newbies is to find yourself a good RSS reader/news aggregator and plug the above blogs into it. I like Feedreader at the moment; it's no-frills, but easy to manage and bloghopping is easy because opened links aren't scattered to new windows. And on that note, if anyone knows of a good aggregator that will put recent headlines from ALL feeds into one window instead of keeping them seperate, let me know.

UPDATE II: If you want to be as big of a news whore as I am right now, BBC, Reuters, and CNN all have desktop tickers. Running all three at the moment.

2003-03-21T23:25:00.000-05:00

Wow.

From the New York Times.

2003-03-21T19:40:00.000-05:00

Update

Nope, haven't blogged in a while; most of my efforts are focused on the Victory Playlist (scroll down for details). But, since it seems we're kicking ass and taking names as expected, no real need for any punditry or screed as I can see it. I'm just kicking back and watching events unfold, as I think most everyone is.

2003-03-20T01:17:00.000-05:00

Operation No More Stupid Code Names

I'd been meaning to bitch about really dumb operation names ("Operation Iraqi Freedom"?) for some time, but Tacitus finally beat me to it. The comments section on this post is not to be missed. Joshua Scholar has the best idea of all time:

I think we should sell naming rights to our Military campaigns.

It's a great chance for branding, for corporation with appropriate names a and products.

"Operation KMEL - Get your Groove on"
"Operation Max pad with wing tips - for those heavy flow days"
Or maybe they can combine naming with movie rights.
"Operation The Return of the King"
"Operation Beverly Hills Cop 4"
"Operation Broken Arrow III"

Or perhaps it could be combined with a health campaign:
"Operation Kurds and Ways: Yogurt, what we're eating now"

Hey, that would help pay off the costs of the war, wouldn't it? Personally, though, I'm very partial to "the Baghdad Urban Renewal Project".

2003-03-20T01:03:00.000-05:00

Whoa.

Well, Rory Miller is unequivocal tonight.

And speaking of which, Emperor Misha weighs in. Scroll down from the flag post and watch the verbal carnage.

2003-03-19T23:25:00.000-05:00

Coverage

The New York Times is sedate. CNN, on the other hand....

Dear God. I pulled up their site and nearly had a heart attack; the headline is...prominent to say the least, and the display makes it look like the Iraqis sank one of our ships.

2003-03-19T21:32:00.000-05:00

Victory Playlist

Pirated music is patriotic tonight! For next few hours, I'm blasting exclusively these Anglo-American ass whooping-conducive tunes:

Bombs Over Baghdad - Outkast
Takin' Care of Business - Bachman Turner Overdrive
We Will Rock You - Queen
Highway to Hell - AC/DC (for Saddam)
Courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue - Toby Keith
Seek and Destroy - Metallica <--- suggested by Chris Young
Shut 'Em Down - LL Cool J <--- suggested by Doug McCloud
Another One Bites the Dust - Queen <--- suggested by Kirk
We're Not Gonna Take It Anymore - Twisted Sister <--- ditto
Surrender - Cheap Trick <--- suggested by El Borak in honor of the Republican Guard, who learned from the best (the French)
Nowhere to Run - Martha and the Vandellas <--- suggested by BJ Barron
Don't Tread on Me - Metallica <--- several suggestions
Smart Bomb - BT <--- suggested by Glenn Reynolds (!)
Rock the Casbah - The Clash <--- by massive popular request...anyone else think they would NOT have approved?

Go download 'em, play 'em, and pray for the safety of our troops and a swift conclusion to this war.

The list obviously needs bulking up, too. Got suggestions? Post them in the comments!

EDIT: Thanks to Misha for the link and everyone who's posted your suggestions; the idea is starting to catch on here and I've heard "Bombs Over Baghdad" around campus (and meanwhile, the hippies camping out in the middle of campus are getting rained out)! I'm reviewing suggestions and will add as appropriate. Keep checking back!

2003-03-19T20:06:00.000-05:00

Waiting for the Fireworks

The deadline has come and gone. I flipped on a TV, but saw only Dan Rather saying that there's no word yet.

This whole business is getting to be a wierd mix of surreal and anticlimactic. Today, on the first day of my internship, I was handed a list of contact numbers, shown the emergency pager on my desk that announces to the office if there's an attack, and told that I have responsibility for the staff's gas masks. From my dorm window, you can see a pair of searchlights over the hospital; also lots of helicopter traffic up and down the Potomac today. It's nice to know there are security measures, but on another level, it's not so great, either.

Waiting, waiting, waiting....

2003-03-18T23:59:00.000-05:00

MSNBC

If anyone caught "Showdown: Iraq" on MSNBC tonight, Max: Student on "America's Voices" was none other than yours truly. Had a blast doing it; George Allen got plenty of speaking time over Loretta Sanchez (who is a horrible, horrible person and all-around dirty liar...find the transcript and puke away), and the forces of reason on the panel got ample opportunity to rip the hell out of tried anti-war arguments. Tons of fun.

2003-03-18T16:29:00.000-05:00

Trouble Afoot

International ANSWER apparently didn't like the ultimatum. Signs littering campus are blaring for "No Business as Usual" tomorrow, and an "emergency" protest at noon at the Capitol. The extensive official plans can be found here.

If it can be swung, and I'm trying my damnedest, pictures of tomorrow's fiasco (and hopefully some Evan Coyne Maloney-style quotations) will be here.

2003-03-18T16:22:00.000-05:00

More Google Madness

Here's another charming search string from Google: "blog guish fuck max"

Hmm...

2003-03-18T12:49:00.000-05:00

Call 'Em Back

Nevermind. I can't support this horrible war any more. Atrocities like this (and this here, as well), just go to prove that the war is going to do nothing but ruin lives!

In all seriousness, those are two really dumb ideas; overreaction at best, downright stupid at worst. It's beyond me why every major event on the face of the earth thinks it's a target, no matter how relatively few people on earth care. I can guarantee Myles Brand that the East region opening round games are not high on terrorist target lists, and neither is a baseball game, no matter where it's played. Guys, lighten up a bit. If anything, we need the pleasant distraction of the NCAAs and the blessed return of baseball to keep the national pysche from veering into the suicidal. Now's not the time to go running into a corner, especially without a serious indication of any threat. Just them them play, and let us watch.

2003-03-17T20:17:00.000-05:00

Pretty Good

The beginning was a little sketchy, but mostly because of sound problems (at least on FOXNews...worthless FOXNews). Overall, it was solid on the rhetoric, and Bush did very well on delivery. If anything, it was a sight stronger than anything he's pitched in recent weeks, and that's unfortunate; it means he was holding back. The mentioning of the past resolutions authorizing force was a well-played point, but I haven't heard it before. Greater mention of things in that vein might've made things easier over the past couple of weeks.

Of course, I hated the ultimatum, but I've always been uncomfortable with the prospect of exile. It seems a tad hypocritical to me for the President to say that the terror will only come to a halt when Saddam is overthrown, yet make the centerpiece of the speech an offer to let him scamper away. Not that I think Hussein will take the offer, but the idea of it still makes my moralistic parts queasy.

Again, though, it was a good showing despite the faults. The bottom line is that we needed Bush to kick some rhetorical ass and sound presidential, and he delivered on all counts.

I don't think that was too bad for my first stab at this running commentary business, either.

NOTE: Stephen Green, via Instapundit, did some live blogging on the speech. Unsurprisingly, it's better than mine, so go check it out.

2003-03-17T20:14:00.000-05:00

Casus Belli

"We are now acting, because the risks of inaction are far greater."

"A policy of appeasement could bring destruction of a kind never before seen on this earth."

2003-03-17T20:13:00.000-05:00

Losing Focus

Homeland security updates are pointless. Get back on message.

2003-03-17T20:12:00.000-05:00

Actions

"Your fate will depend on your actions." It's a nice thought, but in the end I don't think this is the kind of call that is going to matter. I'm not optimistic on prospects for the oil wells. Nevertheless, he was solid on the liberation comments.

2003-03-17T20:09:00.000-05:00

Deadline

48 hours. Booooooo. This is nothing more than a risk to our troops. I'll never find the den Beste point I'm referring to, but he made the point that the only real threat to our troops comes while they're in staging areas and camps in Kuwait. Waiting now only heightens the chances that they'll be attacked by a desperatation Scud launch; at the very least, it gives Iraq 48 more hours to refine defense plans.

2003-03-17T20:07:00.000-05:00

Will

"This is not a question of authority, but a question of will."

Great subtle shot at the French. And, he made an excellent point about the past U.N. resolutions; he should have been making it more forcefully a long time ago.

2003-03-17T20:06:00.000-05:00

Coming Threat

"Before the day of horror can come, before it is too late to act, this threat will be removed" (edit: quote corrected)

That's the succinct case. He could stop there and this would be a legitimate speech.

2003-03-17T20:03:00.000-05:00

Commentary

OK, so far nothing but the basic case. 12 years, full disarmament, etc. etc.

2003-03-17T19:27:00.000-05:00

Comic Relief

Everybody needs to pay close attention, because this is the one and only (only!) time I am ever going to link to Indymedia in a good light. But, their usual radical leftism, anti-Semitism, hatred of America, and other idiocy aside, this is priceless. A poster with a great sense of humor collected the very best of Rachel Corrie-related snide comments and posted them on the Indymedia boards. Rachel Corrie, for the uninitiated, is the flag-burning twit who decided to run around the Gaza Strip standing in front of bulldozers, and then was very surprised when one ran her over.

2003-03-17T18:50:00.000-05:00

Just a Thought

I'm tossing around the idea of running commentary on tonight's speech. Nothing definite, but we'll see. Stand by for details.

2003-03-17T17:45:00.000-05:00

Dumb People Who Deserve to be Shot Pt. I

Time for a little incoherent rant (this promises to be a series):

I'm fresh from the barbershop, where I just had a nasty little encounter with incompetence. My haircut is of the military "high and tight" variety, which is the fade on steroids. It's a simple affair; as little hair as possible on the sides, a bit more on the top, fade the two together, and you're done. Ten minutes of unsophisticated clipper work later and everyone's happy. But there's always that one person who ruins the fun: the one Fucking Idiot Who Doesn't Have a A Clue What He's Doing.

Somehow, every barbershop on earth seems to have one. You can spot him right off the bat: usually it's the one guy that you've never seen despite the fact that you're a regular customer. Of course, eager to do something, he jumps up and whisks his little useless hair cape while turning his seat towards you. At this point, you're pretty much trapped unless you've got an appointment, and it only gets worse from here. Instead of using the clipper to dig in and cut hair, he holds them delicately (maybe with two hands) and make little swipes at your head that take off maybe three strands apiece. Your simple, in-and-out trim turns into a careful thirty-five minute ordeal. And of course, the dumb bastard is trying to make uncomfortable small talk while he mutilates your head. I've never been comfortable with the idea of chatting with your barber; I'd prefer he concentrate on not gouging my skull with tools specifically designed to chop. All the while, he's also got the chair turned parallel to the mirror so that you can't see what's going on without making it blatantly obvious that you're checking to see what's going wrong.

Needless to say, that's what happened to me. I finally escaped after three aborted attempts to correct the stark sine wave that was supposed to be a clean fade, but the damage is done. For poor wretches like me, the only hope lies in a comfortable baseball hat and the chance that he won't be in tomorrow, allowing for a guilty duck-in and quick fix. Until then, here's hoping that moron meets a well-placed Mack truck grill.

2003-03-17T11:18:00.000-05:00

No Second Thoughts Here

Well, this certainly seems like it.

There's been a lot of noise made recently as warbloggers have begun to lose faith in the effort. Admittedly, most have been converts from the left, but regardless, no one can doubt that there are valid concerns that "defectors" have raised as they went through their final analyses. As the title should suggest, I'm not suffering any pangs of remorse over this decision.

This isn't to say that I don't have my little private worries. At the President's press conference, one reporter got up and asked something along the lines, "Late at night, do you ever have doubts?" That struck home.

I must admit that I have harbored doubts. I've wondered if the doomsday reports of massive blowback are going to come true; at the very least, I've conceded that they're legitmate, if inflated. I've sweated thinking that there may be one very determined terrorist out there with a nuclear bomb, just waiting for the day this all comes to a head. And to me, these seem like pressing concerns. I shuttle around between basically the two most lucrative targets on the face of the earth. If that phantom terrorist decided to attack Washington, I'd die. If he decided to attack New York, my father would almost certainly die; at the very least, my hometown would be right in the path of a massive plume of fallout. So, yeah, late at night, I've had my private worries.

In the end, however, such doomsday scenarios are independent of what we do in Iraq. There will always be determined terrorists; I won't deny that this war has the potential to change timeframes, but it doesn't create the source itself.

So, essentially, the only thing left for us to do in situations like this is to hope that we're doing the right thing. If the threat is there, we have to accept it, and do what good we can while we can. And I am convinced that we are doing good. Despite the shouts of "No Blood for Oil" and the numerous claims to the contrary, the outcome of this war will be a positive step in countless millions of lives around the world. And that's about all the comfort we can hope for.

2003-03-16T18:52:00.000-05:00

Early Thoughts

I'll put in my $0.02 before I have to go listen to Dickie V scream and rant on ESPN (plus cheesy team-color highlights):

There is justice in the world: Pitt didn't get a No. 1
Higher seed than I thought for UConn, but they're in a bad spot. Huskies take a second-round exit to Stanford.
Midwest is weeeeaaaak! This only confirms my suspicions that Kentucky is taking it all (they certainly think so).
God, I hate them, but 'Cuse will take Wake. Definite Elite Eight, possibly Final Four.
This year's killer bracket is East...some will say West, but I don't buy it: East's teams are coming off stronger conference showings and more consistently solid.
Big First-Round Upset: I want to say Colorado State over Duke, but I can't....Dayton, Notre Dame, and Illinois are on the bubble.

2003-03-16T16:37:00.000-05:00

Google Games

A recent visitor stopped by on this Google search: "guish blog max the asshole"

Well, I'm not going to say that's inaccurate, but wow....

2003-03-16T14:41:00.000-05:00

It's Coming...

The cards come down tomorrow, when the U.S. and our allies will be making the last-ditch diplomatic rounds. In the President's words, I'm thinking a Security Council vote is coming no matter what the whip count says.

Kathryn Jean Lopez's headline at The Corner says it all: "24 Hours to Irrelevance."

2003-03-15T02:25:00.000-05:00

For the Holdouts

Since I and almost every other warblogger on earth are sick of answering questions, read this so we don't have to any more

Still not convinced? Got pressing, unanswered queries? Want more reputable sources (not to knock John Hawkins)? Read this.

And for those who are wondering what's been taking up my time, here's a sneak preview. There are only test posts up, none of the links in the nav bar go anywhere, I've got all sort of minor style sheet issues, and the goddamned archive pages aren't getting built for some reason. Nevertheless, it's getting there. Please let me know what you think (and if anyone knows how to make that little white stripe at the top dissapear, drop me a line).

2003-03-12T03:40:00.000-05:00

Pelosi On the Record

I don't think the Jim Moran story in and of itself should be all that surprising. Even the Washington Post has known for a while what a sleaze Moran is; the Post, of all papers, strongly endorsed Republican Scott Tate (who spoke at Georgetown) over him last November. Given Moran's record of corruption and highly questionable behavior, his comments are about par for the course. What's more important are the reactions, notably from Democratic leadership.

"Congressman Moran's comments were not only inappropriate, they were offensive. He has properly apologized. His comments have no place in the Democratic Party." - Nancy Pelosi on Jim Moran

"He can apologize all he wants. It doesn't remove the sentiment that escaped his mouth that day." - Nancy Pelosi on Trent Lott

Not that this should really surprise anyone, either.

With the Lott precedent in hand, Tom DeLay should and has every right to be banging on doors demanding Moran's resignation. Of course, there are going to be those who start saying that Lott only resigned from his leadership role, and that he didn't lose his seat, and yada yada yada. That's irrelevant. The bottom line is that Lott was held accountable for his "I should've known better" fiasco by his own party. If Pelosi and the Dems refuse to acknowledge that an apology that wasn't good enough for Lott isn't good enough in an arguably much worse situation for Moran, they've utterly failed to do so.

My prediction? Moran won't move an inch, and Pelosi won't ask for it. Anti-Semitism, for whatever, seems to hold less water or be more excusable than other brands of racism. It may easier to get away with it because it can be begged off by appealing to the trendy Palestinian cause, but that's just a guess. Either way, it's a shame, and it's a situation that Moran will undoubtedly benefit from. If there's a silver lining here, I can only hope this proves to Jews where our "traditional political home" is headed.

2003-03-10T18:59:00.000-05:00

LOA

No, I'm not taking one of those hiatuses that sems to be sweeping the blogosphere lately. I'm not burnt out on politics, or overwhelmed by blog-related e-mail (HA! In my dreams...), or pissed at people who don't like my commentary, or yada yada yada.

That having been said, it's spring break, and for whatever reason, I don't blog well at home. For one thing, the relatively slow connection and tiny monitor here make it frustrating. For another, I just seem to be more interested in news and politics when I'm at school; at home, I really just want to eat, sleep, and watch whatever terrible movies happen to be out at the moment. I can be a simple soul like that. That, plus I'm really, really sick of war discussions. We're going to bomb the shit out of Saddam. We will win. You're not going to change my mind, and vice versa.

So, for the two or three people that read me regularly, I'll catch you in about a week or so. I may post a couple of blurbs between now and then, but nothing of consequence.

2003-03-07T10:14:00.000-05:00

Indispensible Humor

Yeah, I know I'm probably the last warblogger on earth not to link to Cox and Forkum, but this cartoon finally gave me the push over the top. Go laugh hysterically at that one and then go browse around their new blog. Priceless.

2003-03-07T04:34:00.000-05:00

From the Mouths of the Pros

I feel entirely unobligated to comment on the President's press conference because I more or less completely agree with the comments from The Corner. Their live commentary, as usual, was excellent (scroll up from the link to view them). Rod Dreher, surprisingly, pulled off the observation of the night:

"The price of doing nothing exceeds the price of taking action, if we have to." That's it. That's the bottom line. This is what the Europeans, and the Vatican, do not understand.

And that is it. We do something, we might be attacked; we do nothing, we will be attacked on a scale that most of us can't even imagine.

Again, I agreed with most of the other comments. The President, from my POV, seemed a little distracted and little tired, especially in contrast to the reporters, most of whom seemed to be pulling off that George W. patented smirk. He stayed on message for the most part, though perhaps a bit too much; I would've liked to see more variation in answer, but unscripted press ops are not this President's thing. On the whole, though, I was satisfied. I nitpicked because he already had me on his side, and I frankly worried at times about his sleep patterns, but it wasn't a bad job at all.

2003-03-05T22:26:00.000-05:00

Hit of the Day

The winner for possibly the most amusing hit on this site of all time goes to today's visitor from the House of Representatives, who stopped by on a search for (and I shit you not on this) "screw the french"+blog.

Sounds like Tom DeLay to me.

2003-03-05T22:04:00.000-05:00

The Revolution Is Coming...

...*evil, evil cackle*

My latest project here in Georgetown is really starting to come together, so I'm giving it advance publicity. Check the site out, and then keep checking back as we prepare to go live with our first issue and a blog.

2003-03-05T22:01:00.000-05:00

Protest Notes

Pictures from today's French Embassy protest are up over at Pave France (Don't tell anyone, but I think that, as usual, the sequel didn't quite live up to the original.).

On a related note, Melissa and the crew at Zogby Blog definitely deserve a look. I'm not sure where these guys are or what they do, but it's a solid and entertaining warblogging effort.

2003-03-05T10:36:00.000-05:00

Pave France

Woohoo! I'm up and running at PaveFrance.com with my first post (and it's already paying off if the server logs are right...heh heh). Everyone looking for a daily dose of anti-Frog goodness should head there immediately. That is, after you scroll down and give props to my dad.

2003-03-05T10:04:00.000-05:00

Dad Lays Down The Smack

Waiting for me in the Inbox this morning was this rather surprising e-mail from my dad. Apparently, "got sick of receiving the "move-on" emails and thought you would like to see my response to this last one". Turns out he couldn't have been more right, and it's a compelling case that, despite Thomas Friedman's off-the-wall assessments on who's against the war, sensible people see right through the idiocy of the radical anti-war groups.

Dear Mr. Pariser ("move-on"),

I have always been a Democrat, and generally consider myself a liberal, so I am not your natural enemy. There is almost no one that does not want a peaceful solution on Iraq, or for that matter any potential conflict. However, while I respect your ultimate goal of avoiding armed conflict, I think your approach is only increasing the chances of it. The ONLY reason that the inspections are having ANY success, is the pressure that has been put on them by your evident enemy - the Bush administration and its allies. While I did not vote for, or am a supporter of President Bush on most issues, I do at least recognize that his approach is the reason the inspections have had any value or success so far. So, for you to say the inspections are working, while dramatically decreasing their likelihood of success, - I think is offensive. You also refuse to address the issue of the greater harm that might come back to haunt the world if we take a pass at this time. I don't know what the right answer is, but do know that your approach- though "feel good, "is one sided and illogical. I know it is wonderful to be on the side of peace. I am sure it makes you feel comfortable with yourself, and above those that look at this realistically from all angles. I trust that you are well intentioned, but it is an arrogant viewpoint. I, as you, sincerely hope that there is a peaceful resolution on Iraq, but if there is, it will more likely be in spite of your approach, rather than because of it.

Just wanted to express how I felt after receiving your email.

Zap! Bang! Pow! That, plus he gave a little shot to the same folks flooding e-mail boxes with slander against Miguel Estrada. I always knew my dad was a smart guy.

2003-03-05T01:45:00.000-05:00

You Might Be a Blogger If...

So I'm sitting here, reading Sua Sponte (one of the best blogs ever) while taking a break from The Worst German Novel Ever, and I get to thinking.

"Hmmm," says my internal monologue, "law school blogs are pretty cool. I'd like to do that when I go to law school." But, then, I start thinking that a law school blog might not be great. There are, after all, a ton of law school blogs, and I don't have the writing skills of JCA or Rory Miller (The Angry Clam). So, the monologue pipes up again.

"A flight school blog would be awesome," I think. "But no, that's been done, too." And then... "Hey! I bet no one's done a Nuclear Power School blog! That would be great! I'm gonna go submarines so I can do that."

So, yeah, I'm now making my career choice dependent on my ability to blog on that career.

2003-03-04T20:47:00.000-05:00

Godspeed, Greg Pulver

Blogger Greg Pulver, whose site I sadly only discovered today via Instapundit and Joshua Claybourn, is heading to the Gulf with his Marine Corps unit.

Yesterday the Secretary of Defense of the United States of America activated Delta Company, 4th Light Armored Reconnaissance Battallion , 4th Marine Division for deployment to the Persian Gulf. I report at 0800 on Friday at Camp Upshur, Quantico, Virginia. On Tuesday I leave for Camp Lejune, North Carolina to wait for deployment to the Kuwait. Before I leave, I'll post a final farewell address, followed by silence for the next 6 months to a year.

My mercifully brief memories of Camp Upshur (waaaaaaaaay out in the boonies on the TBS side of Quantico) lead me to remember that it's not a particularly nice place; needless to say, Kuwait is probably less so. I urge anyone and everyone to stop by and give an encouraging word to a brave man whose sacrifices really put our "playing Navy" here Washington into perspective.

Godspeed, Greg, and kick some ass. I know you will.

2003-03-04T18:29:00.000-05:00

The Case for Recall

Even after Trent Lott, even after knowing what the left's plans for his "legacy" are, even after trying to focus to heal racial tensions, Republicans still have to deal with utter moronic crap like this?

Two lawmakers left the floor of the Washington House of Representatives during a prayer by a Muslim religious leader this week, citing patriotism and a lack of interest.

Republicans Lois McMahan of Gig Harbor and Cary Condotta of East Wenatchee walked to the back of the chamber during Monday's invocation by Mohamad Joban, imam of the Islamic Center of Olympia.

That this pair tried to give some "I'm not a racist, really!" reasons for their walkout shows that they missed the point entirely: perception is reality. If there had been concrete evidence that the imam was supposed to be the 20th hijacker, the story still would have been two Republican elected officials walking out on a prayer delivered by a Muslim.

If the GOP gets bad press for this, and it'll happen, we quite frankly deserve it. Anyone who honestly thinks that it's all right to claim "patriotism" as an excuse for an extremely public snub that, depending on your view, borders on racism deserves the political yardarm. All this, lest we forget, is even independent of their claim of lack of interest...LACK OF INTEREST?!?! This is political savvy? You idiots....

If Republicans don't want people to be attaching the racist label to the party at the drop of a hat, we need to do better than this.

2003-03-04T17:41:00.000-05:00

Why the Navy Kicks Ass

According to this article via Instapundit, it's because America's traditional role is that of a sea power.

Gerhard Schröder and Jacques Chirac are serving as a convenient excuse for President George W. Bush and Donald Rumsfeld, the defence secretary, to slash the American presence in Europe. The US has always been primarily a sea power, from the days of the privateers to Theodore Roosevelt's "Great White Fleet" and Ronald Reagan's 600-ship navy. Now that it no longer needs a massive land presence in western Europe it wants to return to that strategy.

The article, actually written by a Georgetown professor, has some interesting comments on the future of NATO and American land presence in Europe. That, and it gives great reasons for why the French really are irrelevant.

2003-03-04T02:31:00.000-05:00

Culver Notes

Here's a tad more human interest for everyone. I read this article earlier in the day and found it highly amusing. The subject is a comparison of straight-laced (Heh.) Culver and flaky, hippie-infested Olney Friends, a West Virginia Quaker school. The anecdotes are priceless.

Staff and students at Olney begin each day with 8 a.m. collection, the Quaker practice of gathering as a community for silence. Day ends with 8:30 p.m. collection, when the community winds down with quiet.

Culver has its own morning and evening ritual. At 6:20 a.m., a student honor guard hoists the U.S. flag up the tallest pole on campus, timed to reach the top as the cannon blasts. At dusk, the process is reversed. The cannon fires, the air fills with smoke and the honor guard salutes as the flag comes down.

Just a slight difference there.

The article is notable in that it shows out completely out of touch the Olney students are. One guy who's enlisting in the Navy claims he's just doing it to learn engingeering, not to go to war; I think that's an attitude that shows amazing lack of judgement and foresight in any case, but with the current situation, that's just stupid. At the end of the article, another girls asks of Culver students, ""What, to them, is war? I think of war as a disaster, never something that is necessary. How can they see it the other way?" Well, yes, dear, that's why you go to an insulated leftist paradise rather than facing reality. In this case, Culver shines.

2003-03-04T02:06:00.000-05:00

The Succinct Argument Against Women's Sports

Chester County led 4-2 in the first quarter when McNairy decided to hold the ball. With no shot clock, McNairy coach Jerry Lott was content to sit on the ball and take his chances later.

...The score remained 4-2 until midway through the fourth quarter, when McNairy's Chasity Luster made two free throws to send it to overtime.

Ummm...WTF?! The final score, for anyone interested, was 7-4. As painful as sitting through most high school girls' basketball games is, this is just cruel and unusual.

2003-03-04T01:56:00.000-05:00

Strike?

Lily Malcolm reports that the strike at my future alma mater (pleasepleaseplease pleasepleaseplease) is not much of an event

At 10:45, when I walked over to school, there was nobody at the back entrance. Not a soul. It had to be one of the easier picket-line-crossings of all time.

Good. Screw 'em. I quote a friend on this one: "I'm not upset. I got 170 bucks for not having to eat in a dining hall."