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| 65° | 49° | 63° | 50° | 62° | 52° | 58° | 47° | 57° | 43° |
Thursday, January 3, 2008
speaking of disasters
5-day totallyphokkedcast
dere is annudder doomsday directly behind dis one
Daley won't use Skyway money for CTA
(AP) — Chicago Mayor Richard Daley says he won't use the $1.8 billion windfall he generated by privatizing the Chicago Skyway to give a boost to Chicago Transit Authority funding.
Gov. Rod Blagojevich has suggested the idea of raiding Skyway funds for the CTA after twice coming up with short-term state funding fixes.
But Daley says it wouldn't be prudent for a city to sell assets to use them for its budget. Daley adds that if the governor wants to generate dollars for state infrastructure projects, he could follow the city's lead and lease the Illinois Tollway to a private contractor.
The problem of transit money has been on the legislative agenda for months. Transit officials say that without additional state aid, they'll be forced to make deep layoffs, service cuts and fare increases on Jan. 20.
(AP) — Chicago Mayor Richard Daley says he won't use the $1.8 billion windfall he generated by privatizing the Chicago Skyway to give a boost to Chicago Transit Authority funding.
Gov. Rod Blagojevich has suggested the idea of raiding Skyway funds for the CTA after twice coming up with short-term state funding fixes.
But Daley says it wouldn't be prudent for a city to sell assets to use them for its budget. Daley adds that if the governor wants to generate dollars for state infrastructure projects, he could follow the city's lead and lease the Illinois Tollway to a private contractor.
The problem of transit money has been on the legislative agenda for months. Transit officials say that without additional state aid, they'll be forced to make deep layoffs, service cuts and fare increases on Jan. 20.
News Headline: "Nine out of 10 New Year's resolutions will fail, according to study."
Ok, dis is how i'm going to approach dis:
1) Drink more.
2) Gain more weight.
3) Spend more money.
4) Not see the Phillies in the World Series.
5) Not see Barack Obama as the next President.
6) Not hope and pray for Dick Cheney's heart to explode.
7) Not win Wellness Center again (yeah, right).
8) Not finish ahead of the losers here in Parcers.
9) Waste more time on da internets.
10) Continue not to get laid.
1) Drink more.
2) Gain more weight.
3) Spend more money.
4) Not see the Phillies in the World Series.
5) Not see Barack Obama as the next President.
6) Not hope and pray for Dick Cheney's heart to explode.
7) Not win Wellness Center again (yeah, right).
8) Not finish ahead of the losers here in Parcers.
9) Waste more time on da internets.
10) Continue not to get laid.
Kill Kenny empties minor league system...
Maybe he should have done this last year instead of signing Darin Erstad (and did you see dat Dead Weight in Houston signed him?). And it looks like Billy Beane is shooting for 110 losses this year...
White Sox acquired outfielder Nick Swisher from the Athletics for LHP Gio Gonzalez, outfielder Ryan Sweeney and RHP Fautino De Los Santos. It's going to be interesting to see how the White Sox try to fit these pieces together. If they're willing to use Swisher in center field, they're improving their lineup immensely with the deal, though it's at a steep cost in the team's top two pitching prospects and the still promising Sweeney. If they're doing it with the idea of using Swisher in left field, leaving no room for Carlos Quentin, then the deal could prove to be a major bust. We're guessing they'll pencil him into center for now but continue to look for alternatives. Either way, Swisher gets a nice upgrade in fantasy value with the switch to the AL's best home run park. He'll be a threat to hit 35-40, especially if the White Sox are smart enough to hit him second.
White Sox acquired outfielder Nick Swisher from the Athletics for LHP Gio Gonzalez, outfielder Ryan Sweeney and RHP Fautino De Los Santos. It's going to be interesting to see how the White Sox try to fit these pieces together. If they're willing to use Swisher in center field, they're improving their lineup immensely with the deal, though it's at a steep cost in the team's top two pitching prospects and the still promising Sweeney. If they're doing it with the idea of using Swisher in left field, leaving no room for Carlos Quentin, then the deal could prove to be a major bust. We're guessing they'll pencil him into center for now but continue to look for alternatives. Either way, Swisher gets a nice upgrade in fantasy value with the switch to the AL's best home run park. He'll be a threat to hit 35-40, especially if the White Sox are smart enough to hit him second.
Life imitates The Simpsons (cont'd)
Men claim all-you-can-eat buffet banned them for eating all they could eat
Meanwhile, Homer watches an advertisement on television about "The Frying Dutchman," an all-you-can-eat seafood restaurant run by Captain Horatio McCallister and wants to go... Homer goes to the restaurant with Marge, but Marge is allergic to fish. Homer orders the all-you-can-eat and eats everything. Captain McCallister kicks him out after midnight. He goes to trial with his lawyer, Lionel Hutz, claiming false advertising. Homer and the captain make an agreement: Homer is put on display as "Bottomless Pete; a remorseless eating machine", or "nature's cruelest mistake".
Lionel Hutz: Now, Mrs. Simpson, tell the court in your own words what happened after you and your husband were ejected out of the restaurant.
Marge: Well, we pretty much went straight home.
Lionel Hutz: Mrs. Simpson, remember that you are under oath.
Marge: We drove around until three in the morning looking for another open all-you-can-eat seafood restaurant.
Lionel Hutz: And when you couldn't find one?
Marge: [crying] We... went... fishing.
Lionel Hutz: Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, do these sound like the actions of a man who's had ALL he could eat?
Meanwhile, Homer watches an advertisement on television about "The Frying Dutchman," an all-you-can-eat seafood restaurant run by Captain Horatio McCallister and wants to go... Homer goes to the restaurant with Marge, but Marge is allergic to fish. Homer orders the all-you-can-eat and eats everything. Captain McCallister kicks him out after midnight. He goes to trial with his lawyer, Lionel Hutz, claiming false advertising. Homer and the captain make an agreement: Homer is put on display as "Bottomless Pete; a remorseless eating machine", or "nature's cruelest mistake".
Lionel Hutz: Now, Mrs. Simpson, tell the court in your own words what happened after you and your husband were ejected out of the restaurant.
Marge: Well, we pretty much went straight home.
Lionel Hutz: Mrs. Simpson, remember that you are under oath.
Marge: We drove around until three in the morning looking for another open all-you-can-eat seafood restaurant.
Lionel Hutz: And when you couldn't find one?
Marge: [crying] We... went... fishing.
Lionel Hutz: Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, do these sound like the actions of a man who's had ALL he could eat?
speaking of totally sucking
Of the children that die under age of five:
In Kenya 35% die of aids
In Namibia 48% die of aids
In South Africa 50% die of aids
In Zimbabwe 50% die of aids
In Botswana 64% die of aids
For the rest there is starvation, malaria, and fun stuff like genocide. Oh yeah, and shit blowing up after rigged elections. What a hoot.
Just spitballin', but a self-proclaimed born-again Christian and God-fearing man might want to spend money on these problems instead of blowing shit up in the Iraqi desert. Too bad we've got dat phokking @$$hole in charge instead.
In Kenya 35% die of aids
In Namibia 48% die of aids
In South Africa 50% die of aids
In Zimbabwe 50% die of aids
In Botswana 64% die of aids
For the rest there is starvation, malaria, and fun stuff like genocide. Oh yeah, and shit blowing up after rigged elections. What a hoot.
Just spitballin', but a self-proclaimed born-again Christian and God-fearing man might want to spend money on these problems instead of blowing shit up in the Iraqi desert. Too bad we've got dat phokking @$$hole in charge instead.
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
More 2008 Suckage
Though this is old suckage recycled and renewed...
Now RIAA says copying your own CDs is illegal
Infringes even if only for personal use
I now understand Sarge and his pining for the end of Fight Club...
Now RIAA says copying your own CDs is illegal
Infringes even if only for personal use
I now understand Sarge and his pining for the end of Fight Club...
something totally shocking (cont'd)
2008 already SUCKS
How much more will you pay for craft beer? "My suspicion is a buck a six-pack," says Hugh Sisson, president of Clipper City Brewing Co. in Baltimore...
Very hoppy beers might increase even more or just disappear from the market as the supply of prized aroma hops dries up.
Oh yeah, and the Cats are getting spanked. By Penn State.
How much more will you pay for craft beer? "My suspicion is a buck a six-pack," says Hugh Sisson, president of Clipper City Brewing Co. in Baltimore...
Very hoppy beers might increase even more or just disappear from the market as the supply of prized aroma hops dries up.
Oh yeah, and the Cats are getting spanked. By Penn State.
Tuesday, January 1, 2008
a few new year's wishes
1. the death of the plutocracy and the cartels who love it
2. Paul Giamatti getting some good roles again - no more of this M. Night CRAP!
3. sorting out all the dvd/digital television crap so we can watch our FOX news in peace
4. the awakening of the American public spirit so that we don't put up with FOX and the assorted death of democracy that accompanies it
5. Meaningful and well-played Cubs baseball
6. Meaningful and well-planned strategies against the spread of any kind of extremist thought that carries the contagion of terrorism
7. real progress in the rights of workers
8. a growing realization that the value of the earth is more than an abstract
9. Morrissey's continued happiness and graceful aging
10. The Coen Brothers continuing not to make movies like Intolerable Cruelty and that horrible thing with Tom Hanks
2. Paul Giamatti getting some good roles again - no more of this M. Night CRAP!
3. sorting out all the dvd/digital television crap so we can watch our FOX news in peace
4. the awakening of the American public spirit so that we don't put up with FOX and the assorted death of democracy that accompanies it
5. Meaningful and well-played Cubs baseball
6. Meaningful and well-planned strategies against the spread of any kind of extremist thought that carries the contagion of terrorism
7. real progress in the rights of workers
8. a growing realization that the value of the earth is more than an abstract
9. Morrissey's continued happiness and graceful aging
10. The Coen Brothers continuing not to make movies like Intolerable Cruelty and that horrible thing with Tom Hanks
Sunday, December 30, 2007
more on rewarding incompetence
Hmmm, maybe the New York Fucking Times will give Dumbya his own column, too...
Bill Kristol is rewarded for being “wrong” on everything: NY Times gig is a comin’
This is really sick - especially when you consider it is happening at a time when the country is clearly moving more progressive, and there are so many good progressive columnists who have guest columned for the Times before (Ehrenreich, Katha Pollit, Tom Frank, etc.).
Either way - it is an absolute abomination from the standpoint of basic accountability. A pundit being factually wrong on almost everything he hung his hat on is rewarded by the largest newspaper in the world for his track record. If ever there was an example of the world of journalism literally thumbing its nose at basic accountability, this example of Bill Kristol falling up is it.
Bill Kristol is rewarded for being “wrong” on everything: NY Times gig is a comin’
This is really sick - especially when you consider it is happening at a time when the country is clearly moving more progressive, and there are so many good progressive columnists who have guest columned for the Times before (Ehrenreich, Katha Pollit, Tom Frank, etc.).
Either way - it is an absolute abomination from the standpoint of basic accountability. A pundit being factually wrong on almost everything he hung his hat on is rewarded by the largest newspaper in the world for his track record. If ever there was an example of the world of journalism literally thumbing its nose at basic accountability, this example of Bill Kristol falling up is it.
The New York Times Crawls Into the Gutter Agtain...
on hiring William Kristol:
To Whom It May Concern,
It is not so much my vehement disagreement with the beliefs of William Kristol that compels me to write against his hiring, it is his intellectual laziness and obvious and unquestioning partisanship, better suited for formats that seek profit through shrill pronouncements and simplifications rather than clarity and understanding through reporting. Perhaps this is the direction of your newspaper, it is not a direction I am comfortable with, nor one that does justice to conservative political beliefs. He lacks intellectual stamina and often fails to parse arguments with any kind of sophistication.
For instance, in his article "The 2008 Formula," a dismal piece that appeared in Time Magazine (for which he was paid to write an article that said exactly nothing) he argued that this was a "war election" and that war elections typically engendered results favoring hawkish candidates. Fair enough. What his argument ignored was how central the idea of winning the war was to Americans during these elections, in which, whether it was defeating fascists or communists (for naively, we thought communism was what we were fighting in Viet Nam and Korea and not anti-imperialist nationalism with totalitarian overtones, less communist than we could believe), we felt the future survival of America was at stake. Kristol has failed here and elsewhere to understand that Iraq is not central to Americans' idea of winning against terrorism. Winning Pakistan is more central, winning Saudi Arabia and Iran are more central, and to a lesser extent, winning states unstable and easily belligerent like North Korea. Americans understand these will be the future battlegrounds where terrorism will either flourish or dissapate, and the battles to contain terrorism will be fought not so much with weapons and attempts to force others to bend to our ways, but through deal-making, diplomacy and hard bargains on both sides. Sacrifices will have to be made, and for sure, the might of the United States must back up its desire to create stability and destroy havens of terrorism, but the policies Kristol has supported with weak argument and false evidences have completely failed. Kristol's columns, here particularly, relied on a basic fallacy common in arguments that use history: the fallacy of historical analogy.
Comparing one thing to another in a straightforward statement that takes into account none of the external factors in the case of either thing is a common mistake often leading to a misunderstanding both of history and of the current object of study (like Iraq). Americans understand this and they understand that the paranoias of 1952 and 1968 led only to more heartache and often, half-baked and self-destructive policies (vietnamization, Abu Ghraib, HUAC and other needless and painful reminders that democratic principles remain things to be aspired to rather than bedrocks of our country), and I believe that most Americans don't see the future of Iraq leading to a victorious conclusion in the war on terror - they see it for what it most probably is: a disastrous detour that stole much needed resources from the war on terror as well as the struggle to create an America that can keep up with the rapidly progressing Europe and Asia. The "war on terror" remains most what it should not be: a long wet kiss to the various cartels that control so much of America today.
The idea that a New York Times columnist would be so lazy as to make the kind of sophistry evident in the above cited article, in which history is so sloppily compared and contrasted, and in which a conclusion is so cavalierly arrived at, is depressing. Can anybody write for the New York Times? Who's next? Bill O'Reilly?
I understand that the New York Times is committed to the illusion of a neutral point of view in its reporting, and to the idea of offering room on its pages to "both sides of an argument." This would work if you hired people who were not partisan, but genuinely philosophical, married to ideas rather than interest groups and parties. People who were not afraid of complexities and who could think with any kind of empathy. You are offering the reputation of your paper to a writer who deserves neither that aura of respectability nor the space on your pages that could be offered to any number of more well qualified persons.
The decision to hire William Kristol represents another low point in this first decade of the 21st century of your paper's history. Not a decade that will make the future editors of the New York Times proud of the legacy they carry. Perhaps, we can hope though, they will be inspired to commit to a more rigorous examination of the news than this generation's editors. I pray that the New York Times will, at some point, take its responsibilities to report the news that is rather than the news certain policy groups and political parties wish it to be, more seriously.
best wishes,
Sarge
Brooklyn, NY
To Whom It May Concern,
It is not so much my vehement disagreement with the beliefs of William Kristol that compels me to write against his hiring, it is his intellectual laziness and obvious and unquestioning partisanship, better suited for formats that seek profit through shrill pronouncements and simplifications rather than clarity and understanding through reporting. Perhaps this is the direction of your newspaper, it is not a direction I am comfortable with, nor one that does justice to conservative political beliefs. He lacks intellectual stamina and often fails to parse arguments with any kind of sophistication.
For instance, in his article "The 2008 Formula," a dismal piece that appeared in Time Magazine (for which he was paid to write an article that said exactly nothing) he argued that this was a "war election" and that war elections typically engendered results favoring hawkish candidates. Fair enough. What his argument ignored was how central the idea of winning the war was to Americans during these elections, in which, whether it was defeating fascists or communists (for naively, we thought communism was what we were fighting in Viet Nam and Korea and not anti-imperialist nationalism with totalitarian overtones, less communist than we could believe), we felt the future survival of America was at stake. Kristol has failed here and elsewhere to understand that Iraq is not central to Americans' idea of winning against terrorism. Winning Pakistan is more central, winning Saudi Arabia and Iran are more central, and to a lesser extent, winning states unstable and easily belligerent like North Korea. Americans understand these will be the future battlegrounds where terrorism will either flourish or dissapate, and the battles to contain terrorism will be fought not so much with weapons and attempts to force others to bend to our ways, but through deal-making, diplomacy and hard bargains on both sides. Sacrifices will have to be made, and for sure, the might of the United States must back up its desire to create stability and destroy havens of terrorism, but the policies Kristol has supported with weak argument and false evidences have completely failed. Kristol's columns, here particularly, relied on a basic fallacy common in arguments that use history: the fallacy of historical analogy.
Comparing one thing to another in a straightforward statement that takes into account none of the external factors in the case of either thing is a common mistake often leading to a misunderstanding both of history and of the current object of study (like Iraq). Americans understand this and they understand that the paranoias of 1952 and 1968 led only to more heartache and often, half-baked and self-destructive policies (vietnamization, Abu Ghraib, HUAC and other needless and painful reminders that democratic principles remain things to be aspired to rather than bedrocks of our country), and I believe that most Americans don't see the future of Iraq leading to a victorious conclusion in the war on terror - they see it for what it most probably is: a disastrous detour that stole much needed resources from the war on terror as well as the struggle to create an America that can keep up with the rapidly progressing Europe and Asia. The "war on terror" remains most what it should not be: a long wet kiss to the various cartels that control so much of America today.
The idea that a New York Times columnist would be so lazy as to make the kind of sophistry evident in the above cited article, in which history is so sloppily compared and contrasted, and in which a conclusion is so cavalierly arrived at, is depressing. Can anybody write for the New York Times? Who's next? Bill O'Reilly?
I understand that the New York Times is committed to the illusion of a neutral point of view in its reporting, and to the idea of offering room on its pages to "both sides of an argument." This would work if you hired people who were not partisan, but genuinely philosophical, married to ideas rather than interest groups and parties. People who were not afraid of complexities and who could think with any kind of empathy. You are offering the reputation of your paper to a writer who deserves neither that aura of respectability nor the space on your pages that could be offered to any number of more well qualified persons.
The decision to hire William Kristol represents another low point in this first decade of the 21st century of your paper's history. Not a decade that will make the future editors of the New York Times proud of the legacy they carry. Perhaps, we can hope though, they will be inspired to commit to a more rigorous examination of the news than this generation's editors. I pray that the New York Times will, at some point, take its responsibilities to report the news that is rather than the news certain policy groups and political parties wish it to be, more seriously.
best wishes,
Sarge
Brooklyn, NY
Saturday, December 29, 2007
Factoid of the day
The fear of the number 666 is known as hexakosioihexekontahexaphobia.
US town escapes 666 phone prefix
US town escapes 666 phone prefix
End Times for Martians?
Asteroid's odds of hitting Mars at 4%
"I think it'll be cool," said Don Yeomans, who heads the Near-Earth Object Program at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
"I think it'll be cool," said Don Yeomans, who heads the Near-Earth Object Program at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
Well, Merry Christmas Zimbabwe, I guess..
Bleak Christmas for Zimbabweans
* Story Highlights
* Inflation-- the world's highest -- was about 8,000 percent officially in September
* Acute shortages of food and gasoline continue
* Power cuts added to the holiday misery
* Next Article in World (move along, nothing to see here) »
HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) -- Thousands of Zimbabweans waited for hours to get scarce currency from the banks so they could buy food and board buses on Monday for Christmas trips to their home villages.
[picture of many people waiting, looking pissed off] A riot police officer monitors people in a bank line on the day before Christmas in Harare, Zimbabwe on Monday.
"We call this the festive season but where is there any joy?" said housewife and mother Mildred Chikutu, who got into a line before dawn to withdraw the maximum allowed in a day, 50 million Zimbabwe dollars -- 25 U.S. dollars at the dominant black market rate -- enough to buy a hamburger.
"You queue for money, and that's only the beginning of the queuing," she said, heading into a nearby supermarket where many shelves were bare of basic goods. A line had formed at the bakery counter.
Inflation-- the world's highest -- was about 8,000 percent officially in September, but independent estimates put it nearer 100,000 percent.
With cash itself in short supply, the central bank has supplied new high denomination notes, the largest worth 750,000 Zimbabwe dollars -- about 37 U.S. cents at the black market rate. Banks still could not cope with the demand for cash after six weeks of acute shortages, and stayed open throughout Sunday to deal with withdrawal requests.
Power cuts, a continuing problem in Zimbabwe, added to the holiday misery.
Several suburbs in Harare, the capital, entered a 17th day without power, and large areas of the downtown business district, including the state power utility's headquarters, suffered intermittent outages. Officials at the main blood bank said some stocks were thrown away after a refrigeration generator broke down.
Even President Robert Mugabe's official residence went without power from the city power grid for more than a week before it was restored. But he also has a private mansion on the outskirts of the capital.
The internationally known Harare Club canceled its Christmas lunch during a six-day power outage.
Cars snaked around a gas station a block away awaiting a fuel delivery.
Dampened by overnight rains at the main Mbare long-distance bus terminal in the capital, thousands waited for buses to their villages. But the lines were smaller than in the past, as fares soared and acute shortages of food and gasoline continued.
[picture of miserable looking people loading a truck] Townspeople take chicken, sugar and other scarce commodities to rural relatives for the holidays.
Power and water outages occur daily across the country, blamed on shortages of spare parts, equipment and hard currency for electricity imports.
Zimbabwe was the breadbasket of the region and one of the world's top exporters of tobacco until the government seized white farmlands that were given mainly to cronies of Mugabe and his entourage, creating food shortages and a crisis that led a third of the population to flee the country.
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
* Story Highlights
* Inflation-- the world's highest -- was about 8,000 percent officially in September
* Acute shortages of food and gasoline continue
* Power cuts added to the holiday misery
* Next Article in World (move along, nothing to see here) »
HARARE, Zimbabwe (AP) -- Thousands of Zimbabweans waited for hours to get scarce currency from the banks so they could buy food and board buses on Monday for Christmas trips to their home villages.
[picture of many people waiting, looking pissed off] A riot police officer monitors people in a bank line on the day before Christmas in Harare, Zimbabwe on Monday.
"We call this the festive season but where is there any joy?" said housewife and mother Mildred Chikutu, who got into a line before dawn to withdraw the maximum allowed in a day, 50 million Zimbabwe dollars -- 25 U.S. dollars at the dominant black market rate -- enough to buy a hamburger.
"You queue for money, and that's only the beginning of the queuing," she said, heading into a nearby supermarket where many shelves were bare of basic goods. A line had formed at the bakery counter.
Inflation-- the world's highest -- was about 8,000 percent officially in September, but independent estimates put it nearer 100,000 percent.
With cash itself in short supply, the central bank has supplied new high denomination notes, the largest worth 750,000 Zimbabwe dollars -- about 37 U.S. cents at the black market rate. Banks still could not cope with the demand for cash after six weeks of acute shortages, and stayed open throughout Sunday to deal with withdrawal requests.
Power cuts, a continuing problem in Zimbabwe, added to the holiday misery.
Several suburbs in Harare, the capital, entered a 17th day without power, and large areas of the downtown business district, including the state power utility's headquarters, suffered intermittent outages. Officials at the main blood bank said some stocks were thrown away after a refrigeration generator broke down.
Even President Robert Mugabe's official residence went without power from the city power grid for more than a week before it was restored. But he also has a private mansion on the outskirts of the capital.
The internationally known Harare Club canceled its Christmas lunch during a six-day power outage.
Cars snaked around a gas station a block away awaiting a fuel delivery.
Dampened by overnight rains at the main Mbare long-distance bus terminal in the capital, thousands waited for buses to their villages. But the lines were smaller than in the past, as fares soared and acute shortages of food and gasoline continued.
[picture of miserable looking people loading a truck] Townspeople take chicken, sugar and other scarce commodities to rural relatives for the holidays.
Power and water outages occur daily across the country, blamed on shortages of spare parts, equipment and hard currency for electricity imports.
Zimbabwe was the breadbasket of the region and one of the world's top exporters of tobacco until the government seized white farmlands that were given mainly to cronies of Mugabe and his entourage, creating food shortages and a crisis that led a third of the population to flee the country.
Copyright 2007 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Monday, December 24, 2007
"It does not go far enough"
It's like baseball managers...From Frank Rich's Sunday column at the New York Times:
Whatever Mrs. Clinton’s experience as first lady or senator, what matters most in any case is not its sheer volume, that 35 years she keeps citing. It’s what she did or did not learn along the way that counts. That’s why one of the most revealing debate passages so far came in an exchange that earned much laughter but scant scrutiny this month in Des Moines.
This was the moment when Mr. Obama was asked how he could deliver a clean break from the past while relying on “so many Clinton advisers.” Mrs. Clinton jokingly called out, “I want to hear that,” prompting Mr. Obama to one-up her by responding, “Well, Hillary, I’m looking forward to you advising me, as well.”
Well, touché. But what was left unexamined beneath the levity was a revealing distinction between these two candidates. The questioner was right: Mr. Obama, like Mrs. Clinton, has indeed turned to former Clintonites for foreign-policy advice. But the Clinton players were not homogeneous, and who ended up with which ’08 candidate is instructive.
The principal foreign-policy Clinton alumni in Mr. Obama’s campaign include Susan Rice, a former assistant secretary of state, and Tony Lake, the former national security adviser and a prewar skeptic who said publicly in February 2003 that the Bush administration had not made the case that Saddam was an “imminent threat.” Ms. Rice, in an eloquent speech in November 2002, said that the Bush administration was “trying to change the subject to Iraq” from the war against Al Qaeda and warned that if it tried to fight both wars at once, “one, if not both, will suffer.” Her text now reads as a bookend to Mr. Obama’s senatorial campaign speech challenging the wisdom of the war only weeks earlier that same fall.
Mrs. Clinton’s current team was less prescient. Though it includes one of the earlier military critics of Bush policy, Gen. Wesley Clark, he is balanced by Gen. Jack Keane, an author of the Bush “surge.” The Clinton campaign’s foreign policy and national security director is a former Madeleine Albright aide, Lee Feinstein, who in November 2002 was gullible enough to say on CNBC that “we should take the president at his word, which is that he sees war as a last resort” — an argument anticipating the one Mrs. Clinton still uses to defend her vote on the Iraq war authorization.
In late April 2003, a week before “Mission Accomplished,” Mr. Feinstein could be found on CNN saying that he was “fairly confident” that W.M.D. would turn up in Iraq. Asked if the war would be a failure if no weapons were found, he said, “I don’t think that that’s a situation we’ll confront.” Forced to confront exactly that situation over the next year, he dug in deeper, co-writing an essay for Foreign Affairs (available on its Web site) arguing that “the biggest problem with the Bush pre-emption strategy may be that it does not go far enough.”
Whatever Mrs. Clinton’s experience as first lady or senator, what matters most in any case is not its sheer volume, that 35 years she keeps citing. It’s what she did or did not learn along the way that counts. That’s why one of the most revealing debate passages so far came in an exchange that earned much laughter but scant scrutiny this month in Des Moines.
This was the moment when Mr. Obama was asked how he could deliver a clean break from the past while relying on “so many Clinton advisers.” Mrs. Clinton jokingly called out, “I want to hear that,” prompting Mr. Obama to one-up her by responding, “Well, Hillary, I’m looking forward to you advising me, as well.”
Well, touché. But what was left unexamined beneath the levity was a revealing distinction between these two candidates. The questioner was right: Mr. Obama, like Mrs. Clinton, has indeed turned to former Clintonites for foreign-policy advice. But the Clinton players were not homogeneous, and who ended up with which ’08 candidate is instructive.
The principal foreign-policy Clinton alumni in Mr. Obama’s campaign include Susan Rice, a former assistant secretary of state, and Tony Lake, the former national security adviser and a prewar skeptic who said publicly in February 2003 that the Bush administration had not made the case that Saddam was an “imminent threat.” Ms. Rice, in an eloquent speech in November 2002, said that the Bush administration was “trying to change the subject to Iraq” from the war against Al Qaeda and warned that if it tried to fight both wars at once, “one, if not both, will suffer.” Her text now reads as a bookend to Mr. Obama’s senatorial campaign speech challenging the wisdom of the war only weeks earlier that same fall.
Mrs. Clinton’s current team was less prescient. Though it includes one of the earlier military critics of Bush policy, Gen. Wesley Clark, he is balanced by Gen. Jack Keane, an author of the Bush “surge.” The Clinton campaign’s foreign policy and national security director is a former Madeleine Albright aide, Lee Feinstein, who in November 2002 was gullible enough to say on CNBC that “we should take the president at his word, which is that he sees war as a last resort” — an argument anticipating the one Mrs. Clinton still uses to defend her vote on the Iraq war authorization.
In late April 2003, a week before “Mission Accomplished,” Mr. Feinstein could be found on CNN saying that he was “fairly confident” that W.M.D. would turn up in Iraq. Asked if the war would be a failure if no weapons were found, he said, “I don’t think that that’s a situation we’ll confront.” Forced to confront exactly that situation over the next year, he dug in deeper, co-writing an essay for Foreign Affairs (available on its Web site) arguing that “the biggest problem with the Bush pre-emption strategy may be that it does not go far enough.”
Sunday, December 23, 2007
not in photo: Smiff
Photo caption: Uniformed members of the "St. George Spirits Special Forces Tactical Alcohol Consumption Squad" Jennifer Wylie (left), Kevin Roche, and Johanna Mead sample absinthe at the St. George Spirits distillery in Alameda, California on Friday. Hundreds of customers waited hours for the chance to buy the first U.S. made and sold absinthe since 1912.
aka Smiff's Beer
Coronado Brewing's Idiot IPA
The CBC Idiot IPA is an all natural India Pale Ale. A big beer with an 8.5% ABV and brewed with over 3 lbs of hops per barrel. Watch out, this unfiltered "San Diego IPA" has been known to reduce even the most intelligent to a blithering "idiot".
The CBC Idiot IPA is an all natural India Pale Ale. A big beer with an 8.5% ABV and brewed with over 3 lbs of hops per barrel. Watch out, this unfiltered "San Diego IPA" has been known to reduce even the most intelligent to a blithering "idiot".
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