Blogging for the man

2003-11-02T00:55:00.000-08:00

At long last....

Here are my takes on each of the teams of the NBA's Eastern Conference (in no discernable order as always)

New Jersey Nets- Showed that they really didn't need a dominante center to make it to the Finals last year, so getting a (hopefully) healthy Alonzo Mourning to replace the useless Dikemebe Mutumbo will nicely complement their blazing frontcourt of Kenyon Martin and Richard Jefferson. Not to mention that Jason Kidd guy. I do hear he's quite the fine point guard.
I expect them to make it back to the NBA Finals for a third straight season.

Detroit Pistons- Shaking things up by dumping Rick Carlisle to bring in Larry Brown could be quite a
For one, Larry Brown will certainly be able to apply himself much more without having to deal with a difficult player like Allen Iverson. However, his dislike of inserting rookies straight into the mix could hurt them with his refusal to play Darko Milicic when he provides a consistent inside scoring threat (albeit not a complete one yet) the Pistons so desperately need

Cleveland Caveliers-So far LeBron James has certainly lived up to his share of the hype and I predict we will see more of the same from him. Whether or not he, along with new coach Paul Silas, can get into the heads of an underachiever like Darius Miles and a stat-padder like Ricky Davis and can help change these players of the better of the team.
I have a feeling he will in the long term, just not this year. They will be something to watch however.

Washington Wizards-Recently acquired (from Golden State) point guard Gilbert Arenas did guarantee that the Wizards will make the playoffs this year but I have a feeling history will prove him wrong. Don't get me wrong, the Wizards finally have the right catalyst for their offense with a player like Arenas but they just haven't given him enough to work with to make them a playoff team.

Chicago Bulls- With the Junior twin towers of Eddy Curry and Tyson Chandler entering their third year, a lot of people are expecting their talent to flower and bring the Bulls back into the playoff in what has been, speaking as a Bulls fan, too long on the outside. Scottie Pippen will help by bringing in a needed veteran presence and I do predict a playoff appearance, albeit a brief one, come this summer.

New Orleans Hornets- Violated rule number 1 in professional basketball: When you have a good, but not spectacular coach who can never seem to get it done in the late stages of the playoffs (Read: Paul Silas) when it comes time to replace, never get a coach who could barely break the Mendoza line with his NBA win-loss percentage (Read: Tim Floyd)
I have a feeling everyone who loves this franchise will be glad that it's New Orelans where they play.

Philadelphia 76ers-Not having Larry Brown around does not mean that Allen Iverson will suddenly run wild, but it certainly won't help. With a off-season which contained to no real steps to improve their team

Milwaukee Bucks-Having (necessarily) dumped the old guard of Ray Allen, Glenn Robinson and Sam Casell and the horribly overrated George Karl, they are making the fresh start they need, but it will likely be a couple of years until any changes are tangible. This year, expect malaise in Milwaukee.

New York Knicks- Another case where a fresh start was needed and recieved. Luckily for them,it appears as if Keith Van Horn has finally found a place for his admittedly large scoring proclivity and if their twin tower project in Maejec Lampe and Mike Sweetney can go a bit faster than planned, they will be force for a while to come. A mid-lower tier playoff team this year.

Atlanta Hawks-Plenty of talent, almost no cohesion. In this East however, they could very well find themselves with the 7 or 8 seed in the playoffs.

Indiana Pacers- Resigning Jermaine O'Neal was really all they needed to be back in the playoff picture but Ron Artest's temper could prove to be an issue as it was last year. It will be interesting to see how Rick Carlisle will deal it if that happens

Orlando Magic-Solidified themselves in the frontcourt by signing Juwan Howard and allowed Darrell Armstrong to go somewhere he can actually make a difference, bringing in Tyron Lue to fill in that gap at 2 guard. Even with Grant Hill's career hopefully not but unfortunately over, they'll still be contenders. I don't buy into them being the best in the East however

Toronto Raptors-With Vince Carter appearing to return to the 2000-2001 form which led to (premature) comparisons with Michael Jordan, it appears as if the Raptors are primed for another jaunt into the playoffs, but unless other players can step up (perhaps rookie Chris Bosh who has looked impressive at flashes), it'll be a short one

2003-10-28T16:18:00.000-08:00

Are you ready for some.....basketball?

After one hellacious off-season, the NBA is finally ready to get its game on and I, for can't wait.
Things are obviously too early to make any sort of rankings which I will just end up eating anyways but things just wouldn't be complete without some pre-season pontification. So here goes:

Los Angeles Lakers-As long as Kobe and Shaq can keep from imploding the team with their latest verbal sparring, and Kobe can stay out of legal troubles, the Lakers are the team to beat. With Kobe gone, or the relationship troubles between Kobe and Shaq spilling onto the court, they'll still be a strong contendor, but not nearly as invincible.

San Antonio Spurs- Only real loss was an already diminished David Robinson and added the versatile, Rasho Nesterovic as a suitable replacement for the departed Robinson and Ron Mercer for extra scoring support. They kept themselves from being blown off the map (talentwise) when the Lakers added Malone and Payton and I think they'll be rewarded because of it.

Dallas Mavericks- A whole ton of firepower. Not enough defense to deal with the big guns.

Sacramento Kings- With no Chris Webber for at least a month and a depleted bench, which was their strong point, they'll be hard pressed to duplicate anything resembling their successes of the previous two seasons.

Houston Rockets- If Jeff Van Gundy can continue the transformation of the Rockets into a team which runs through Yao Ming and not Steve Francis, they'll be a cinch for the playoffs.

Minnesota Timberwolves- Along with the Lakers, the prime mover in the NBA this offseason. Adding both Latrell Sprewell and Sam Cassell give the T-Wolves more viable scoring options beyond just Wally Szczerbiak and Kevin Garnett and Michael Olowakandi is an upgrade from Rasho Nesterovic in at center. Unfortunately, the T-Wolves will likely encounter the same problems as the Mavericks with the excess of scorers, especially when Troy Hudson returns from injury.

Phoenix Suns- With Penny Hardaway seemingly healthy for the first time in a long time, all they need to do is to put all the pieces together, and they'll do some serious damage.

Portland Trailblazers- With no real stabilizing influences (read: Scottie Pippen) on this team, look for them to implode.

Golden State Warriors-Losing both Gilbert Arenas and Antwan Jamison means we're going to likely have to wait a bit longer for the Warriors to make the playoffs; and that's assuming Nick Van Exel can live up to his potential.

Denver Nuggets-Drafting Carmelo Anthony and signing Andre Miller will infuse some life into this long-suffering franchise. The playoff are a long shot this year but I have a feeling they will exceed a lot of people's expectations regardless.

Los Angeles Clippers- A team in need of veteran leadership loses...veteran leadership in the form of Michael Olowakandi. And then lose Andre Miller and Lamar Odom. This won't be their year.

Memphis Grizzlies-A 35 win team if Jason Williams can step up and become a competent 2-guard.

Seattle Supersonics- Ray Allen with Glenn Robinson and Sam Casell couldn't get it done in Milwaukee. Therefore, I have no reason to believe Ray Allen with Brent Barry will even come close to getting it done, especially in this Western Conference.

Utah Jazz- No John Stockton + no Karl Malone= long season.

Eastern Conference previews will come tomorrow.

EDIT: Result of a combinaton of laziness and actual business, Eastern conference preivew is coming much later than usual, but will still be hear in order to ensure the East Coast bias when it comes to sports stories remains.

2003-10-20T18:33:00.000-07:00

Reload! Reload!

With the whole Kobe Bryant ordeal looming like a spectre around it's easy for the casual basketball to ignore stories which actually pertain to sports and only sports. Luckily for the NBA addict (such as myself), there has been a pretty big flurry of activity with lots of players moving to new places.

Much like the Lakers in the offseason who acquired Karl Malone and Gary Payton, the Dallas Mavericks were busy getting Antawn Jamison from the Warriors earlier in the summer and today acquring Antoine Walker from the Celtics.

As much as I like Employee Number 8 and 'Tawn, I do question the wisdom of both of these moves. I understand dumping both Raef LaFrentz and Nick Van Exel, who were more less just dead-weight on a starting five which wasn't wanting for any more scorers but to replace with two more ball-hogs, espcially Antoine Walker who's never seen a shot he did like, appears to me to be the Dallas Mavericks trying to make like their really doing something too challenge the Lakers/Spurs/Kings but are just spinning their wheels with bigger names.

Perhaps Mark Cuban is hoping that both of these players will but unlike Karl Malone and Gary Payton who would likely be willing to experience a diminished role for that last chance at a Championship (though how diminished is obviously dependent what happens to/does Kobe Bryant), Antawn Jamison and Antoine Walker, who I doubt are willing to make much sacrifice, are young and therefore really don't have much to lose personally by padding their stats.

So the Mavs will certainly be quite a fun team to watch, but I'd put the chances of a superstar meltdown akin to that seen in Portland above them winning it all this year.

2003-10-02T23:21:00.000-07:00

Know when to fold 'em

Via Kevin Drum (aka Calpundit) I see that Florida Senator Bob Graham will drop out of the 2K4 Presidential Race

Certainly this a good move from the Democratic perspective as it gives them a greater chance of holding on to Graham's senate seat, which is up for grabs as well in 2004.

I can't help but wonder now if another Southern Democratic Senator, who isn't polling too well, will follow Graham's lead and try to improve their chances of regaining a majority in the Senate.

NOTE: There seems to be a quite a bit of confusion here. Here's an additonal AP story where it appears that a lot of people around Bob Graham who aren't Bob Graham say he's in the running but when it comes to a story about an individual, I always take the view that it's much better to trust the source as opposed to their handlers.

2003-09-22T11:01:00.000-07:00

Chronicles of a waining libido

There's way too much good stuff in here
to cover but I'll go with a personal favorite:

1. Lip liner. To paraphrase David Cross: "Lip liner makes your mouth look like an asshole. You're talking and I'm imagining six different types of shit coming out of your mouth."

Mad props to Tbogg

2003-09-16T16:31:00.000-07:00

Fall from Grace

Although I may have several conservative leanings, I usually end up disagreeing with conservative comentators as a result of their general abrasiveness. One of the few who I believe adds anything to a debate is David Brooks.

Since they started a couple of weeks ago, I've found his New York Times columns at least readable (which is more than I can for any other of the Times's columnists as of late).

Today, though, he comes out with what pretty much can be described as a stinker .

He attempts to try to show why Howard Dean is the weakest of Democratic Presidental candidates through some basic facts about the American electorate (more polarized, more educated, etc.) but really not much except for the tired old charges of how Howard Dean is just another member of the far-left, where a careful examination of some very important issues shows nothing of the sort.

Obviously Howard Dean has put his foot in mouth, especially on military manners, but I wonder if those GOP pollsters who Brooks but so much stock into will be so happy if Dean is sucessfully able to paint himelf back into the centrist corner if he does indeed get the Democratic nomination.

2003-08-22T22:07:00.000-07:00

Man bites dog

He's been called a wacky liberal by some, a stalwart cenrist by others; but people must now be ready to add something else to the resume of Howard Dean: Wall Street Journal op-ed contributor.

No need to adjust you monitors

2003-08-09T21:50:00.000-07:00

Leap of something

Kevin Drum, who I'm going to be counting on for all my California recall punidtry needs, goes on record as saying current Liutenant Governor Cruz Bustamante will be the next governor after some very fancy work with demographics and such which you can read about . here

Being totally unfamiliar with the electoral makeup of California I trust that he's more or less correct. However, I suppose the other scenario which could see Bustamante become governor is if Gray Davis just steps down and therefore invalidates the whole jig. That's unlikely though given Davis's history of being any over hardass when it comes to self-preservation.

In terms of the here and now, I think it would probably be a good thing for the Democratic party to just get rid of Gray Davis by cajoling him somehow to step down given that he is such a reviled figure, among Democrats almost as much Republicans but I fear the signal that would send to rabble-rousers everywhere that you can invalidate a legitmate exercise of the electoral process just because you don't like who came out on top.

2003-08-04T10:35:00.000-07:00

Ladies and Gentlemen: Get out your tinfoil hats!

With the news that Colin Powell and Richard Armitage won't join Bush 43 for a second go-around (if it happens of course), conspiracy theories, as expected, are abounding from the left of the blogosphere that they're being forced out in some grand neocon coup to take over our entire foreign policy.

While everyone, myself included, don't doubt that Powell isn't at least a little frustrated with how the whole PNAC gang has seem to have stolen the whole damn show from more the more cautious by nature diplomats and generals (remember Eric Shinseki?) I find it hard to believe that now he's suddenly just snapped and decided he can take no more. I would've bought this right after the war finished when the Dept. of Defense and cronies thereof were leaning down on Syria but not now. After all, they've really stopped leaning on any country for war-anyone hear anything about Syria in the past three months?- as it seems they've finally realized We have enough troubles in Iraq (to say nothing of Afghanistan) as it is.

As for what should be done with the State Department now, if Bush is reelected, I think this would be a great time for him to reach out to the Democrats and tap someone like Bill Richardson, in the same way Clinton chose noted Republican William Cohen to be Secretary of Defense as opposed to the alternative: this guy.

2003-08-02T19:14:00.000-07:00

Talkin' Baseball

Without further ado, here are my (kinda) bold playoff predictions:

American League
Central: Chicago White Sox
Comment-What's been happening since the all-star break is really how it should've been all along. The Royals starting off like gangbusters was a nice story for baseball but it should've been obvious that their talent (or lackthereof) was never enough to take the division away from a team like the Sox who were victimized by poor pitching from the usual suspects-Bartolo Colon and Mark Buerhle-and a bad batting slump. By making the moves to get Robbie Alomar and Carl Everrett, the front office showed it believed this team can do it and with the resurrection of the bats, especially Paul Konerko, and with Esteban Loaiza's amazing year they should clinch the division with at least a week left in the season.
East: New York Yankees
Comment-A classic case of too much for Boston. Where the Red Sox have Pedro Martinez and Derek Lowe, the Yankees have Roger Clemens, Mike Mussina, David Wells and so on. Where the Red Sox have Manny Ramierz, the Yanks Jason Giambi. Nomar Garciaparra, Derek Jeter. And then the Yankees have Hideki Matsui, Bernie Williams, Aaron Boone....just too much.
West: Seattle Mariners
Comment- This is a real close call. I'm very tempted to call it t the A's because I'm such a fan of starting pitching but the way I see it: The Mariners have been playing poor baseball for the past month and still maintain a lead on the A's. Also, last year's big catalyst for them, Miguel Tejada has just been in the dumps and I don't view it as likely that he'll be able to step up to the point of giving his team the confidence to push up through.
Wild Card: A's
Comment-Whoever doesn't win the West wins the Wild Card. What can I say? I just don't believe Boston's a good enough team in this field to make it

National League:
Central: Astros
Comment-It breaks my heart to have to go against the Cubs but given their situation out in center field and the way no player has been able to consistently step it up at the plate As for the Cardinals, if they had any from of reliable pitching they'd run away with this division, but they have none, so they won't get in.
East: Atlanta Braves
Comment-That race has been over for quite some time now.
West: San Francisco Giants
Comment-Ditto.
Wild Card: Florida Marlins. This is really close between them and the Phillies but Florida has Dontrelle Willis. Yeah he's only one pitcher but the way he has pumped new life into this franchise has been something to watch. Somehow, along with some unexpectedly sound coaching by noted fossil Jack Mckeon, this team has been able to make the most out of its very talented pitching and it underrated starting line-up to do something pretty special. Yeah, all this speculation about how they're the next big thing may be a bit overblown but the fact that they're even creating a buzz at all is a story. It seems as if after a while, perception becomes reality and I think this is the case with this team.

2003-08-01T16:41:00.000-07:00

Where's my steak now?

In keeping with my tradition of hating far-leftish groups (as well of those of the far right)- I think it would do me well to ask if everyone reading this would just mind grabbing a nice big steak or other meat cutlet of your choice and enjoy in light of
this sheer idiocy:

A University of Tennessee professor, after visiting the North Dakota Heritage Center, also became a target of taunts after it appeared he seemed to be more aligned with Prescott's views during PETA's couple-hour display of its "Holocaust on Your Plate" panels. The Virginia-based group, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, has eight 60-square-foot panels that show photos of Nazi death camps next to photos of factory farm and slaughterhouse scenes.

PETA spokespeople -- Prescott and two interns -- are touring the country with the message that the Nazi view of the Holocaust victims as "life unworthy of life" can be compared to modern society's mentality that allows the abuse of animals in factory-farm facilities where, PETA alleges, animals are mistreated.

New favorite of mine, pandagon sums it here:

Yeah, that's gonna win over us meat-eaters. We're Nazis. I suppose this is better than trying to convince us that the head of Tyson Foods is Pol Pot.

2003-07-31T21:57:00.000-07:00

This is....interesting

Via agonist (via the State Dept.) comes the following:

President Bush has formally renewed the U.S. sanctions against Iraq, citing continued instability in the country, as well as the need to "ensure the establishment of a process leading to representative Iraqi self-rule."

To extend the sanctions, the president certified to Congress that Iraq continues to pose a threat to the United States. Click here for complete text of certification notice.

Well, I thought major combat operations were over, but well what do I know?

2003-07-31T16:32:00.000-07:00

Dean says..WHAAA?

. Kevin Drum doesn't like Howard Dean saying the following:

While we focused on Iraq, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was neglected. The President, despite knowing how critical his personal involvement was, refused to engage for over two full years, squandering the momentum he inherited from the Clinton administration.

Because:

Look, I give Clinton credit for doing everything he could to make the 2000 summit work, but he failed. The intifada was in full swing by the time Bush took office and Sharon beat Barak bloody in the Israeli elections just a couple of weeks later. Things spiraled completely out of control in the ensuing months.

I agree with him that 2000 summit at Camp David with Barak and Arafat was really doomed to fail because of the half-assed effort which was given by all sides. However, its impossible to admit that Clinton did indeed have some momentum, espeically after the 1994 Oslo Accords but if we all remember it was because of an Isreali extremist-which doesn't mean I view Palestianian extremism as a grave threat to peace but we have to remember it takes two to tango-that these proceedings failed.
I also agree that it wouldn't have made much sense for Bush to get too involved during the height of the intifada because, at the time, the lack of urgency given to the situation would mean just another half (or even quarter)-assed gesture just dragging this administration deep into the mud without getting anything solved. That being said, I believe a good time to have done something would have been in early 2002 in order to show good faith to Arab world that we're more than just concerned with own self-interests in the region.

Which I suppose brings us to the question of how just how much any outside party can do to stop an ethnic conflict such as this one. The answer in the Middle East has never been as simple as "send in the peacekeepers", but instead its a whole lot more complex than that. Exactly what that entails I can't tell you but I can say the operative words are patience, diplomacy and, above all, cooperation. Unfortunately, if either side cannot control its most unmalleable elements into something which isn't so condusive to violence, then no President-regardless of how hard he tries-will be able to make peace

2003-07-29T21:50:00.000-07:00

Market driven lunacy

I, for one, am incredibly glad that the idea of a whole about to occur. Futures Market for Terrorism was axed with overwhelming support today. However I am even more appreciative that I had not heard about the idea before to today because the sheer lunacy of it all would have driven me, well, loony.

There are a number of good reasons to oppose this, and that's even without getting into the very salient issue of how morbid it is to be speculating on catastrophe for profit.
For one, it's obvious that terrorism is not a market-driven business. Any reason why these, in theory, very intelligent men would try to pin it down to that is simply beyond me.
I think we have to remember that most of whats driving the terrorists is the idea that they will be met in the hereafter by seventy virgins , not get seventy bucks to drop at the Kandahar Home Depot (or equivalent thereof).
The second is that its very easy for this system to be craven to shifts which are totally unreleated to terrorism as a result of this whole "market" being open to the public, so some yahoo just trying to see if he can make a quick buck over a terrorist act or just fuck around in general can end up greatly diverting attention to a plot which may not be even in its infancy stages while another is just irresponsible and plain wrong.

2003-07-28T21:29:00.000-07:00

It's not just a flesh wound anymore

With all the rumblings going around that Paul Bremer could soon be out of his pseudo-viceroyship in lieu of James Baker, some have been a bit weary of the prospect, notably Josh Marshall but I feel this could be a pretty big step in the right direction. Fred Kaplan sums it up:

The second interesting thing about Baker is that he is, and always has been, deeply opposed to the unilateralist views that currently dominate the Pentagon and the White House. Last August, Baker wrote an op-ed piece in the New York Times, urging the president not to "go it alone" in confronting Iraq and to "reject the advice of those who counsel doing so." (Shortly after that piece—which was widely viewed as having been inspired, or at least approved, by Bush's father—the president did indeed take his case to the United Nations.) Just last April, at a speech before Toronto's corporate elite at the Empire Club of Canada, Baker talked of mending U.S. relations with the traditional allies and working more again with the United Nations.

The fact that Baker is being considered for the job might indicate that Bush finally realizes he can't secure and rebuild Iraq on his own, that allies are necessary. And who better to get those allies onboard than Baker, who got them onboard before?

And so we might soon see a great battle on the Potomac, a rematch of last year's grueling duel of Powell and the diplomats vs. Rumsfeld and the neo-cons. Only this time, with a Bush-backed Baker tipping the scales, the diplomats could win.

I certainly hope so.

UPDATE: Well, there goes that hope.

2003-07-27T14:35:00.000-07:00

For clarity's sake

Pretty much everyone, regardless of where they ideological spectrum have been pushing for the U.S to take a tougher approach to the House of Saud to stop their promotion of Wahabi extremism.
However, as Kevin Drum (alias Calpundit) points out, there are really few plausible recourses within the "tougher approach" to take:

Whatever their faults, the House of Saud is basically friendly toward the United States. Destabilizing them has a very high probability of bringing to power someone even worse from a U.S. perspective. Much worse, in fact.

We could send in troops, of course, but surely no one is seriously considering that? Aside from the fact that we're stretched thin already, it's hard to imagine anything we could do that would stir up more hatred toward us in the Arab world. An American presence in Mecca and Medina would set the entire region in flames.

Economic sanctions are a possibility, but the Saudis, needless to say, can fight back. They depend on oil money, to be sure, but even so they can probably withstand a decrease in oil revenue far better than the industrialized world can withstand oil at $100 a barrel. The Saudis are instinctively committed to stability, but piss them off enough and they might decide to fight back.

I guess being tougher would just involve really trying to bring them into account in the public arena, starting with publicizing those 28 pages which were omitted from the 9/11 report which would no doubt pressure them into more action.
Also, they would be served well to be reminded that the same extremism formented by the House of Saud doesn't just deflect the hatred of its people to the US but also serves to undermine their reign as well.

2003-07-24T19:46:00.000-07:00
F----d or F-e?

With the 9/11 report really delivering no big "kick me" signs to anyone in particular but the whole system of pre-9/11 intelligence, it seems as if the wishes of both hard-right and hard-left factions would hope that it did. Instead, it was a compendium of intelligence failures which I'm sure we all hope have been rectified with the greater moves towards intergration between the main bureaus of intelligence with many of the moves taken since.

However, What is especially troubling about this report is what's not for public consumption, namely the fact that large sections dealing with the Saudi government's role have been censored by the powers that be. Obviously I do not wish that national security be compromised but I wonder exactly if everyone has the exact same threshold for what constitutes a necessary secret as it seems that the Bush administration seems to have a somewhat, but not nearly criminally or unecessarily, low one.
I would seriously doubt that the connection reaches to such high levels that Crown Prince Abudallah and Prince Bandar were giving direct ordes to Mohammed Atta but it has been clearly demonstrated that the House of Saud is willing to fuel the fundamentalist fire in order to make everyone forget that they're the ones who the hardliners in Arab world really want to burn.

As of now, no one except for the hard-right base is pushing for regime change in Saudi Arabia, which I do not feel is nearly necessary now and does carry much greater costs, in several facets than the Iraq invasion but I feel that a better approach is needed by the administration than simply being placated by some last-second crackdowns and, in a dangerously real sense, whistling through the graveyard.

2003-07-24T18:57:00.000-07:00
Conventional wisdom for an unconvential election year

A lot of people on the near-to-relatively far end of the blogosphere have been touting this article in the American Prospect by Michael Tomasky about how to stop the Green party from stealing votes now that they are virtually assured of running a candidate in 2004.

Here's basically the long story short (taken in part from Matt Yglesias's blog)

So here's a thought for an enterprising Democratic candidate: Attack Nader right now, and with lupine ferocity. Say he's a madman for thinking of running again. Blast him especially hard on foreign policy, saying that if it were up to the Greens, America would give no aid to Israel and it would cease to exist, and if it were up to the Greens, America would not have even defended itself against a barbarous attack by going into Afghanistan. Have at him, and hard, from the right. Then nail him from the left on certain social issues, on abortion rights and other things that he's often pooh-poohed and dismissed as irrelevant. Cause an uproar. Be dramatic. Don't balance it with praise about what he's done for consumers. To the contrary, talk about how much he's damaging consumers today by not caring who's in charge of the Food and Drug Administration or the Federal Communications Commission. [...]

However, I think Democrats have to carry out one hell of a delicate balancing act in that Democrats will have to be careful in attacking from the right in that. Obviously this will vary regarding the candidate but given some of the rhetoric coming from the not usual suspects (Gephardt saying he'd issue an executive order against any President Bush decision he did not agree with being one example) it's possible they may have moven a bit to the left to placate a rejuivinated-by-Dean base such that they may have to eat some of their words come the strech run.

That being said, I think the Greens will have even less impact than they did in 2000 simply because 9/11 has really put everything into a new light for enough people where they realize that the Green party's extreme leftish views, including on foreign policy, really have absolutley no current relevance. Also, its hard to diminish the effect of enough people believing that Ralph Nader cost Al Gore the 2000 election, of which I am totally not convinced, that they will try their damned hardest over these next 16 months to cajole, admonish, beat their Green-leaning friends into voting Democrat whether they like the candidate or not.

The Green party certainly has the right to run in whatever election they choose but I think that they should be careful in deciding to flied a candidate in this particular election which really looks like it will be decided by moderates as opposed to radicals. Especially given the heat they've taken from the left wing Democratic base; which is the same group who've been giving George W. Bush so (sometimes too much) shit and a few of whom likely now regret having decided Gore was too moderate in 2000. I believe they risk running themselves into oblivion, certainly not the White House at least.

2003-07-22T21:54:00.000-07:00
I hereby dub me Buzzkill

Moderating from my former liberatarian view that ecstasy (like all drugs) should be completely legal, I'm now for strict penalities for large scale dealers, more sensible punishments for simple pushers, users.
Here's an excellent piece in the Washington Monthly by Benjamin Wallace- Wells telling you the hows and whys

2003-07-22T15:51:00.000-07:00
A coup is still a coup

Much like the day Baghdad fell, you don't have to support the war (though I did) to be glad that Uday and Qusay Hussein are gone . While this isn't necessarily the coup the right wants everyone to believe it is- it would've been nice to extract every last bit of information from them as possible-I find it hard to believe that this won't have an effect, at least for the time being, of diminishing the fear of Ba'athist party retribution which is keeping some from cooperating a bit more with the coalition authority.

Regardless, this should be no reason at al to become complacent in the rebuiliding and democratization effort over there and the battle for truth over exactly what Saddam had when which is going on over here

2003-07-21T17:33:00.000-07:00
The Dean Wars

Round 30:

Al Hunt: Pro (Sorta)
Jonathan Chait: Con

2003-07-21T16:52:00.000-07:00
Enough already

In my opinion, we've waited for too long to send troops into Liberia; not just for the pressing. humanitarian concerns but for strategic reasons as well, including this as pointed out in The New Republic.

In September 1998, Abdullah Ahmed Abdullah, a top Al Qaeda operative, visited Liberia and met with Taylor and senior members of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF), the vicious Taylorcontrolled militia that invaded Sierra Leone in 1991 to take over the country's diamond mines. Abdullah trained Al Qaeda recruits in explosives in Afghanistan, participated in operations against Americans in Somalia, and helped plan the East African embassy bombings in 1998.

2003-07-16T20:20:00.000-07:00
Great news perverts!

Is this just not the greatest headling for men?
Study says Masturbating lowers prostate cancer risk

Needless to say, I think there's going to be a greater need to take care when shaking hands/hi-fiving/other activities involving the hands.

2003-07-12T16:45:00.000-07:00
Stuck in the middle (what else is new)?

As a disarmament hawk, I've been conflicted with what to think about what must be the first mea culpa to come from the Bush administration: that its claim that Saddam Hussein attempted to purchase uranium from Niger, was bogus .

I don't share the confidence/thickheadedness of my fellow hawks that this was just a simple little boo-boo and should be just glossed over. Indeed a whole bunch of claims (Saddam's supposed links with al-qaeda, that he had an active, tangible nuclear weapons program, that weapons of mass destruction could be deployed within 45 minutes) were far from realistic and to anyone with in-depth knowledge of the situtation, just plain-ol off the mark.

Not to mention the fact that the whole idea of pre-emptive war relies upon intelligence and if this process is proven to be too inaccurate then I think its safe to see that pre-emption will definently become more of an exception than a rule, as it should have been in the first place.
Notwithstanding these, there did exist a case, one which I believed in, that the catalog of broken UN violations, unnaccounted for weapons of mass destruction, previous use of weapons of mass destruction and overall malevloent nature which is one which few have been able to refute since then. However, as the search for these weapons continues to go fruitless, not to mention the way too slow (but somewhat steady) progress in making Iraq into a truly liberated nation I must admit that I have had to do a bit of searching within myself as to why I supported the war, but I'm not nearly ready to say it was a mistake.

2003-07-11T20:15:00.000-07:00
A sound choice

My first thought when I saw that Jason Kidd resigned with the Nets, as opposed to going to the Spurs as was thought, was that he just threw his chance at an NBA championship away. However, the more I thought about it the more clear it became that J-Kidd had made a pretty choice anyways.
A simple look at the Nets line-up will tell you that
Kenyon Martin and Richard Jefferson are developing into one hell of a frontcourt
By signing Alonzo Mourning, despite his health troubles, the Nets make sure that they have presence in the center regardless of
And whenever Kerry Kittles shoots well, it means that all everyone of the Nets starting 5 is a dependable scoring presence.

Of course the Lakers come into the season the favorites after getting both Karl Malone and Gary Payton , not to mention any moves the Mavs or Spurs make, but if there's anything that was shown in the NBA playoffs, it's that any number of fairly evenly matched teams can win the title depending on injuries and other extraneous circumstances.

2003-07-10T20:13:00.000-07:00
An entry for the whole family

Feeling very inspired by the fact that Mr. Barnard Gumble apparently reads my blog I've decided to try to get things a bit more interactive in order to see if I can achieve the first part of my plan for total media domination.
Therefore, I propose that everyone posts their favorite Simpsons quote or exchange no greater than 5 lines of dialogue long.
Here's my two cents:

Bill Cosby: Hey Kids! Meet your Grandpa Murphy
Girl: But we already have 3 grandpas
Bill Cosby: But this one's a jazz musician
Girl: Awww..they all are
Bill Cosby: You see the kids today listen to the rap music with their hippin and the hoppin and bippin and the bopping which gives them the brain damage so they don't understand what the jazz is all about. You see jazz is like jello pudding, no it's like kodak film no it's like the new coke, it'll be around forever, heh heh.

2003-07-10T20:02:00.000-07:00
The wrong way to go

In the war on terror, too often have civil rights been a casuality as well. Obivously I'm not suggesting that we turn the constitution into some sort of suicide pact, but its important that we maintain a sense of levelheadness in dealing with terror suspects and not get caught up in any sort of hysterics.

In this vain, I have a big problem with military tribunals . The Economist backs me up.

2003-07-06T19:18:00.000-07:00
Taking it too far

A lot of people having been saying the reason Kobe Bryant got one-half of the money LeBron James recieved for a five-year shoe deal ($90 million) is because of Kobe's squeaky clean image, creating a lack of street credibility.

However, being charged with sexual assualt is just too much.

Obviously he's innocent until proven guilty but it's clear that this one won't shake him for a while, regardless of the outcome.

2003-06-30T21:17:00.000-07:00
Quiet down now ya'll

With the obvious exception of barriers to quick entries of new markets (total barries in the case of baseball) and the funding of new stadiums with taxpayer dollars (which, given the amount of funds they infuse into the local economy, I believe is a good thing), I generally believe that sports is a generally fair business with performers earning, at least proportionally, what they deliever back to the owners and all other interested parties.

In that vain, I think what David Beckham got from Real Madrid is completely fair. King Kaufman, sports guy on salon.com, agrees .

2003-06-30T21:07:00.000-07:00
Note to Paul Bremer

I understand your job is extremely difficult, but honestly hurry the fuck up.

2003-06-27T14:39:00.000-07:00
You've come a long way baby

From a magazine first created in reaction to the Corn Laws to the magazine of choice for the intelligensia of the world, The Economist has undergone quite a transformation in the 160 years since its founding.
Editor Bill Emmott reviews how the times may have changed but the original message has not, here .
He says a lot of things which you or I may be quite surprised with.

2003-06-24T13:51:00.000-07:00
Get some awareness

With all the talk about dictators and cruelty; it's a shame that too many people have forgotten about the military junta tyrannizing Burma.

British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw tells you why you should care here

2003-06-23T20:50:00.000-07:00
Nattering nabob no more

Bill Safire gets on the "Hey, I'm not an idiot" bandwagon and writes a sound column about the Gray Davis recall vote (tying into Hugo Chavez). The point:

Venezuelans should be given their right to oust their power-expanding president, because Chávez would then have the right to run in a subsequent race against the choice of the opposition. If that bunch cannot unite, they deserve their Castroite bully.

But Californians should suffer Gray Davis for three more years, voting like grown-ups not as penance for their mistake last year, but to uphold the principle that election results are final for a fixed term and officeholders should not be removed merely when ratings fall.

Read the rest you lazy bums

ow I ju

2003-06-23T20:37:00.000-07:00
Damn straight

Semi-reluctant disarmanent hawks, Ivo Daalder and James Lindsay of the Brookings Institute say (much more reasonably and much less shrill) what lefties have been saying all along: We have got to get to the bottom of the WMD issue.

Link

2003-06-23T19:40:00.000-07:00
Moon maidens hold on to your hats!

Howard Dean, who held perhaps the most unbelievably useless news conference (Oh my God he's running for President! That's news to me!) in human history day, has been portrayed by everyone as the some sort of superliberal hero.
William Saletan exposes him as the Clintonite (centrist) he truly is.

2003-06-22T12:46:00.000-07:00
Hawks on the bench

An excellent paper, the Christian Science monitor, has an editorial which pretty much sums up my view on how the politics of judical nominations is doing irreprable harm to jurisprudience. I am especially down with this quote:

The American people themselves must send a message to their senators that the Supreme Court requires justices who aren't just another set of foot soldiers in the country's ideological wars. Justice can be blind - yet still see the Constitution as a document that unites the whole country.

Amen.

2003-06-22T12:41:00.000-07:00
Just hook it to his veins!

The main man, Barnard Gumble comes through with due dilligence of a fellow who's been keeping a diary of all the shoddy reports Fox News has made since the start of the Iraq war.
Unfortunately, as long as they continue to provide the goods (hot chicks in short skirts and high heels) I will continue to watch.

Curse my high testosterone levels!

2003-06-18T18:02:00.000-07:00
Savage the Wiener

Noted pissant Michael Weiner cum Savage has decided to go and sue three moon-maiden sites (Take Back the Media , Savage Stupidity Michael Savage Sucks)because he doesn't like what they say about him.
Neal Pollack, orchestator of the fine day where everyone wrote whatever they wanted about the Cheney's in response to her lawsuit against the website Whitehouse.org, is now telling us to do the same to the Savage Weiner on June 26th.
We can do it folks.

Just so you I'm not making this up

2003-06-18T17:28:00.000-07:00
And give it up for Brit Hume on Drums!

From Lloyd Grove by way of Tbogg , I find what must be the most hillarious thing I've ever heard about a news personality ever.

Fox News anchor Tony Snow is a 48-year-old father of three who wears a suit and tie to work, which normally involves closely questioning politicians and government officials about issues of the day.

But from tomorrow through Friday he'll be sporting bluejeans -- and possibly even a leather jacket -- when he attends Rock 'n' Roll Fantasy Camp in New York City, under the supervision of such camp counselors as Roger Daltrey of the Who, Ace Frehley of Kiss, Bret Michaels of Poison, Markie Ramone of the the Ramones and Mark Farner of Grand Funk Railroad.

"No, no leather," Snow told us yesterday. "No spandex. No girdles. No bandana." Really. "Well, maybe I'll end up shopping for something appropriate to the dress code. . . . I will be bringing my saxes and my flutes." Snow, who performs locally in the band Beats Workin' when not hosting "Fox News Sunday" and "Weekend Live," will also be bringing a camera crew.

Other than Chris Matthews on slide whistle and Wolf Blitzer playing one a garbage can ala Fat Albert ,I can't think of what could be cooler.

2003-06-18T17:07:00.000-07:00
I love you Financial Times!

One thing the world can finally agree on is that Iran must not be allowed to have nuclear weapons. I'd blog with thoughts and what not but the financial times has pretty much got my back. For example:

Ham-fisted US attempts to encourage (still modest) student protests in Tehran, to link the (Shia) Iranian mullahs to the (Sunni) al-Qaeda, and the rather hysterical American attempts to pin the chaos in Iraq on Iran, are more likely to provoke nervous defiance - and drive Iranian reformists and theocrats into each others' arms.

Finally, as the Financial Times reports today, Washington also wants to increase the IAEA's minuscule inspections budget. Good. It should also give it time to establish scientifically the truth about Iran - especially in light of some of the dubious evidence the US produced on Iraq. .

Read the rest if you aren't a lazy bum

2003-06-17T18:10:00.000-07:00
Rich just keep on getting richer

Throwing a wrench in the plans of everyone with any attachment to Catalonia was David Beckham, who has jettisoned the struggling Barcelona just a week coming oh-so close to signing with them and going to already super loaded Real Madrid.

To put this in terms for the non-soccer literate, it would look something like this in American sports
NBA: Lakers sign Kevin Garrnett
NFL: Tampa Bay Bucs sign Michael Vick
NHL: Colorado Avalanche sign Markus Naslund
MLB: Yankees sign Alex Rodriguez

Acutally it would probably even more lopsided given that Real Madrid comparatively has more talent on its roster than any other non all-star team in the entire world.

Anyone wanna take bets on who's going to win the Primera?

2003-06-17T18:04:00.000-07:00
I'm waiting..

Religion can do some funny things do people. Case in point: "Roe" (real name Norma McCorvey) has decided to file a motion that the Roe v. Wade case be overturned.
I suppose that pro-choice, anti-theocracy types like myself shouldn't be worried because of the unlikely fact that just one person, even if it is the women that got the ball rolling, suddenly wants to go back to the good old days of backalley abortions but it does point to the fact that the nation seems to be on the precipice of an all-out ideological war

Honestly, I have yet to see anything even close to scientific evidence proving that really life begins at conception.

Another thing, if I ever have/hear a debate concerning abortion and the person arguing con says anything about religion I think I should be able to hit them with something.

2003-06-17T17:56:00.000-07:00
I agree...I guess

Despite making the bizzare claim that Iraq may not have had any WMD at all-especially odd given that he supported the war-Richard Cohen pretty much sums up what any sane person would know by now about US creditibility being at stake with regards to pre-war weapons of mass destruction claims.

Link

2003-06-15T20:23:00.000-07:00
Now I'm not one to brag but....

How you like them apples?

Yeah so they didn't beat the Pistons but Spurs in 6 is close enough given that no one had them passing the Lakers anyways.

2003-06-15T17:02:00.000-07:00
Highly recommended

From liberal hero and much more famous than I Eric Alterman, comes this piece by Timothy Garton Ash about Europe and America.

::Nods approvingly::

2003-06-14T13:01:00.000-07:00
Reports of his demise may have been greatly exaggerated

From noted liberal superstar Kos , I see that William Rhenquist may not be going the way of the dodo as many have predicted; actually hiring
a new staff
I guess he wants to make sure that Bush is still in the White House so when he leaves he isn't replaced by one of them darn liberals.

2003-06-14T12:55:00.000-07:00
Catfight!

I have always been in favor of gay rights including allowing homosexuals to marry.
This is admittedly a thorny issue, what with this religious world of ours, but the fact that it recieves overwheming support in liberal circles is encouraging when so few issues garner such consenus is cause to be hopeful.
Interestingly enough, there's an exchange on the National Review's Corner between Andrew Stuttaford and John Derbyshire (the former being pro, the latter being con) about the whole thing. Needless to say, Andrew makes a case based on solid reason and Derbyshire ends up quoting from a religious text.

And what was that whole separation of church and state thing about again?

2003-06-14T12:25:00.000-07:00
Gag me baby one more time

Unsurprisingly enough, the only time I am spending blogging on the whole Laci Peterson ordeal is when a gag order is issued.
I completely agree that keeping the public out of the loop as much as possible is pretty much the only way to get, or at least try to get, Scott Peterson a fair trial but I'm especially pleased because a gag order means that news organizations have to waste less and less of our time by babbling about what is essentially a private ordeal.
Unfortunately gag orders never end up making everyone shut up but here's hoping that this one does.

2003-06-12T21:07:00.000-07:00
A new twist on an old themes

Since the war ended without any findings of WMD-which continue to be conspicuously absent-I admit to having thought twice for my support in the Iraq war. While everyone should be glad that the tyranny of Saddam Hussein is over, I admit to not having been greatly swayed by the argument that "Saddam is an evil man" because it simply opens up a slippery slope of when you take one out for being a bad guy, you have to take all the bad guys out, which I even a member of the super-hawkish American Enterprise Institute admitted on Fox News not too long ago.
While I have continued to reiterate that had there been no WMD threat, I would not have supported the war, I feel that many in the anti-war camp need to rethink the way they are attacking the whole thing. That is, certainly there certainly would've ample justification to wage was on Iraq based on the continual campaign of genocide waged by Saddam Hussein against his own people and the litany broken UN resolutions, it simply wouldn't have been very wise to do so based on the fact of the very troubling slippery slope which would have us wage war after war after war in perpituity or risk being the worse hypocrites of all, saying that lives in one country are more valuable than those in another.
Of course the fact that the war did not lead to the massive amount civillian and military casulaties, though recent reports have tallies at 3000 for civilian casulaties, many are now saying the whole ordeal was worth it even if no WMD are found. I seriously doubt that had military casualities began to pile up that people would be taking such a gentle tone with the Iraqis; and I frankly have always been a bit dubious as to how much some people care actually about the Iraqis rather than believe that whatever America does is right, which I feel is apparent in the way many seem so unfazed by the fact that by all unbiased accounts, the reconstruction is not going well at all. It seems that righties who are having the most fun giving those who didn't support the war grief by claiming to be champions of human rights simply say some bullshit like "well at least it's better off than it was" which as I have said before is just one of the most infuritating things I've ever heard from the right and believe me there have been many.

2003-06-12T20:40:00.000-07:00
Sigh

Well today continued to bring more and more trouble in the Middle East with the cycle of all-too-familiar violence not seeming to heed the wishes of any head of state.
Espeically troubling was this Yahoo news article, which had the headline of "Israel, Hamas vow fight until the finish".
I realize they had to summarize the thing up in a sentence fragment, and a lot does get lost of the whole situation but frankly the fact that all of this fighting occurred not even a week after that summit in Jordan does show how volatile the situation is.
While these events are by no means ancient history and things are always up for grabs, one thing which I feel many pundits have been remiss in is realizing just how deep the hatred goes and how many on either side refuse to accept the fact that both Israel and Palestine. Too many groups (hardliners in Israel's Likud party and the various militant factions like Hamas and Islamic Jihad in the PLO) have had too much invested in this for things to change just becuase Mahmoud Abbas tries to make good with Hamas and Sharon demolishes some long uninhabitied settlements.
Which brings me to this article . While I am far from privy to the situation, I would assume that even if Abbas wanted to stop the militants-which I'm sure he does-I doubt he could. Not only because Arafat remains a strong force behind the scenes (I've never felt Arafat was a greatly malevolent man like many on the right do but that he is largely to blame for the perpetuation of the cycle of violence) but also because of the intense emotion on both sides of the conflict, with the majorities on both sides blind to what's sensibile.

2003-06-11T14:18:00.000-07:00
A media break
With my mailboxes being flooded with millions and millions of e-mails, I think it's appropriate to explain that my absence has been partly due to the frighteningly superior PC Game Rise of Nations.
I can honestly say this is the most addictive game I have ever played

2003-06-08T16:20:00.000-07:00
Stay the course now

The latest strings of Mideast attacks should give all the gung-ho Bush gang who were going crazy over progress in the Middle East peace process pause but it should by no means be a reason for people to throw their hands up and say that the whole thing's hopeless.
Anyone who thought that Bush's decree would make peace automatic (Bob Novak's reference to "Yankee arrogance) is frankly crazy but too much has been invested into this process to just pull back now. That would be a catastrophic mistake.
The price of being a superpower I suppose.

2003-06-06T18:40:00.000-07:00
Can "Fo' shizzle my nizzle" be far behind?

According to the good folks at the Oxford English Dictionary apparently not .
I guess when they write the book on this one some 150 years from now, I guess it'll be "Madman and da gangsta" instead of "Madman and the Professor".

2003-06-06T14:10:00.000-07:00
More from the just punishment files

As expected Sammy Sosa got hit with the 8 game suspension which was coming to him, though when he will serve it is in a bit of doubt.
And as I said before, this is just the right punishment though obviously the beating he has taken in the media and will continue to take is far more severe than anything Bob Watson and co. can mete out and that is the unfair part, in my opinion.

2003-06-05T15:47:00.000-07:00
Ghastly business that

Well what probably had to happen happend over at the New York Times when executive editor Howell Raines and managing editor Gerald Boyd stepped down at the so-called OGL (Ol' Gray Lady).
Though I was much easier on the two than both had been in the wake of the Times's recent troubles, I think it's apparent to pretty much everyone that this was the only way that this ugly chapter in the paper's history would ever be put behind them and everyone could view the Times as it is, one of the best newspapers in the world.

2003-06-04T15:15:00.000-07:00
More creativity please

One thing sorely lacking in the coverage of the Sammy Sosa affair is the lack of a creative title for the whole thing.
Honestly, "Say it ain't Sosa" is alright the first few times but now it's just beyond nauseating.

2003-06-03T20:14:00.000-07:00
On the road (to peace) again

Given my recent streak of frankly well-deserved right wing bashing, I think its time I given the administration credit for their recent strides in searching for Middle East peace.
Obviously, all these steps aren't coming as a result of Dubya just waving his magic wand as some righties love to think and he has been the one to benefit from the ingridients which were most needed, a Palestinan leader (Mahmoud Abbas) who is willing to at least try to rein in the militant forces and a Isreali leader (Ariel Sharon) who is under enough external pressure to finally change his overly reactionary methods of dealing with the Palestinant Authority, but thankfully the administration has read the writing on the wall on the need to show the world that they are truly committed to a better Middle East.
Everyone knows that these meetings are certainly no assurance that peace is guaranteed but I think they all are cause for at least the hope which has been in such short supply for the past 2 and half years.

2003-06-03T20:03:00.000-07:00
Say it ain't so Sammy!

What was supposed to a be a glorious day for Cubs fans such as myself, a 3 game series against noted sports laughing stock the Tampa Bay Devil Rays turned into a veritable house of horrors as Sammy Sosa was ejected for using what turned out to be a corked bat.
Having been a fan his for several years, I find it very hard to adopt a sort of "throw the book at him" mentality as a result of being around the city which has benefitted greatly from his gregarious personality and he didn't make it any easier by coming clean about it and offering a very reasonable explanation that he simply grabbed the wrong bat.
What I fear is that this will follow him forever and ever and will, in my opinion wrongly, cast doubt on his numerous achievements and those he is likely to gain later on in his career for what appears to be a maybe slightly less than honest mistake at worst.
That being said, it still is a pretty big error/transgression and he at least deserves the 8 to 10 game suspension which is coming to him.

2003-06-02T11:15:00.000-07:00
9000 channels: All brought to you by Newscorp

Well the FCC did exactly what is was expected to do and lifted several media regulations which will almost certainly lead to greater control of the media being doled out into fewer and fewer hands.
As expected, liberals have come down against this move. However, so have a number of people who aren't exactly in tune with liberal ideas (including Brent Bozell of the conservative Media Research Council and U.S News and World report publisher Mort Zuckerman and surprisingly enough, the NRA) and myself.
Despite the libertarian argument that any media consolidation would be mitigated by consumer choice, I seriously doubt this given that despite the greater amount of information avalible to everyone with the advent of the internet especially. Truly, if there were some sort of perfect competition then the consumers would be demanding that good bloggers like (on the left) Matthew Yglesias and Eschaton and people on the right like Tacitus should be punditing on the airwaves as opposed to the glut of idio-pundits we currently have now. As it is, despite the fact that anyone could access their info (check links), but as it is no one except for diehards know who these people are.
As much as I find the decsion itself troubling, I'm even more troubled that the vote occurred on strictly on party lines. The FCC, as Atrios pointed out today, is a body which is supposed to operate in the public interest and I think it's a damn shame that regardless of the politics involved, memebers just couldn't make a well-reasoned and thoughtful decsion indepedent of this.
Regardless of whether or not one agrees with the prospect of media consolidaton, I think we should all agree that Rupert Murdoch has been untargeted a bit unfaily in all of this (moon-maidens I'm looking in your direction). I know that he's the most notorious of the media giants in terms of his political views and I think we all agree that debate would be stifiled if he owned everything but I can't say I find the idea of Michael Eisner or Ted Turner (if he ever gets back in the game) owning everything too much more appealing, even if I find their political views a tad more in sync with mine.

2003-06-01T21:28:00.000-07:00
A witness to history

An interesting voice to the leadup to the Iraq war was the blogger Salam Pax doing his duties from Baghdad (though i have no idea how he was able to do it unfettered) until a couple days into the war. He's since resurfaced and is providing some interesting and much needed insight as to what is going on right now inside Iraq as the monumental and difficult task of rebuilding an entire nation is underway.
As excepted, he has no love lost for the al-Tikriti clan but doesn't have too many nice things to say about how the US is doing either.

2003-06-01T17:42:00.000-07:00
So much for the more civil of the troops

From the much more famous than I Jeralyn Merritt I find this UNBELIEVABLY disturbing report that British soliders may have been involved in the . torture of Iraqi prisoners

Now needless to say the a short term effect of the recent scandals regarding the New York Times has been a bit of a breech of trust (I however still consider it a reputable source of news) but I must say that, if these allegations are proven true, and admittedly current evidence is still a bit scant, then this is something which needs to be looked into and dealt with immediately .
Tell me again why I supported this war? To free the Iraqis from one from of torture to another? I sure hope not.

2003-05-30T13:45:00.000-07:00
Oh that conservative media!

I may not agree with liberals on too many issues but one thing where we are in agreeance is that the media as a whole, is in no way liberal.
Richard Blow of noted fine moon-maiden online journal tompaine.com, who knows a hell of a lot about this stuff, gives us another example here

2003-05-29T17:31:00.000-07:00
Enough

Of course what happend to Laci Peterson and her unborn son are a damn shame but I simply detest the round the clock coverage this thing is getting in lieu of other, much more important to the world at large issues.
For an example of this, MSNBC's question of the day was wether or not people should care about the Laci Peterson case and then they spend the whole afternoon going on about something in Laci Peterson's autopsy.
Ugh. Looks like its just Newsnight and the News Hour for me from now on.

2003-05-29T17:07:00.000-07:00
Withier WMDs?

As a supporter of the war on Iraq as primarily a war to disarm the Ba'athist regime of Saddam Hussein, I am starting to get more and more unnerved as time goes by without any evidence of even a semblance of the WMD programs which were claimed.
To rub some salt in the wound, noted moon-maiden (really, you lefties are alright) billmon rubs some salt into the wound like such here (scroll down to the post with all the quotes)
Frankly this new line that the weapons were likely destroyed before the war is just garbage. If they destroyed before a reasonable time where we could still end the military buildup (say mid-January) then not revealing so and insisting on their existence is the worst of all lies and government can tell its people. If later then it is admittedly a little more foggy as there are a number of geopolitical issues at work, most pointedly the idea of just up and pulling 200,000 troops outta the the Middle East, which still is no cause for war IMO.
Both cases, however, must deal with the contention that given either scenario, Saddam Hussein and his horrible regime would still be in power.
Having noted all of this, the war is already a fait accompli and we should all be pleased that it passed with minimal civilian and troop casualties but there is obviously the trouble with rebuilding Iraq and truly liberating its people (too many links to post) but this does not, to me, mitigate the fact that this the rationale for this war was exaggerated slightly at best, a downright lie at worst.
This is not what occurs in a democracy and it woud be the worst of all shames if it is simply ignored because the end result (on the surface) is a rosy one. Unfortunately, it seems that this is the case and it does absolutley nothing for my fear that less and less people really care about real issues in this world and even less can bring valuable insights to the table, which is bad news for you and me.
Strap yourself, it's going to be bumpy ride

2003-05-29T16:43:00.000-07:00
Old gray lady singing?
The New York Times is struggling with Rick Bragg apparently being to lazy to put his pulitzer-prize winning ass on a damn fishing boat and Judith Miller's weapons "scoops" and oh yeah, that Jayson Blair guy.

First of all, always been one to defend Howell Raines, Arthur Sulzberger and his friends. While a lot of people (wingnuts) are unnerved by the fact that the editorial board slants so lefty, claiming lefty bias, I've never noticed it in Times reporting (oddly enough they never have that problem about the Wall Street Journal, which has what must be the most reactionary op-ed page in print). However I'm finding it harder and harder to stick up for the so-called Old Gray lady as debacle after debacle rears its ugly head. They really have opened a credibility gap with a lot of otherwise sympathetic people (like me) over there at West 43rd and it really is a mystery if they'll ever get that trust back.
That being said, I seriously doubt that barring anything ultra catastrophic that the Times will do anything but be the dominant paper from the East Coast (sorry Washington Post) but this does seem to be more symptomatic of the growing diaspora in media consumption from more traditional sources (newspapers, periodicals, network news) to more instantaneous, less mentally-taxing sources (cable news, instant news websites (i.e Drudge report), blogs).
Obviously this will become necessary as the pace of life in the civilized world quickens and quickens but I fear that a lot of the in-depth coverage these traditional sources provided will be unfortunately lost and soon enough, a lot of very important but not too appealing to the average joe issues will be reduced to nothing more than a headline which really tells you nothing.

2003-05-25T10:41:00.000-07:00
Bits and pieces

1) It's great that the Knesset decided to back this so-called "road map" for peace but we've been down this road of talk, talk and talk. It really is results that count here and that which I'm much more skeptical about.
2) The wheels finally came off of my playoff prediction wagon as the Pistons got swept out of the Eastern conference finals by the Nets. However, with Dirk Nowitzki seemingly out for the series against the Spurs, at least I'll probably be 1 for 1, which is more than a lot of the Laker fanboys and girls can say.
3) For everyone who thinks that winning the peace is going to be as easy as winning the war in Iraq: haven't we been down this road before and suddenly got complacent and left way too soon?

2003-05-20T19:34:00.000-07:00
Dial-up is still hell

As the summer months come, expect blogging to be abnormally light as I am afflicited with the 56K temporarily.

In the mean time, it seems as if we can once again the fabulous Dept. of Homeland security has put us in an orange mode of awareness.

Most intelligent people realize these things aren't nearly as effective as Tom Ridge would like us to believe but I simply can't see how being a bit more alert could really be a bad thing.

2003-05-15T18:34:00.000-07:00
Oww...my mouth

With finals over, time to get back to blogging.
In spite of my desire to type up a massive treatise on terror and Iraq, The Economist comes through again and almost literally takes the words right out of my mouth.

I swear I have to work for this magazine someday.

2003-05-13T10:39:00.000-07:00
And by the way......

Whenever I leave to go home, my dad starts e-mailing me almost daily with questions about timing, planning, etc. Given that I'll be leaving for the summer Friday, I of course got an e-mail from my dad. First he just reminds me to throw all spare crap away, tell me what time he should come, all compulsory stuff.

Then he casually mentions that we are moving from the cozy Southwest Chicago Suburb of Orland Park to the hectic Western Suburb of Burr Ridge.
I really don't know what to think about this given that I've been living in the same home for virtually all of my life (certainly all of the parts I can remember) but I've always had a soft spot for the Western Suburbs. Call me an elitiest but I've always liked the affluence of these suburbs if not been annoyed by their over development and traffic at the same time
But of course there are some issues, namely the 30 or so minutes this adds to father's commute to work; doubling his transit time to 1 hour or so. Then again, I guess if my dad finally bit at the move then it can't really bother him that much.

NOTE: I've noticed my parents have the tendency to do lots of crap when I'm away; but getting cable and a new scanner are one thing totally different from a house.

2003-05-13T10:28:00.000-07:00
Terror

I know I'm a bit tardy on commenting on the terror attacks in Saudi Arabia but I can't really think of much to say about them which already wasn't said moments after they happend.

Something which I feel obliged to comment on is the fact that several will no doubt point to the War in Iraq as being a reason and question why they would do this after we announced we're moving our troops outta Saudi Arabia but I would doubt this would be the case as these attacks, given the amount of time which it takes to plan them, are hardly reactive to any one/several events. So it appears to be just part of that general pattern of murderous behavior on part of Al-Qaeda.
Also, it's pretty interesting that this attack has been more or less glossed over by the media.
Guess once we get hit big time, it's tough to get that riled up anymore.
Shame that would be if that's the case

2003-05-12T22:20:00.000-07:00
Good God....

From quiz bowl inner circle member Nick Rothfuss, I find this wonderful piece of information.
I've never been a prude at all but this is not just crossing the line; it's cumming all over it.

Absolutley disgusting.

2003-05-12T22:16:00.000-07:00
The other shoe drops.....eventually

Well embattled British cabinet member Claire Short finally decided to step down over Iraq.
Many (including myself) gave her shit, and rightly so, for worming out over resigning when Robin Cook did and she could have. However, the fact that she did finally decide that for her enough was enough at least tells me that she does at least maintain some semblance of having principals.

2003-05-09T20:10:00.000-07:00
Because you're all SOO interested in my personal life

Well I've apparently had a wrench thrown into my plans as it appears as if my last final exam will be on Thursday night, rather than Tuesday night as previously scheduled. This is pretty good in that I get more time to study and it won't be running interference with my Philosophy exam (which I MUST house) but it means that I will not have the glorious 48 hour window of loafing around here which I would've had before I go home for the Summer.

Ah well. That really should be the LEAST of my worries now.

2003-05-08T21:48:00.000-07:00
Welcome to the bizzaro world
And your Stanley Cup Playoff Western Conference Final is:

Minnesota Wild vs Anaheim Mighty Ducks

1 more sign to go....

2003-05-08T19:47:00.000-07:00
Sorry, wrong story

SARS has now apparently got all of Asia. Seems that even noted home of progess, North Korea, is unsafe as
The Independent reports.
I find the headline particularly interesting:

Sars crackdown in North Korea isolates foreigners

I'd say the real story is: Just what the hell are foreigners doing in North Korea?

2003-05-08T11:12:00.000-07:00
The Trouble with headlines

Austrailia would be a great place to live I imagine.
Clean, temperate and laid back. But one problem I would have is the number of Rupert Murdoch owned rags.
A good example is given in a recent headline in Tasmania's Mercury , one of his papers.

Bush lifts sanctions on Iraq

Oh my God. Seems Bush can single-handedly bypass the UN and just lift sanctions by himself. What's next, water into wine? Walking on water?

Alas, my right-wing friends, read on and you'll be dissapointed.

THE US lifted some of its economic sanctions against Iraq yesterday in the hope the United Nations would follow suit in the next few days.

So apparently he only lifted some sanctions, and not even all of those the U.S placed on Iraq.

See the difference a headline makes?

NOTE: I am strongly in favor of the lifting of all UN sanctions on Iraq but frankly they wouldn't do that much seeing as if Iraq has to start from square one, not even the oil is flowing in any capacity soon so it's to a certain extent a red herring.

2003-05-07T17:25:00.000-07:00
Sully wishes he may, Sully wishes he might...

There are fewer odious hellholes than Bob Jones university. The fact that republicans have long pandered to it as some sort of 'bedrock' of traditional values is just symptomatic of the moralism which remains at its base, despite attempts to put a "compassionate" face on conservatism. Yup, nothing more traditional than bigotry and hatred.

Now it seems that, of all people, John Kerry will be at Bob Jones University.
Why someone who has spoken very negatively about this place on several occasions would go their voluntarily while running for President is just beyond me.

Andrew Sullivan, who's slowly continuing his alienation from the Republican party, opines as such:

We need more engagement with our ideological opponents, not less. I hope he talks to them about the importance of inter-racial relationships and the dignity of gay ones, unlike then-governor George W. Bush, who went to pander. And I hope he does so in Christian terms.

Yeah, that'll go over real well over there. Why don't we just show them some gay porn while we're at it?

I think the real question arising from all of this is:
Why is Sully still a republican?

2003-05-07T16:49:00.000-07:00
Full of shit! Full of shit!

You know the drill...

Of course my problem isn't really that Halliburton got the bid (a little cronyism is still preferable than facism after all), but the fact that their role was intentionally downplayed is just sick.
A lot of dopes just like to fall back on bullshit like "So what if Halliburton is getting sweet deals? At least it's better than Saddam" The same goes for the fact that if we do install some sort of unpopular government, it'll be ok because "It's at least better than Saddam."
Well no fucking shit we can do better than Saddam. All we have to do is not gas people.
But I thought we held ourselves to much higher standard than "well, it's better than...". If these people, with whom I stood with on the war, think this was the plan all along, then I will that it was a mistake for me to support the war.

2003-05-07T10:58:00.000-07:00
B-ball blogging

1) I'm still liking the Spurs and Pistons to meet in the NBA finals.
2) Now that Michael has left the Wizards. I would say that now is the time he consider coming back to Chicago. Now that Jerry Krause is out of commission, he could go back to repairing that image which was damaged when he, Scottie Pippen and Phil Jackson were dumped so unceremoniously.
NOTE: My being from Chicago had nothing to do with that suggestion as I was hardly ever a true Bulls fan.
3) I have lot respect for Boston Globe-and according to Tony Kornheiser "quinessential American"-sportswriter Bob Ryan but what he said about Jason Kidd's wife, Joumana , was in unbelievably poor taste. Especially given the history of domestic troubles the couple has had.
All in all, the right thing was done to get him outta the public eye for a month. Not a total censorship but enough of reprimand to be fair but firm.

2003-05-06T19:37:00.000-07:00
From the oh-so-relevant news files

Saddam and the whole Al-Tikriti clan a bunch of crooks.

Thanks a lot guys.

2003-05-06T14:16:00.000-07:00
To intifada or not to intifada?

Can't Ariel Sharon just decide if he wants war or peace?

2003-05-05T14:57:00.000-07:00
Ya'll gon' make me lose my mind

As finals week approaches for me, you can expect blogging to be light in content/depth.
My GPA is in fairly dire straits and it's time to buckle down.

Everytime I look back at my semester, going back to 9th grade, I'm amazed how much stress I accrue during finals week as a result of fucking myself over royal for the other 16 weeks of the year and how much easier this week could go (and how much better my GPA could be) if I were to just get myshit in gear from day 1.

Well, perhaps at least writing about it could help me remember it.

2003-05-04T22:58:00.000-07:00
Ah the free republic

Looks as if we have our justification for war from TerryinRiverside, a proud supporter of the oh so intelligent oh so nice Free republic

Our main reason for the invasion of Iraq was stop terorization before it got the the US., and payback to the Saddam regime indirectly for the 9-11 attack.
WMD and freedom to the Iraqian people were secondary reasons.

Ah I see.....wait...no I don't.

WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

2003-05-04T12:34:00.000-07:00
Another royal?

As if having Fergie in this country wasn't already annoying enough, it appears if Prince William (if you are to believe the Daily "Hey, we're more reputable than The Sun" Mirror) wants to be stateside as well.
Of course this has been met with the predictable denials from the royal family.

I can't help but wonder if the Windors would deny it the younger, more homely, pot-smoking Prince Harry wanted to come here too.
They'd probably pack his bags for him.

2003-05-04T12:22:00.000-07:00
Streaky, Streaky

Despite some early wavering it appears that My NBA playoff predictions were largely on target.
It appears I may be gaining back that clairvoyance I once had. Unfortunately, according to Deuteronomic law, I must be stoned.
Ah well, had a nice run.

Someone else who could be sharing my fate is Arsenal coach Arse Wegner whose Gunners fail to capitalize on a huge early season and choked on the English Premiership title, giving it to the streaking Manchester United.
Basically this season across the pond consisted of Arsenal riding Thierrey Henry's hot foot to an early lead atop the table, along with some early Manchester United woes. However, being the much better team, Man U regained form and Arsenal couldn't hold on forever.

NOTE: I will not, at least to my knowledge, be stoned to death.

2003-05-02T22:58:00.000-07:00
Headline hunting

It truly is amazing some of the stuff you'll get from foreign papers
Try these on for size (in paraphrase form):
1) U.S says Canada too concerned with civil liberties.
2) Condolezza Rice says inspectors may have been right

2003-05-02T12:42:00.000-07:00
Hmmm....

Unlike Nick Rothfuss, I happen to think this may not be such a bad idea.

The whole point to me is that the All-Star game has to mean something . I am worried that the game may be played a bit too hard and fuck over the players but smart coaching can help overcome this.

2003-05-02T12:35:00.000-07:00
I believe the children are our future

White students in Georgia high school plan "Whites only" prom
4 Students charged with death in Fraternity hazing

Yes I know I shouldn't be too pessimistic as these are isolated incidents but these do'nt go a long ways towards changing my view that kids are regressing as a whole.

2003-05-01T15:43:00.000-07:00
Oh yeah...THAT war

News flash: Combat over in Afghanistan
What the hell?

I know there are some military implications, but for real; combat's been over since Thanksgiving 2001 dog.

2003-05-01T15:41:00.000-07:00
Must see TV

I like Quiz Bowl a lot. So much so that I'll be the president of the fabulous UIUC Academic Buzzer Team next year. But something I've liked about it lately is that it allows me to miss a lot of President Bush's marvelous press conferences.
That's nothing against President Bush himself or his policies (at least not in this case) but pretty much all the time, these things are just old news, but said by the President on prime-time.
Which brings me to tonights jaunt on the USS Abraham Lincoln where he'll try to make us feel like he led the 101st Airborne into Mosul. Once again, I was for the war and all but I just don't see why such a grandoise speech is necessary to declare the end of what has already been over for effectively 3 weeks when he could've just said a few words from the Oval Office.
No doubt Karl Rove is over this one. Think about it, pictures of President Bush tailhooking onto an aircraft carrier, loads of roaring sailors and lots of catchy phrases; all 2004 material.

All this ranting about the W aside, I have never cared for any of these presidental speeches; I even missed Clinton's "Hey, I was playin' with ya'll, Monica really did blow me" mea culpa to go to the mall.
They've just always seemed redundant to me.

2003-05-01T15:28:00.000-07:00
Sully gets off (not in that way) of Santorum

Everyone's favorite Gay British ex-patriate conservative, former editor of The New Republic , Andrew Sullivan Finally gets his outrage at Rick Santorum's bigotry out of the way long enough to return to his favorite sport of sychophanting for Bush foreign policy.
That notwithstanding he comes up with an interesting post about the lack of WMDs in Iraq.

"Does it matter that we haven't yet found weapons of mass destruction in Iraq? The answer is obviously: no. Would it matter if we never find such evidence? The answer, equally obviously, is: yes. As regular readers will have noticed, I experienced an evolution in my views about this war. I never stinted in supporting it, but my concern about weapons of mass destruction was eventually overtaken by my moral concern with the sheer evil of Saddam's regime. But that doesn't mean the WMDs are irrelevant, as Tom Friedman weirdly suggested. I don't believe the administration lied. I don't believe Tony Blair lied. But equally, the notion that a few missiles with "chemicals" written on them will some day be found under a rock - and that this kind of thing is necessary for the war to be justified - is silly. We're talking about a whole system designed to give Saddam a biological and chemical capacity. We need to interview scientists, piece together documents, investigate sites that might have been destroyed to remove evidence just before the war, and so on. This takes time and expertise and patience. I'm happy to wait until a real assessment is possible and credible evidence put together into a coherent whole. Then, we'll see. But it's way too soon for some to start crowing that the threat was a sham or a hype. We have as yet no solid evidence for that either."

For me, at least, my reasons for supporting this war were almost exclusively about WMDs. As great as the liberation of the Iraqi people has been (though it has not been without its bumps) I take the British view that was a war of protecting the world from Saddam's WMDs and that was why we fought.
Similarly, it would not be just enough to find a thimble of anthrax or castor oil. What was told to the world was that Iraq had massive quantities of VX, Sarin, Ricin, Anthrax, Botullenium toxin and other such bad stuff. A weapons program is 5000 liters of VX, not 1.
Also, I think it's necessary to bring in some sort of third party (not necessarily Dr. Blix and crew) into the fray to independtly verify the findings

I do agree with Sully is that patience is what's needed. I felt the inspectors should've been given maybe a bit more time but the war is already fait accompli and we should give whoever's looking for the weapons what we wanted the weapons inspectors to have, more time.

2003-05-01T15:12:00.000-07:00
Here comes the jingoism!

Happy Loyalty day my fellow patriots!

Now I'm not nearly as blinded by my hatred of being pro-America as the moon maidens but this is very pointless.
That being said it's in no ways harmless and if people want to fly their flags higher or sing "God Bless America" then that's perfectly fine by me.

Side note: There's a pic of one of them Rugrats characters during the recent Easter egg event they had for military children.

Even more sider note (whatever the fuck that means): Speaking of nickelodeon, I'm beginning to think there are few more odious entertainment personalities than Hillary Duff (a.k.a Lizzy McGuire).
Bring back Double Dare I say

2003-05-01T14:56:00.000-07:00
Lessons from the Past

If you're not reading papers from different parts of the globe than where you are, I suggest you do.
I especially foreign editorial pages for a sometimes more reasonable perspective, espeically on emotional subjects like the middle east peace troubles.
Like this Financial Times editorial.

I agree with pretty much all of it but I especially like this part:

"President George W. Bush's administration is the most unconditionally pro-Israeli US government since the foundation of the Jewish state. It listens to Mr Sharon, who says the Palesti nian leadership is not to be trusted. But for its own interests, as well as Israeli and Arab interests, it should now remind him what the late Yitzhak Rabin said of similar objections a decade ago: that it is with your enemies, not your friends, that you must make peace."

Amen.

2003-04-30T16:41:00.000-07:00
Oh my
FBI admits McVeigh evidence fabricated .

Really doesn't seem like they framed him but there were no doubt some very big fuck/cover ups.

Not looking good for the FBI.

2003-04-29T17:37:00.000-07:00
The Sporting Life

Yeah, I'm getting my NBA playoff predictions are getting their ass kicked
But at least I'm having one positive experience with basketball:
NBA Street 2
If you have a PS2, Gamecube or XBOX; rent it and you'll be hooked enough to buy it. Trust me.
If you don't have a PS2, Gamecube or XBOX; but one and rent NBA Street Vol. 2
If you don't have enough money to purchase a PS2, Gamecube or XBOX; steal one.

But I didn't tell you that last one.

2003-04-29T17:30:00.000-07:00
A step in the wrong direction

Marring what have been a chain of several positive events in the politics of the Middle East, some joker decides to commit a suicide bombing in Tel Aviv.
To me this presents quite a conundrum for both Israel and Palestine.
For Israel the issue is wether or not Ariel Sharon can avoid going to far (like he's always done) in terms of seeking retribution.
Unfortunately I have the feeling that this isn't possible given the Likud record on dealing with terrorist acts.
For Palestine, specifically new Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen), all eyes will be watching how the new "anti-terror" Palestinian leader cracks down on such actions.
It's much harder to make any sort of prognostication based on the fact that the Abu Mazen has yet to put this new idea of not resorting to terrorism as a tool for politics to use in a region where no other means are known.
Certainly Mr. Abbas is preferable to Yasser Arafat; a man who I never thought really believed in terrorism, but didn't abhor it enough to stop it, but the decades of struggle have left groups like Hamas, Islamic Jihad an the Palestinian Liberation Front firmly entrenched in the politics of the Middle East. Even sadder, it's left groups like these with the position of heroes in way too many (hell, 1 is too many) Arab minds. I imagine it's going to be damn hard to curb the acts of Hamas, Islamic Jihad and their ilk; let alone stand up to them completely.

Rough roads are ahead indeed, and this certainly was one more pothole than was already needed.

2003-04-29T17:02:00.000-07:00
Berkeley no longer a haven for the moonmaidens?

No one should be surprised that the glut of moonmaidens once so prominent in universities are declining in popularity. Any cursory glance will tell you that college students are growing less and less straight up left-wing.
That being said, some wing-nuts want to make it seem as if Berkeley will be handed to the Heritage Foundation.
All this because of one pro-Bush protest.

Despite all that "evidence" how Berkeley is becoming less liberal, I look at it one of two ways
1) It's just one protest and very unlikely to be the prevailing sentiment on campus
2) Every college in the nation is getting less and less leftist as kids don't really to care about important shit anymore

Given this was a politically-related post, the last thing I expected to see was any sort of reference to Asians. However, these nutso manage to drag my people into this one:
"As a general rule," said Leonard, "the increase in Asian Americans has pushed the student body more toward the center politically."

It's a given that, contrary to the belief of some white people, I don't know every Asian American alive but I would have to say this would be somewhat true.
Most young Asian-Americans, like virtually all young people in this nation, couldn't give a frick about politics. As a consequence, my guess is that they just take what they hear on both sides of the debate, synthesize it and end up in some amalgamation of the center.

But I guess it's all good as long as we can continue to race our souped-up Civics.

2003-04-28T10:53:00.000-07:00
NO!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is a sad sad sad day.

2003-04-27T19:29:00.000-07:00
It's Drudge but...

I sure hope this blurb is true.

COMEDIAN/WRITER AL FRANKEN STORMS FOX NEWS TABLE AT WHITE HOUSE DINNER; SHOUTS DOWN HOST ALAN COLMES... DEVELOPING...

Here, here Al. I don't care for many of the left's ideas but I like this one.

2003-04-27T10:19:00.000-07:00
Link to Al-Qaeda?

The telegraph strikes again in being the first to report some clandestine intelligence file which, if true, would be quite a shocker
They apparently come up with quite a doozy here, suppoesdly detailing a link between Saddam and Al-Qaeda.
Judge for yourself
I've always maintained that while such evidence may or may not exist but the idea of going to war on possible reasons is still quite wrong to me.

Also, keep in mind that few news orginizations have really run with any of the stories which the Telegraph has broken so I think there would be reason to be skeptic about any of these allegations.