tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31760352010-04-28T15:04:09.101-04:00Comments and essays on the times we live in, plus whatever else I think might be worth sharing.Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07278576495324916800noreply@blogger.comBlogger54125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3176035.post-1155178873595498132006-08-09T23:01:00.000-04:002006-08-09T23:39:25.206-04:00

It has been a long time since I’ve read anything as wrongheaded as Jacob Weisberg’s piece in Slate today on Ned Lamont’s primary win. Let’s start with this masterful observation:  The election was about one issue and one issue only: the war in Iraq. Joe Lieberman was an otherwise highly regarded, well-ensconced Democratic incumbent who would never have faced a meaningful primary challenge had he

Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07278576495324916800noreply@blogger.com47tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3176035.post-1153509605245368072006-07-21T15:20:00.000-04:002006-07-21T15:20:05.300-04:00

Says here that Republican members of Congress are beginning to notice not everything’s hunky-dory in Iraq.  “It's like after Katrina, when the secretary of homeland security was saying all those people weren't really stranded when we were all watching it on TV," said Rep. Patrick T. McHenry (R-N.C.). "I still hear about that. We can't look like we won't face reality.”Careful wording. We can still

Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07278576495324916800noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3176035.post-1145977675137316332006-04-25T11:06:00.000-04:002006-04-25T11:07:55.150-04:00

A must-read essay on oil prices that I'm very pleased to host here: Phony%20Rationale%20for%20high%20Oil%20Price.pdf

Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07278576495324916800noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3176035.post-1145662283772429852006-04-21T19:31:00.000-04:002006-04-21T19:31:23.850-04:00

I never thought I’d say this, but the era of the political demonstration is back. The immigrants’ rallies are a harbinger. But we now need to prepare for something far bigger. It is now clear beyond a doubt that George Bush plans to attack Iran, almost certainly before Election Day, and quite likely with tactical nuclear weapons. They will call them “bunker busters.” The weapon most likely under

Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07278576495324916800noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3176035.post-1144522319759722832006-04-08T14:51:00.000-04:002006-04-08T14:51:59.766-04:00

The question answers itself. WASHINGTON (AFP) - The administration of President George W. Bush is planning a massive bombing campaign against Iran, including use of bunker-buster nuclear bombs to destroy a key Iranian suspected nuclear weapons facility, The New Yorker magazine has reported in its April 17 issue. ...former intelligence officials depicts planning as "enormous," "hectic" and "

Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07278576495324916800noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3176035.post-1144277191124870012006-04-05T18:46:00.000-04:002006-04-05T18:46:31.196-04:00

They are serious about nothing (except power and greed). And if you take them at face value about anything, even (and most especially) the sacred task of spreading democracy, you’re either profoundly ignorant or criminally dishonest. From today’s Washington Post: While President Bush vows to transform Iraq into a beacon of democracy in the Middle East, his administration has been scaling back

Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07278576495324916800noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3176035.post-1143997429580070142006-04-02T13:02:00.000-04:002006-04-02T13:03:49.590-04:00

Not long ago, the United States passed a milestone: more than 300,000,000 people live here now. Out of all of them, who would you envision to be the worst qualified to protect Americans from rapacious companies out to exploit them by violating wage-and-hour laws? Yup, sure enough: the one George Bush just chose to do that job:As a private practice lawyer, [Paul] DeCamp represented Wal-Mart in

Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07278576495324916800noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3176035.post-1143737825438972162006-03-30T11:57:00.000-05:002006-03-30T11:57:05.556-05:00

Accidents happen. Frontline people aren’t perfect. It’s Halliburton’s cover-up response that really bothers me. Reading between the lines of the entire AP story I’ve only briefly excerpted, you’d think Halliburton’s corporate culture was shaped by someone like, shucks, I dunno, Dick Cheney...Halliburton’s water treatment manager in the war zone warned that troops and civilians in Iraq were left

Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07278576495324916800noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3176035.post-1143640149420746632006-03-29T08:49:00.000-05:002006-03-29T08:54:51.906-05:00

This morning, I am going to say something nice about George W. Bush.No, it’s not April Fool’s Day. Nor have I lost my mind (though I did turn 50 on Monday, so there is the possibility of Alzheimer’s.)But you’ll have to look for it, so I’ve flagged it for you...Election year after election year, the Republican Party conjures up some new boogeyman to terrify voters about. We can go all the way back

Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07278576495324916800noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3176035.post-1143572489479223982006-03-28T14:01:00.000-05:002006-03-28T14:01:29.536-05:00

Fresh from playing his leading role in the bankrupting of America, Bush budget director Josh Bolten gets his inevitable promotion...

Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07278576495324916800noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3176035.post-1142798913978001732006-03-19T15:08:00.000-05:002006-03-19T15:15:23.053-05:00

The rest of the world watches America a whole lot more closely than we watch them. It’s always interesting to see what they’re thinking. From The Age, one of Australia’s leading newspapers, an assessment of the Bush administration’s real intentions in Iran -- and the implications. If you don’t read the entire quote, please read the last half, in boldface:...If force is used, it will come in the

Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07278576495324916800noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3176035.post-1142791291711418612006-03-19T13:01:00.000-05:002006-03-19T13:03:00.590-05:00

I can think of only two Presidents whose actions and inactions were ultimately capable of destroying the United States: James Buchanan and George W. Bush. It's arguable that Buchanan was boxed into a corner: in the late 1950’s, nobody could have prevented the Civil War. Bush, on the other hand, has chosen to:Destroy the United States' fiscal integrity, accelerating the risk of a financial

Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07278576495324916800noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3176035.post-1142341699028492562006-03-14T08:08:00.000-05:002006-03-14T08:09:07.323-05:00

From Insight, a conservative magazine with excellent conservative sources:President Bush has decided to stay out of the lion's share of decisions made by his administration.Sources close to the administration said that over the last year, Mr. Bush has chosen to focus on two issues, leaving the rest to be decided by Cabinet members and senior aides. They said the issues are Iraq and the Republican

Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07278576495324916800noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3176035.post-1141308845924145082006-03-02T09:14:00.000-05:002006-03-02T09:14:05.980-05:00

Ahh, so now we see George W. Bush sitting like a bump on a log, as terrified FEMA people and meteorologists warn him about the impending Katrina catastrophe... using his patented curiosity to ask absolutely no questions... and then assuring everyone that the federal government had things well in hand... If there were tapes of the entire Bush administration, I am utterly convinced we would find...

Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07278576495324916800noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3176035.post-1141221212571727052006-03-01T08:53:00.000-05:002006-03-01T08:53:32.616-05:00

Ben Franklin, asked what kind of government the 1787 U.S. Constitutional Convention was creating, famously said: “A Republic, if you can keep it.” 219 years later, this morning’s papers tell us: ...only about one in four Americans (28 percent) are able to name more than one of the five fundamental freedoms granted to them by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution... almost twice as many

Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07278576495324916800noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3176035.post-1141050051245285112006-02-27T09:20:00.000-05:002006-02-27T09:20:51.260-05:00

Decades from now, historians somewhere (but probably not in America) will find it a delicious irony that George Bush was elected based on the perception that he would protect America’s freedom and independence, when instead, his policies led to their destruction. The Washington Post’s David Ignatius cuts to the chase: ...Congress doesn't seem to realize that an Arab-owned company's management of

Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07278576495324916800noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3176035.post-1141046820626581922006-02-27T08:27:00.000-05:002006-02-27T08:27:00.666-05:00

This morning, I’ve come across two figures of speech just too delicious not to share...Matthew Yglesias, courtesy of Crooked Timber: ...the alert citizen will have learned not to trust the administration to make S’mores without plunging half the nation into a sticky-sweet inferno of death.Steve Gilliard: What Bode Miller is to Olympic triumph, George Bush is to Presidential history, flopping off

Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07278576495324916800noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3176035.post-1140904909838329422006-02-25T17:01:00.000-05:002006-02-25T17:01:49.843-05:00

I realize this is small potatoes amidst the endless pantheon of Bush administration malfeasance. But kindly explain to me the public policy rationale behind making it easier for airlines to deceive their customers. From today’s New York Times......if the large airlines win their lobbying battle to loosen industry advertising regulations, the proposed changes would give them leeway to also

Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07278576495324916800noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3176035.post-1140902277812337102006-02-25T16:17:00.000-05:002006-02-25T16:33:07.950-05:00

So, now, Iraqis are poised on the brink of civil war, if it has not already started. And America has two choices.We can stay and try to do the impossible: hold the two, three, many sides apart, supporting an Iraqi “government” that now possesses precisely zero battalions capable of fighting alone.Or we can leave, and watch mass slaughter, beginning with the deaths of every Iraqi who was naïve

Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07278576495324916800noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3176035.post-1140140347300230692006-02-16T20:39:00.000-05:002006-02-16T20:39:07.306-05:00

Few people have put it as well as the National Catholic Reporter: ...what has become cliché during five years of the Bush administration is now glaringly apparent in the easily discerned outlines of its proposed 2007 budget: Cuts in vital programs that benefit the poor and middle class, continuing tax relief for the very wealthy and substantial increases for defense and Homeland Security.If

Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07278576495324916800noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3176035.post-1140105131613904372006-02-16T10:52:00.000-05:002006-02-16T19:38:23.816-05:00

Chicago Tribune quotes hunters on Dick Cheney:“He broke one of the 10 commandments of hunting," said Westchester hunter Mike Reynolds. "The protocol is that before you pull the trigger, you make sure what the target is and beyond.”Like, umm, in Iraq?UPDATE: Screwups have real-world implications.

Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07278576495324916800noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3176035.post-1140104246399279842006-02-16T10:37:00.000-05:002006-02-16T14:51:38.566-05:00

Courtesy of today’s New York Times...“Top political appointees in the NASA press office exerted strong pressure during the 2004 presidential campaign to cut the flow of news releases on glaciers, climate, pollution and other earth sciences, public affairs officers at the agency say.”In my later days at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, the place was led by a physicist named John

Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07278576495324916800noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3176035.post-1140103340585649852006-02-16T10:22:00.000-05:002006-02-16T10:22:20.626-05:00

In Bush America, there’s always plenty of money for advertising and PR. But when it comes to helping the people who are dying because they helped the U.S.A. win the Cold War, well, you know the rest...Report: Bush Spent $1.4 Billion on ‘Spin’ The Bush administration spent $1.4 billion in taxpayer dollars on 137 contracts with advertising agencies over the past two-and-a-half years, according to a

Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07278576495324916800noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3176035.post-1139840124629191312006-02-13T09:15:00.000-05:002006-02-13T09:15:24.676-05:00

Every once in awhile, the well-crafted images inadvertently fall away, and you can’t help but see the true character of the men who have taken control of America. So it was this weekend, when the details of Dick Cheney’s hunting trip emerged, after he became only the second Vice President (after Aaron Burr) to shoot another man while in office: Monday's hunting trip to Pennsylvania by Vice

Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07278576495324916800noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3176035.post-1139763575365568722006-02-12T11:59:00.000-05:002006-02-12T11:59:35.406-05:00

Today I’d like to talk about something non-political and wonderful: the growing selection of free college courses now available as MP3s for Web download. For years, I’ve been a fanatic Teaching Company customer. Their college courses are simply masterful. I’m finally getting the education I didn’t get in college: the philosophy, comparative religion, literature, linguistics, medieval and ancient

Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07278576495324916800noreply@blogger.com8