A Little Reason

2005-09-29T10:52:00.000-04:00

The Right-Wing's Wrong About Ronnie Earle and Kay Bailey HutchisonIt gives me no joy to write this piece. I think the DeLay prosecution is bunk, and I'm a reliable GOP partisan, as a review of this site will show. However, exhibit A in the GOP push-back on the DeLay prosecution is the argument that Earle filed a politically motivated prosecution against GOP Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, and that

2005-09-28T09:20:00.000-04:00

Serenity Mini-ReviewI saw Serenity at the blogger's preview last night, and I was very pleasantly surprised. My guess is that this will be the science fiction movie of the year, and one of the better movies of the year. If you don't hate science fiction, you should see it, whether or not you have seen the TV show. A brief synopsis: In the far future, most of humanity lives in a star system with

2005-09-26T07:55:00.000-04:00

Pre-Serenity BloggingI'm signed up for one of the upcoming Serenity premieres. After I see it, I'll post a non-spoiler and a spoiler review. For what it's worth, here are my early thoughts on Serenity. Joss Whedon is a creative, original guy with a real talent at coming up with quirky ideas, at inspiring his actors to go an extra mile, and at writing funny dialogue. He is actually not very

2005-04-25T15:44:00.000-04:00

Typesetting TriviaEugene Volokh asks why the American usage is to place commas and periods that do not form part of a quote inside quotation marks, but not to do so for other puctuation. (Apparently, the British only put commas and periods inside quotation marks if they are part of the actual quotation.)I had always understood that it was because back in the old days, typeset commas and periods

2005-02-24T17:20:00.000-05:00

An Inflammatory Post About Democrats, Hypocrisy, and GannonWarning, this is an inflammatory post, at least for me. You would be well advised to skip to my much better, if somewhat more boring, post today, which sifts through Bill Burkett's various statements to find a few new inconsistencies to add to his mountain of shifting sand (or, technically, his dune of shifting sand, I guess).Why the

2005-02-23T17:45:00.000-05:00

Bill Burkett - Lieing Then or Lieing Now? (Also, Salon's Factchecking Failure)A bunch of people have noted that CBS's "unimpeachable" source, Bill Burkett, is now threatening to sue CBS. (See, e.g., Ace, Say Anything, INDC, Unpopulist, Malkin). However, as much as I hate to defend CBS, I don't think Burkett has a leg to stand on. In the Salon story, Burkett is now blatantly lieing about what

2005-02-18T08:33:00.000-05:00

Social Security - You're Both WrongThere's been a mild debate brewing about whether Franklin Roosevelt intended Social Security to be replaced by self-supporting annuities. The idea appears to have reached popular discourse in a TechCentralStation article by Duane Freese, which was quickly followed by a Brit Hume piece on Fox News and a Wall Street Journal Political Diary posting by John Fund.

2005-02-17T17:53:00.000-05:00

Liberals Will Rue The Day, Part 1It occurs to me that liberals are likely to rue the day they decided to start mocking the Bush administration for allowing a gay reporter to get a pass to the White House.The most likely outcome is that the White House will tighten standards for reporters. I could easily see them deciding that only reporters who represent a certain number of paid subscribers can

2005-02-16T09:08:00.000-05:00

The Pack Versus the Hive Tom Maguire has an unusually good post today, which is saying something, because all of his posts are pretty good. His analysis of "pack-blogging" versus "hive-blogging" deserves to become as influential as linkers versus thinkers.If I may add one self-referential item, I wonder where trackbacks fit on the pack<->hive continuum. My one Cornerlanche aside, I get most of

2005-02-14T10:34:00.000-05:00

A Very Odd Kevin Drum Temper Tantrum The normally thoughtful Kevin Drum throws a surprising amount of heat and zero light on social security privatization with this post, which Tom Maguire takes apart here. Some background:1) Two weeks ago, NYT Op Ed columnist, Paul Krugman, who I understand claims to have some kind of expertise in economics, wrote that social security "schemes" have been

2005-02-11T09:39:00.000-05:00

James Watt Replies to Bill MoyersSecretary Watt provided me with a copy of his response to Moyers' insulting apology. The letter is a hum-dinger, and is copied in full after the jump.Read more!AN OPEN LETTERFebruary 10, 2005Mr. Bill Moyers NOW PBS/Public Broadcasting Service450 W. 33rd StreetNew York, NY 10001-2603Dear Mr. Moyers: Thank you for your apology of February 8th. I, of

2005-02-10T09:21:00.000-05:00

Which of These Things Is Not Like the OtherGlenn Reynolds reports as follows:A LATE NIGHT AND AN EARLY MORNING: Taped a segment of Charlie Rose last night with Joe Trippi, Andrew Sullivan, and Ana Marie Cox.This seems like an unbalanced lineup to me. After all, Glenn Reynolds is a well-known blogger, and the other three guests are not bloggers at all. Well, I guess that's not completely fair -

2005-02-09T23:26:00.000-05:00

Another Watt Update, and Another Goofy Moyers Quote As Powerline reports today, Watt has written a blistering letter to the Strib, and Moyers has publicly apologized for not fact-checking his fake Watt quote. (See for example, my earlier posts here and here). However, if Editor and Publisher's report of Moyer's letter to Watt is correct, it seems as if Moyers couldn't resist using the "I'm

2005-02-09T22:58:00.000-05:00

Three Comments on the Eason Jordan Affair I have two things to say about Eason Jordan's irresponsible comments at Davos. First, everyone should go, right now, and read Iowahawk's transcript of the closed meeting where Jordan made his comments. (1) It's amazing, but other than the Arsenio Hall comments, I'm betting Iowahawk got pretty close to what was actually said. (2) It's even funnier if

2005-02-09T17:29:00.000-05:00

The True Villian Behind Special Ops Cody's KidnappingApparently, some guy has claimed responsibility for the now-famous kidnapping of a US soldier doll. (HT: BestoftheWeb).I'm disappointed that n oone else has figured out the true culprit. I mean, it's so painfully obvious that I'm ashamed of you all for not figuring it out. Let's review the evidence, shall we? Bush's enemies (in this case, the

2005-02-09T16:47:00.000-05:00

I apologize to anyone whose comments I blew away when I enabled Haloscan commenting and trackback features. It had been so long since I blogged I hadn't realized how well Haloscan had worked out trackbacks and blogger. The two commenters I remember are: Captain Salty, who thinks Goldberg was wrong to offer a bet on Iraq's future (but doesn't link to me, and I ask you, what's the greater crime?

2005-02-09T16:22:00.000-05:00

On the Morality of Goldberg's Iraq Bet Captain Salty writes that he thinks Goldberg's offer to make a charity bet on the outcome of Iraq is immoral, much like Don Ameche offering to bet a dollar in Trading Places over whether he can make Eddie Murphy into a securities trader. I think Salty is missing two important distinctions. First, Goldberg isn't just making the offer to increase his

2005-02-09T09:26:00.000-05:00

A Definitive History of the Goldberg-Cole Feud, and Some Comments In case you missed it, National Review writer Jonah Goldberg and U-M poly sci professor and MESA president-elect Juan Cole recently got into a bare-knuckled brawl over Iraq, Iran, and each other. A Brief History: 1. Goldberg wrote a paragraph mocking Cole for saying that the 1997 elections in Iran were "much more democratic"

2005-02-07T11:26:00.000-05:00

Secretary Watt Speaks I wrote Secretary Watt to ask about Mile's allegation that Watt made the "last tree" statement on the PTL Club. Secretary Watt wrote as follows: I have appeared on the PTL Club with Jim Bakker. Never in my entire life have I thought, believed, said, read or heard anything similar to what Miles is attributing to me. AS you have researched and written, it is not

2005-02-07T11:09:00.000-05:00

Washington Post - The Bill Moyers Myth Hits the Big Time Ugh. Yesterday, the Washington Post repeated Bill Moyers' myth about James Watt. In a piece about the supposedly new trend of Christian stewardship of the land, Washington Post author Blaine Hardenstates: James G. Watt, President Ronald Reagan's first interior secretary, famously made this argument before Congress in 1981, saying: "God

2005-02-07T10:09:00.000-05:00

One More Question on the Bill Moyers Article J. Mann, quote detective, rides again. In his now thoroughly fisked piece, Bill Moyers writes the following about Zell Miller. The only Democrat to score 100 percent with the Christian coalition was Sen. Zell Miller of Georgia, who recently quoted from the biblical book of Amos on the Senate floor: "The days will come, sayeth the Lord God, that I

2005-02-07T09:43:00.000-05:00

Moyers and Watt, Part 3 Powerline has written something pretty close to the definitive wrap-up of Moyers' sloppy work. In particular, Powerline contributor John Hindraker spoke to Secretary Watt, and Watt confirmed that he has never, at any time, spoken anything like the quote Moyers attributes to him. I can only think of one thing to add to Powerline's analysis. Specifically, with regard to

2005-02-03T16:32:00.000-05:00

A Few More Updates to the Bill Moyers Wattage Inquiry First, Loren emails to say that he has written to Austin Miles, the earliest published source of Watt's alleged "last tree" quote, and Miles told Loren that he personally remembered Watt making the statement on a PTL broadcast. (Miles was unable to remember the date of the broadcast). I'm still sceptical, but it's hard to prove or disprove

2005-02-01T15:14:00.000-05:00

Bill Moyers Repeats a Left-Wing Myth About James Watt Volokh contributor David Kopel and Lileks are both slamming a recent Bill Moyers article in which Moyers argues that Republican environmental policy is a result of fundamentalist Christians' influence. According to Moyers, fundies affirmatively want to destroy the environment, because those Christians allegedly think the Rapture is coming

2004-09-08T20:53:00.000-04:00

Recent Kerry Campaign Lies It's a little irritating that various journalists or journalist/bloggers are so quick to call true statements lies, but can't be bothered to notice the glaring Kerry falsehoods. On the campaign and after, it was the goofy idea that Kerry cried "send me" into danger, when the admitted truth is that he signed up for Swift boat duty when he believed it to be

2004-09-01T06:06:00.000-04:00

Winter Soldier Investigation Revisited If anyone read this blog, I'd have titled this post "J Mann gets results." TNR recently posted a couple of pieces defending the Winter Soldier Investigation. TNR's basic point is that because (1) some atrocities certainly happened in Vietnam, and (2) the Winter Soldier critics have not proved conclusively that every soldier's testimony at the

2004-08-28T09:09:00.000-04:00

What They Should Have Said About the SwiftVets You know how a day after you say something, you come up with what you wish you have said. With the benefit of a week to think about it, I submit the following. In general, I think both Bush and Kerry should have come up with an idea to hug every veteran, and still seem fairminded about the whole dispute. W: I'm glad you asked me. I'm

2004-08-25T06:44:00.000-04:00

One More Cambodia Question I admit, I'm not very interested in whether Kerry went to Cambodia, but I am interested in teasing Kerry about it. With that in mind, the question the LRAM should be asking is: Did Kerry raise his Cambodia service in 1971, and if not, why not? Specifically, as powerlineblog pointed out, Nixon famously promised that the US didn't have troops in Cambodia on November 12

2004-06-30T09:27:00.000-04:00

Paul Krugman's Unfair Attack on Civilians I know that the left has apparently decided that because the Lying Republican Attack Machine will stop at nothing to win the election, neither will they. However, in yesterday's piece, Krugman dropped the bar about as far as I can imagine. Krugman writes: If the occupiers often seemed oblivious to reality, one reason was that many jobs at the C.P.A.

2004-02-16T09:58:00.000-05:00

TNR Is Still Annoying Me I never intended this blog to be a press-watch, but another TNR correction is in order, because, like Noam Scheiber's blog, TNR's unsigned "Notebook" has also decided to start telling half the story. Today, the Notebook is picking on the National Review and Washinton Times for criticizing Kerry's 1971 Congressional Testimony. Specifically, in 1971, Kerry testified

2004-02-10T18:47:00.000-05:00

NPR Has Joined Lyndon LaRouche Although I'm mad that Jonah got to it first, I was amazed to hear NPR (purported) Republican (purported) historical commentator Kevin Phillips shopping around a Lyndon LaRouche/Oliver Stone conspiracy theory. Specifically, Phillips alleged that Lawrence Silberman, now a federal appellate court judge and member of President Bush's Iraq intelligence

2004-02-04T18:12:00.000-05:00

Noam Scheiber Is Annoying Me In case anyone is interested, Noam Scheiber's blog on TNR has now annoyed me for two days in a row. First, Scheiber posted a piece stating that although he had earlier apologized for providing a false example of the alleged White House efforts to portray the Iraqi threat to the US as "imminent," no one should assume that the absense of evidence was evidence of

2004-02-04T15:24:00.000-05:00

Bad Art and Bad Audiences Steven Den Beste notes an exhibit at someplace called LeHigh University. Apparently, some anti-Bush artist has a bunch of angry essays and angrier photographs. In one, the artist has posed a Bush look-a-like fondling a woman's breast. Den Beste writes: I actually don't mind that they're doing this. I just wonder whether they would have displayed such a "satirical"

2003-04-28T19:45:00.000-04:00

I Have a Dream I have a dream. In my dream, Janene Garafolo, guilty over reneging on her promise to crawl on cut glass, would make a thoughtful rebuttal to her critics like the Dixie Chicks. In fact, she, Sheryl Crow, and the Dixie Chicks should come over to my house and personally show me how I've dehumanized them by stripping and letting me write political slogans on their bodies. Then

2003-04-27T16:26:00.000-04:00

Santorum - What It Says About the GOP I haven't blogged in a dog's age, but have been thinking about Santorum a lot, and thought I would share my thoughts with the random people who show up on this site searching for information on Avril Lavigne's boyfriend. (Wierdly, that's the most common search that brings people to my page. It's so wierd that I've done several searches on Avril Lavigne's

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

Where's Saddam? At the Movies I've been having trouble explaining why Saddam and his sons can't come up with a plausible broadcast. It couldn't be that hard to tape a video saying "We will beat the infidels! Evan as the famed Ken Griffey Jr. has been unable to deliver the Reds a winning game, their weapons will not help them." Based on my canonical knowledge of film, here's my guess as to

2003-03-20T17:25:00.000-05:00

Rachel Corrie There once was a woman named Corrie Who climbed up in front of a lorrey If you climb moving dirt You'll probably get hurt And that's pretty much all of the story Caveat: As has been said, both Corrie's death and the way she chose to live her life were tragic. I'm not happy she's dead, but I'm amazed that people who aren't convinced that Saddam is hiding weapons are willing to leap

2003-03-20T09:13:00.000-05:00

Dr. Frist, I Presume? I can't figure out if Josh Marshall is joking or not. Apparently, Josh is bemused because the NYT is calling Bill Frist "Dr. Frist" instead of what Marshall believes is "the more appropriate Mr. Frist." I don't get it. Frist is a medical doctor with an active license. He still practices, at least on his charity visits to Africa. If you can't call a medical doctor "

2003-03-05T18:40:00.000-05:00

Today's Thought on Iraq Quite a bit of the current criticism of the Bush policy on Iraq is an assumption that although the goal is admirable, Bush will get it wrong - he will sell out the Kurds, or kill too many civilians, or make Iraq a US protectorate, or destroy the economy, or let al Qaida go, or lose track of North Korea, or what have you. My thought for the day. As long as you assume (1)

2003-03-02T18:36:00.000-05:00

Some Game Theory and the Security Council Let's assume a little economic game. Five players -- the US, UK, Russia, France, and China -- each hold a veto over military action by any player in the game. One, player, the US, decides that military action in Iraq would be valuable to the US. A few other players, such as Turkey or Kuwait, can choose to contribute or withhold valuable resources.

2003-02-27T10:05:00.000-05:00

Today's post at USS Clueless is absolutely brilliant. I have nothing to add, except go read it.

2003-02-25T11:36:00.000-05:00

How the "Human Shields" Could Reduce Civilian Casualties Apparently, the "human shields" in Iraq are (1) convinced that the depose Saddam coalition is less likely to strike a water plant if it knows that a bunch of hippies are camping out near it; and (2) concerned that Saddam is actually placing them near military targets, or is placing his military assets near civilian targets. Well, I have

2003-02-24T19:22:00.000-05:00

Why Avril Lavigne Is Mean On the pressing issue of the day, I agree with Goblin-Queen that Avril Lavigne is mean. Not because the single housewife in "Skater Boy" made a mistake though, but because she didn't. Even if she'd given it up to the Skater Boy in highschool, the chances that he'd still be with her several years later are approximately zero. Granted, she would have an "I slept with

2003-02-24T19:12:00.000-05:00

Resolved: Israel's Doing Pretty Well Expategghead has a great piece analyzing Israel's performance under the various UN resolutions issued over the past fifty years. He analyzes which resolutions have been completed, which resolutions Israel cannot complete without cooperation of other countries or groups (for example, resoultions calling for an end to Israeli-Palestinian violence) and so on.

2003-02-21T12:25:00.000-05:00

Paradise Update A local radio station did a story last week about Paradise. Magid and Karin Dabdoub called in. (Magid was apparently one of the leading protestors). They said that they thought that the new draft was a lot better, but had some additional concerns. They thought that it was unfair that the play had the suicide recruiter tell Fatima to pray in a mosque before suicide bombing,

2003-02-20T21:50:00.000-05:00

How Do We Know If We've Won? Calpundit suggests some criteria for war success (found via Goblin Queen). He asks pro-war partisans, assuming that a war results in a relatively swift regime change in Iraq, with Saddam Hussein and his top lieutenants either captured or killed, are any of the following possible "good" outcomes also necessary to consider the war a success, and would any the

2003-02-20T21:23:00.000-05:00

My message, sent from Truemajority.com. (Suggested by Instapundit). I am a constituent of yours and recently moved to Ohio. I indend to become a contributor. I am writing to SUPPORT MILITARY ACTION AGAINST IRAQ, if possible within the UN framework but in any case as soon as possible. Saddam Hussein and the UN are engaged in even the desultory level of inspections currently ongoing only

2003-02-20T19:45:00.000-05:00

What's Bush Doing in Korea? There's been a little discussion on Brad De Long's site about Korea, and of course it's been an interest of Josh Marshall's for some time. Here's what I think. What's Going on in North Korea For those who don't know, North Korea has been the mother of all nightmare states for years. Despite the fact that its people are eating grass, bark, dirt, and possibly each

2003-02-19T10:23:00.000-05:00

My Visit to Paradise As reported, I went to see the Cincinnati Playhouse reading of Paradise last night. I'd say about 300 people showed up. Everyone was well behaved, and the play was moving. I'm sorry that it probably won't be performed. Background The Cincinnati Playhouse is a local theater company. One of their activities is an educational outreach program, where they do short topical

2003-02-18T11:13:00.000-05:00

I'm hoping to go to the Cincinnati Playhouse reading of Paradise tonight. (Paradise is a play about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that the Playhouse had planned to run in its educational outreach program, but was cancelled in part due to CAIR protests). Daimian Penny, Laura Ingraham, Tongue Tied, Christopher Caldwell and others have commented on the flap. If I go, I'll post something here.

2003-02-17T16:53:00.000-05:00

Whatta Revoltin' Development. How Republican Are You? brought to you by Quizilla It's not the low Republican percentage that bothers me, it's the picture of Aaron Sorkin. However, adding insult to injury, Sorkin is, of course, leaning to the left. . .

2003-02-16T18:35:00.000-05:00

A (Hopefully) Complete A.N.S.W.E.R. Wrap-Up Well, warbloggerwatch still hasn't issued a correction, but there has been some traffic on their mail list, so I thought I would post as complete an update as I can. (Note: the mail list and archive are public to anyone who signs up, so I'm assuming that the discussions there are public. I can't link to specific posts, but you can read up on

2003-02-13T20:07:00.000-05:00

Doh! Where's the Balanced Budget Protest? After reading this post by Brad DeLong, I'm ready to attend any balanced budget protest. I'd even go if the protest sponsored by A.N.S.W.E.R. (Well, not really on that A.N.S.W.E.R. part, but I'm very upset). Unfortunately, Bush seems to be eating the Democrats' lunch on taxes, so I'm not sure what can be done to turn this around. Maybe I'll write

2003-02-13T17:52:00.000-05:00

Towards a Positive GOP Policy on Race Here's a piece I wrote for Slate's Fraywatch, about what I wish President Bush had put in the State of the Nation Address. (Unfortunately, Slate split it in half). I've edited and reformatted it a little. Placement: near the end of the domestic policy laundry list. My fellow Americans, I would like to talk about the ongoing problem of race in America.

2003-02-12T10:18:00.000-05:00

Some European Mind-Reading - The House of the Rising Sun Last night, Steven Den Beste considered some reasons why European popular sentiment might be trending so strongly anti-American. I'm sure it's a combination of factors, but I suspect it's primarily one that Den Beste touches on. Inferiority. I think it's easy for Americans to forget how strongly people take "humiliation." We can't

2003-02-11T18:20:00.000-05:00

Warbloggerwatch-Watch, Part II A few weeks back, "Warbloggerwatch" hammered Glenn Reynolds for repeating the claim that A.N.S.W.E.R., a truly hateful group involved in the "peace protests", prevented Michael Lerner from speaking at a San Francisco peace rally. WBW's main criticisms were that Reynolds linked to the story despite a "lack of substantiation" and that "A.N.S.W.E.R.'s claim on the

2003-02-10T16:53:00.000-05:00

The Iraq-alQuaida Link Revealed! It's so obvious. Saddam has let the press know he enjoys sipping Johnny Walker scotch. (Scroll down a little in the linked story, or search for "scotch.") The most famous American Taliban - Johnny Walker Lindh. Do I have to spell it out for you people! Either Saddam is sending a signal to al-Qaida or the other way around. Either way, we need to invade

2003-02-10T15:11:00.000-05:00

Reuters: 6 Million "People" Killed in Germany During World War II James Tarranto correctly describes this statement by Reuter's as "jaw-dropping." German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder has angered the Bush administration with his outspoken opposition to a war in Iraq, a position that has widespread backing in Germany where six million people were killed during World War II. (Emphasis added).

2003-02-06T17:39:00.000-05:00

Iraqi Cruise Missiles/Kamakaze Robots Here's a question for Steven Den Beste and the other amateur tacticians on the net. I thought the most interesting part of Powell's speech was his discussion of Iraqi experiments with unmanned planes. According to Powell, the Iraqis have developed small unmanned planes that can fly on autopilot. The US recently watched Iraq test one of its models -

2003-02-05T20:00:00.000-05:00

(Welcome, USS Clueless visitors. For some reason, the post you're looking for isn't showing up in the archives. (I blame blogspot, naturally. Try going to the main page and scroll down to the February 7 post.) Anti-Iraq Arguments Part I(b) - More Loser Arguments (Ok, a little more of this, then I will get back to some more desperate attempts to get people reading this blog . . .) Yesterday,

2003-02-04T19:05:00.000-05:00

Anti-Iraq War Arguments Part I - The Loser Arguments (I know everyone else has already done it, but I'd like to catalogue the anti-war arguments. There are actually a few good ones, but I'll save those for later in the week. Today has been a long day, so I will stick to the rotten fruit, which is either easy to knock from the tree or already in puddles on the ground, depending on how far you

2003-02-03T13:30:00.000-05:00

Yes, Give in to the Dark Side . . . Good, young Burchill. I can feel your anger. Take your word processor -- strike them down with all of your reason and your journey to the anti-idiotarian side will be complete." The left has some darned good writers, including some, like Cockburn, who still haven't seen the light. On the other hand, the Guardian's Julie Burchill has done a full Hitchens,

2003-02-02T15:20:00.000-05:00

My prayers are with the families of the Columbia astronauts. Space is the future, and they should be remembered for the heros they are.

2003-01-30T20:21:00.000-05:00

Warbloggerwatch-watch I haven't read warbloggerwatch in a dog's age. Based on the activity on their mail server or their comment fields, neither has anyone else. Anyway, I thought I would check it out, and they are up to what they usually are -- personal attacks on Instapundit and random vitriol. (For those who don't know or have forgotten, Warbloggerwatch is dedicated to making a record of

2003-01-29T18:58:00.000-05:00

Fisking MoDo - Everybody Else Is Doing It I stopped reading the NYT editorial writers several years ago. Other than Bob Herbert and William Safire (sometimes), it felt like they each writing the same five columns over and over again. Don't get me wrong - I liked Tom Friedman's five columns a lot, and Maureen Dowd's some - but after a while, it didn't feel like I was reading anything new.

2003-01-29T10:43:00.000-05:00

You Say You Want Some Rope? Ok, Then . . . Ted Kennedy wants another vote on whether military action against Iraq is justified. I hate to play politics with war, but yes. Oh please, yes. Let all the Democratic presidential candidates take a stand on the war. Let some Democrat argue that inspections are working, even though (a) Hans Blix says that Iraq is cheating and (b) to the extent

2003-01-28T17:34:00.000-05:00

French Game Theory, and American Responses Steven Den Beste thinks that the French will lose out if America wins the war because the American transitional government won't let them participate in the reconstruction/oil sale and (I assume) won't recognize debts made Saddam's government. I think that depends on two factual questions: (1) What are the chances that an American transitional

2003-01-27T20:09:00.000-05:00

Although I love his site, I think Steven Den Beste is being overly negative about the French and German reactions. Basically, if I read him right, Den Beste believes that the French and the Germans are mealy-mouthed obstructionists who want the right to veto US military action against Iraq, possibly in order to preserve their lucrative contracts with Saddam's regime or even to cover up potential

2003-01-27T19:52:00.000-05:00

Welcome. I'll try touching up this blog as I find some extra time.