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Tuesday, Jun 29, 2004
subterranean homeland blues
"The most intriguing story in Washington these days is a subterranean conflict that reporters cannot cover because some of them are involved. A potent guerrilla insurgency has formed in and around the Bush presidency--a revolt of old pros in government who strike from the shadows with devastating effect. They tell the truth. They explode big lies. They provide documentary evidence that undermines popular confidence in the Commander in Chief. They prod the media and the political community to ask penetrating questions of the Bush regime. Doubtless, these anonymous sources act from a mixture of motives--some noble, some self-interested--but in present circumstances one might think of them as "embedded patriots.""
your headline here
"Politicians often rewrite history to their own purposes, but, as Bush's remarks suggested, there was more than passing significance to his revisionist account of the Spanish-American War. It reflected not just a distorted view of a critical episode in U.S. foreign policy but the rejection of important, negative lessons that Americans later drew from their brief experiment in creating an overseas empire. The United States' decision to invade and occupy Iraq wasn't, of course, a direct result of this misreading of the past. If Bush or Vice President Dick Cheney or Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz (the administration's leading neoconservative) had remembered the brutal war the United States fought in the Philippines or similar misadventures in Mexico, or the blighted history of Western imperialism in the Middle East, they still might have invaded Iraq. But they also might have had second, third, or even fourth thoughts about what Bush, unconsciously echoing the imperialists of a century ago, called a “historic opportunity to change the world.”"
still carb free!
breakdown of the supremes on padilla et al.
boston harbors
dnc convention blog
Monday, Jun 28, 2004
showcasing democracy
"BOSTON, June 8 -- The head of Boston's mass transit police said Tuesday that officers will begin random baggage checks in the first program of its kind instituted by a major American city to help guard against explosives being detonated in stations or on trains."
Sunday, Jun 27, 2004
rrjr
"Whom would Jesus torture?"
Friday, Jun 25, 2004
the tennis gods (and their sponsors) are smiling
near future grand slam champion
Wednesday, Jun 23, 2004
illinoise
if you are going to have a sex scandal and ruin a flagging candidacy for senate, this is the way to do it.
Saturday, Jun 19, 2004
hit the cutoff, man
little bit of a bummer on the tivo front. taped the lakers-pistons game 5 while i was away. unfortunately it only records the time that has been blocked out for the event. and, of course, sporting events often dont conform to their preconfigured time slots. so with x number of minutes left, the recording stopped. not what i call user friendly. in fact, a user could get pretty unfriendly if that problem lingers.
kingdom come
my vacation reading -- Sleeping With the Devil: How Washington Sold Our Soul for Saudi Crude by Robert Baerplus an interview with baer in the atlantic monthly.