...more recent posts
Could this work with Israel and Palestine? I really don't know. Probably the hard parts are too hidden under the "get some really smart people to work out the details" part of the proposal. And of course I don't like the sound of how much the U.S. would have to (militarily?) force this on both sides. But frankly I haven't heard any other plans that even seem worth considering. So could this work? Bypassing Sharon and Arafat and taking it right to the people seems like genius. What am I missing?
Mark, I found the California Governor candidate for you: Georgy Russell. I think she can get out the vote. Or at least 50% of it.
Rant time again.
Does Tom Friedman annoy other people as much as he does me? It's like he's always right, no matter how many times he changes his opinion. Saw him on Charlie Rose a few days ago. He was blasting the Bush administration for how things are going in Iraq. True enough. But he also feels compelled to explain how he wasn't wrong for being in support of the war initally, because if the administration had just done things correctly it would have worked out.
This is completely ridiculous logic.
It should have been obvious that this administration would not do things correctly. And everyone who was for the war (for arguably sound reasons, even if I don't agree with them) was wrong for the same reason. Not because the war was absolutely wrong (although I think it was - but again this is arguable,) but because it was so clear that Bush and company would screw it up. Not predicting this obvious and horrendous outcome was a serious error, and I can't see how any reasonably honest person can say different.
You thought Wolfowitz and Rumsfeld had a good plan for helping the Iraqi people? Time to admit you were wrong Tom.
Notes from Amsterdam.
Ak47 at the Green house (adjacent to the Grand hotel) is a very worthwhile acquisition.
Fish restaurant adjacent to the Rai called Viasaandescheide (or something similar) quite worthy. Had the grilled seabream.
I was cheezed off at the wifi company doing service at the Rai. Flakey service. Very limited area of coverage. But they say I won Sony Clie Peg-ux50 in their daily drawing. All is forgiven.
Flashmob incident: Not a FlashMob(tm), but a something related. A group of highschool(?) girls assembled around the obelisk in Dam Square, posted a banner marked "a. a. '03-'04" and heartily sang. They weren't organized in the sense of having rehersed, but they were organized in the sense of being enthused. They sang in a vaguely northern European tongue, but I can't say if it was Dutch.
gothamist recounts favorite moments from 10 years of conan o'brien.
myself and one other "at large" denizen of the tree also alit upon this isle 10 years ago this week with little more than a plastic container half-filled with change and a dream (or two). im still waiting to awaken from the dream filled with change, but as plastic containers go, it hasnt been half bad.
Then understood-everything was explained : I had discovered the crowning error of the city, its Pandora's box. Full of vaunting pride the New Yorker had climbed here and seen with dismay what he had never suspected, that the city was not the endless succession of canyons that he had supposed but that it had limits -- from the tallest structure he saw for the first time that it faded out into the country on all sides, into an expanse of green and blue that alone was limitless. And with the awful realization that New York was a city after all and not a universe, the whole shining edifice that he had reared in his imagination came crashing to the ground.
what the hell was neil young saying in greendale ? lots of charged imagery, not alot of meaning
then after a normal 2nd set, the
last shot on the jumbotron is video freeze frame of yankees hat tossed on stage (NY, neil young, get it ?)
Johnny Cash, the conscience of American music, has died:
Well you wonder why I always dress in black
Why you never see bright colors on my back
And why does my appearance seem to have a somber tone
Well there's a reason for the things that I have on
I wear the black for the poor and the beaten down
Livin' in the hopeless hungry side of town
I wear it for the prisoner who has long paid for his crime
But is there because he's a victim of the times
I wear the black for those who've never read
Or listened to the words that Jesus said
About the road to happiness through love and charity
Why you'd think he's talking straight to you and me
Well we're doin' mighty fine I do suppose
In our streak of lightning cars and fancy clothes
But just so we're reminded of the ones who are held back
Up front there oughta be a man in black
I wear it for the sick and lonely old
For the reckless ones whose bad trip left them cold
I wear the black in morning for the lives that could have been
Each week we lose a hundred fine young men
And I wear it for the thousands who have died
Believin' that the Lord was on their side
I wear it for another hundred thousand who have died
Believin' that we all were on their side
Well there's things that never will be right I know
And things need changin' everywhere you go
But till we start to make a move to make a few things right
You'll never see me wear a suit of white
Oh I'd love to wear a rainbow every day
and tell the world that everything's okay
But I'll try to carry off a little darkness on my back
Till things're brighter I'm the man in black
from www.maninblack.net
I've been patiently waiting for this story to break as it seems like the best (only?) hope of disrupting our beltway overlords. Next week Josh Marshall is going to post an interview with Joseph Wilson. If you don't know who he is you hopefully will soon. Here's the starter piece, but it gets way more interesting from there. After the Niger debacle described in the first piece, Wilson's wife, Valerie Plame, was identified as an undercover CIA agent by "senior administration officials" to Robert Novak as reported in this article. Yes, she was outed by her own team! My understanding is that whether or not this was done to take some revenge on Wilson, the act of revealing a CIA agents identity is, shall we say, highly illegal. Like go to jail style illegal. And now Wilson himself is suggesting that the "senior official" in question is Karl Rove.
I am very much looking forward to this interview. I believe the press is dodging this story because it is just too incredibly hot. The pressure to keep the lid on this must be intense, as we are talking about the puppet master himself. But they won't be able to keep it quiet if people like Josh Marshall keep digging. This could be a very important story.
On Tuesday, two days before the Sept. 11 anniversary, Attorney General John Ashcroft will be speaking in New York City in support of the controversial Patriot Act. This is yet another exploitation of Americans' fear and mourning to promote the Bush administration's political agenda.
The New York ACLU and the New York Bill of Rights Defense Campaign have organized a demonstration to show the broad public sentiment against this threat to our freedoms. They are asking all supportive people to attend with signs.
Please consider joining this important action during your lunch hour on Tuesday.
WHAT: Demonstration to demand the protection of our basic civil liberties, and counter Attorney General John Ashcroft, speaking in the latest installment of his stealth Patriot Act road show.
WHEN: Tuesday, September 9 at 12 noon
WHERE: Federal Hall, 26 Wall Street at Broad Street (next to NYSE) 2/3 or 4/5 to Wall Street or J/Z to Broad Street
Map: http://www.moveon.org/r?469
WHO: New York ACLU (www.nyclu.org), New York City Bill of Rights Defense Campaign (www.nycbordc.org), United for Peace and Justice (www.unitedforpeace.org), and 60 other civil liberties organizations. Contact Udi Ofer at (212) 344-3005 x242.
Please let us know you can attend
The situation is so completely FUBAR I don't know what good it does commenting, but here's a quote anyway:
"We're dealing with a country that can really finance its own reconstruction, and relatively soon," Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz told Congress a week after the war began. Oil revenue, he predicted, "could bring between $50 billion and $100 billion over the course of the next two or three years."Phew, at least we won't need another or anything.
How many times does Wolfowitz get to be wrong before he becomes a serial miscalculator? (And where is Ken Pollack these days? Strangely quite it seems to me...)
how to talk about israel (nyt alert)
4pm: insufferable light begins to seep through permagray skies. rats scuttle back into sewers. home depot announces flatiron store.
I've never been overly enthusiastic about Jeff Beck's recorded music but I saw him live at Wolftrap for the first time tonite and it was fantastic. Drummer formerly for Zappa was also impressive. Keyboard player was no slouch. Drive back here in light traffic took only one hour. I was only person on road for last three or four miles, which after driving in DC traffic is a sweet thing indeed.
No doubt you've all seen the Time magazine piece making the rounds. Is this as explosive as it sounds?
Yet when Zubaydah was confronted by the false Saudis, writes Posner, "his reaction was not fear, but utter relief." Happy to see them, he reeled off telephone numbers for a senior member of the royal family who would, said Zubaydah, "tell you what to do." The man at the other end would be Prince Ahmed bin Salman bin Abdul Aziz, a Westernized nephew of King Fahd's and a publisher better known as a racehorse owner. His horse War Emblem won the Kentucky Derby in 2002. To the amazement of the U.S., the numbers proved valid. When the fake inquisitors accused Zubaydah of lying, he responded with a 10-minute monologue laying out the Saudi-Pakistani-bin Laden triangle.
mint?
Con Ed gives you money
mickey hart interveiw on wnyc today (soon, leonard lopate show). it's taped from a few weeks ago.
the world as blog
did anyone see the giant rubik's cube at astor place?
day 1: aol weblogs
Satellite photos before and after (during) the blackout.
Blackout history project (via TPM)