tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-99640332011-08-01T13:21:37.508-05:00news & opinion with no titillating non-news from the major non-news channels. <p>&nbsp;<p> I am: progressive, not a wild-eyed Progressive; liberal, but shun liberals and Liberals; conservative, but some Conservatives worry me; <b>absolutely NOT a libertarian</b>. I am: an idealist, but no utopian; a pragmatist, but no Machiavellian. I am a realist who dreams. <p>&nbsp;<p> I welcome all opinions.Jay Clinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14417576338175379129noreply@blogger.comBlogger3311100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9964033.post-17348613721077727612009-09-23T10:53:00.003-05:002009-09-23T10:57:06.198-05:00

Here are the three above-the-fold headlines on Google News just now:Obama urges world to stand unitedObama: Nations Must Work Together on Climate Change, EconomyObama: World failing to deal with challengesSo, Mr. President, if the world refuses to step up to the plate and "work together to confront the most pressing challenges of today"will you, sir, as the leader of the free world, lead the

Jay Clinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14417576338175379129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9964033.post-84923386993561560472009-09-08T10:59:00.011-05:002009-09-08T11:45:56.358-05:00

"Public Option" is not an option!One morning last week, I got to my MTC bus stop ten minutes early, so I felt secure in the knowledge that I would get to work on time. Sure enough, at the designated time, the bus pulls up and I and a dozen or so other fellow adventurers climb on board.Little did we know we were in for a real adventure that would take a sharp left turn into the twilight zone.As we

Jay Clinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14417576338175379129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9964033.post-611174866390074222009-09-08T10:58:00.003-05:002009-09-08T11:35:37.660-05:00

FROM THE DESK OF: MR ABU BAKARACHIEF ACCOUNTANT OFFICERFEDERAL MINISTRY OF PETROLUEM RESOURCES(F.M.P.R)LAGOS NIGERIA.TEL: 234-8074967779ATTN: SIR/MADAMREQUEST FOR ASSISTANCE- STRICTLY CONFIDENTIALI am MR ABU BAKARA, Chief accountant Officer Federal Ministry of petroleum Resources (MPR) and a member of a three-man Tender Board in charge of contract review and payment approvals. I came to know of

Jay Clinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14417576338175379129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9964033.post-72287270311909429242009-06-19T12:32:00.004-05:002009-06-19T12:37:24.675-05:00

According to the BBC, Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali KhameneiResponding to allegations of electoral fraud, the ayatollah insisted the Islamic Republic would not cheat. "There is 11 million votes difference," the ayatollah said. "How can one rig 11 million votes?"Translation: We cheated, but we didn't authorized that much cheating.

Jay Clinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14417576338175379129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9964033.post-32963470536204267412009-06-17T08:50:00.003-05:002009-06-17T09:04:15.143-05:00

8th September 2008 - NASA chief blasts US space policy in leaked email5th January 2009 - Obama may militarise NASA to save money30th April 2009 - NASA gets cold feet on Moon base plan10th June 2009 - Zaphod Beeblebrox home sun 'shrinking', may have blown up----------> Betelgeuse. 430 lys away. Already gone supernova??12th June 2009 - German lad hit by 30,000 mph meteorite

Jay Clinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14417576338175379129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9964033.post-32755173359699598212009-01-13T09:08:00.009-06:002009-01-13T10:20:57.851-06:00

The Independent, that wanna-be bastion of libertarian philosophy, has declared Terrible Credit Crunch of 2008—The Greatest Hoax of All Time?The crux of Dr. Higgs' argument is , and I quote, Probably the most important measure of credit-market conditions is the amount of commercial-bank credit outstanding. These figures show that although the middle part of 2008 does stand out in the long view, it

Jay Clinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14417576338175379129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9964033.post-41349767434539334442008-09-05T15:36:00.008-05:002008-09-05T15:55:13.432-05:00

The glaciers of the world are melting. One in Switzerland in particular raises the question if the current cycle (yes, there is a deliberate bias in those two words here) is a natural climatic fluctuation or man-made. Artifacts that are thousands of years old are only now being exposed by melting glaciers. The obvious conclusion is that at one time it was much warmer, long before CO2 emissions

Jay Clinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14417576338175379129noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9964033.post-65185336876125795892008-07-18T14:42:00.007-05:002008-07-18T16:11:56.415-05:00

This first paragraph from Asia Times Online speaks volumes:China's four-playWith US President George W Bush in essence rendered to lame-duck status and Republican Party stalwarts such as Donald Rumsfeld missing in action, China has a unique opportunity to accelerate its path toward becoming the world's second superpower. ...and... from an earlier ariticle:A country that cannot stomach civilian

Jay Clinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14417576338175379129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9964033.post-50466974941134313212008-05-08T17:04:00.000-05:002008-05-08T17:05:09.431-05:00

Baghdad - The leader of al-Qaida in Iraq, Abu Ayyub al-Masri, was arrested in the northern city of Mosul, the Iraqi Defense Ministry spokesman said Thursday.

Jay Clinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14417576338175379129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9964033.post-69951509045160582432008-05-08T16:59:00.002-05:002008-05-08T17:01:47.344-05:00

News Scrap:In other parts of the city, Lebanese troops in armored personnel carriers raced among neighborhoods trying to contain the fighting and shooting in the air to disperse crowds. “This is the first day of the civil war,” said a government supporter who gave his name as Omar, in a Sunni neighborhood. “They are the aggressors, and they will be buried here.”A few miles away, supporters of

Jay Clinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14417576338175379129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9964033.post-55231792260751260452008-01-30T16:09:00.000-06:002008-01-30T16:18:41.131-06:00

Back in '86, that was the punchline to a rather morose joke.I don't think NASA has learned anything.CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (AP) -- The space station's two American astronauts went out on a riskier-than-usual spacewalk Wednesday to fix one of two equipment failures that have crippled their power system and threatened to stall construction.[...]Whitson and Tani performed virtually the entire job

Jay Clinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14417576338175379129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9964033.post-55852765246081719442007-04-20T15:45:00.000-05:002007-04-20T15:49:22.529-05:00

From Yahoo/AP: HOUSTON - A Johnson Space Center building was evacuated Friday after reports of a gunman inside, Houston police said. Police were called about 1:40 p.m. for Building 44, which houses communications and tracking development laboratory, news reports said. Johnson Space Center security officers and Houston police, including a SWAT team, were dispatched to the scene. NASA

Jay Clinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14417576338175379129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9964033.post-53348349924170926092007-04-19T11:53:00.000-05:002007-04-19T12:01:55.369-05:00

From a CFR report dated yesterday:Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) said Bush “must search his soul, his conscience” to recognize that a bill calling for a troop drawdown next year is right for the country. The talks took place on an especially bloody day in Iraq, with multiple bombings killing nearly two hundred people (Reuters). The White House wants to give time for Bush’s surge

Jay Clinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14417576338175379129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9964033.post-43180872852552610042007-04-11T13:41:00.000-05:002007-04-11T13:45:49.275-05:00

White House considers war overseerThe White House is considering naming a high-powered official to oversee the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and report directly to President Bush and National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley. The goal would be to improve the coordination of military and civilian efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan by different parts of the government. The Washington Post reported

Jay Clinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14417576338175379129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9964033.post-12880143086759700112007-04-10T17:34:00.000-05:002007-04-11T13:50:22.306-05:00

Ok Ok. So Soros said this nearly 10 years ago and I am only now getting round to poking a stick at it.The principles of the open society are admirably put forth in the Declaration of Independence. But the Declaration states, 'We hold these truths to be self-evident,' whereas the principles of the open society are anything but self-evident; they need to be established by convincing arguments. (

Jay Clinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14417576338175379129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9964033.post-73459727465656851972007-03-20T10:12:00.000-05:002007-04-11T13:50:36.425-05:00

Over at the Independent Institute, a libertarian organization, Ivan Eland trivializes the potential of terrorism with the following quote,According to Ohio State political scientist John Mueller, the lifetime probability that international terrorists will kill any one American is a miniscule one in 80,000—about the same as the same person being killed by a comet. Of course, the chances are even

Jay Clinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14417576338175379129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9964033.post-6134551177539595022007-03-09T08:52:00.000-06:002007-03-09T09:09:10.974-06:00

What kind of die are you?Take the quiz at dicepool.comYou are a four-sided die, a d4. Otherwise known as a tetrahedron, a "Caltrop", or (to a lesser degree) "Ol' Pointy". This crap bores you, so I'll get to the point. Others tend to see you as petty, conniving, manipulative, argumentative, defensive, greedy, and needlessly antagonistic. You see yourself as focused, effective, efficient,

Jay Clinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14417576338175379129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9964033.post-1159308776089381822006-09-26T17:09:00.000-05:002006-09-26T17:12:56.340-05:00

From Newt Gingrich's Sept. 26 "Winning the Future" newsletter, The spectacle of hate and anti-Americanism being vigorously applauded by those sustained by our aid and contributions to international organizations does more than just discredit the participants - it calls the whole UN process into question. The recent, modest efforts at reform there have clearly failed. The United States needs to

Jay Clinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14417576338175379129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9964033.post-1156004216828092622006-08-19T10:52:00.000-05:002006-08-19T11:39:58.266-05:00

I am not up on all the ins and outs of Lebanese politics, but it seems to me the view of a suffering state beset and torn asunder by regional strife may be a bit oversimplistic.Lebanon, as a nation, has a unique opportunity to reclaim its sovereignty. Backed by UN resolutions and, more importantly, actual international support, the Lebanese government is sending 15,000 troops to restore its

Jay Clinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14417576338175379129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9964033.post-1156001422442908212006-08-19T10:19:00.000-05:002006-08-19T10:37:17.706-05:00

Stephen Erlanger of the New York Times reports on the post-ceasefire Israeli raid deep in the Bekaa Valley, JERUSALEM, Aug. 19 — Israeli aircraft and commandos carried out a raid deep into Lebanon on Saturday, clashing with Hezbollah forces near Baalbek and killing three, Lebanese officials said. One Israeli officer died.The Israeli army confirmed the raid some 60 miles north of the border and

Jay Clinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14417576338175379129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9964033.post-1153866128359793422006-07-25T17:04:00.000-05:002006-07-25T17:28:57.160-05:00

In inimitable character, George Friedman of Stratfor.com posits, if strategy is rational, then the consequences of that strategy should be revealing.Friedman makes no bones about Hezbollah's strategy in today's Special Report,Now that the war has started, it cannot maneuver in the open, for fear of Israeli air power; therefore, it is holding its positions, absorbing the airstrikes and engaging

Jay Clinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14417576338175379129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9964033.post-1153864810399291942006-07-24T16:59:00.000-05:002006-07-25T17:03:51.403-05:00

Former Ambassador Dennis Ross makes some guardedly optimistic observations in an article to be published in The New Republic next Monday,Hezbollah, until now, has branded itself as a protector of the Lebanese people, not the representatives of a foreign agenda.That self-image is no longer tenable. Many Arab (and non-Arab) observers see an Iranian hand guiding Hezbollah. Isn’t it interesting, they

Jay Clinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14417576338175379129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9964033.post-1153864716797781312006-07-24T14:56:00.000-05:002006-07-25T16:58:36.813-05:00

From a December 2003 Washington Institute Policy Focus, 'Fight on All Fronts': Hizballah, the War on Terror, and the War in Iraq,The events of September 11, 2001, played a major role in galvanizing Hizballah to intensify its strategy and violent activities. The group’s spiritual leader, Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah, acknowledged that “the stage after September 11 is similar to a major earthquake”

Jay Clinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14417576338175379129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9964033.post-1153754406488173492006-07-24T10:16:00.000-05:002006-07-24T10:20:06.573-05:00

A summary from William Kristol at the The Weekly Standard,Bush and Blair were, famously, caught on an open mike at the G-8 summit in St. Petersburg. Blair demonstrated a shrewd understanding of what was at stake for Syria's dictator, Bashar Assad: "He thinks if Lebanon turns out fine, if we get a solution in Israel and Palestine, Iraq goes in the right way . . . he's done." And Bush explained,

Jay Clinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14417576338175379129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9964033.post-1153419205919904262006-07-20T13:10:00.000-05:002006-07-20T13:13:25.986-05:00

An excerpt from a WaPost article on the ongoing events in Lebanon:about 40 U.S. Marines landed on a beach in Beirut at dawn to help with the evacuation .Semper fi, my friends.

Jay Clinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14417576338175379129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9964033.post-1153414113358662372006-07-20T11:42:00.000-05:002006-07-20T11:51:29.976-05:00

A response from Cliff May, president of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, during an interview with The Echo Chamber Project, July 28th, 2004:When we talk about the democratic societies, it means more than the right to vote, for example. People don’t always understand that democracy does not mean that the two wolves sit down with the sheep and vote on what to have for dinner. When we talk

Jay Clinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14417576338175379129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9964033.post-1153335959271392372006-07-19T14:00:00.000-05:002006-07-19T15:40:47.976-05:00

Track 1: Treat Her Right - George ThorogoodTrack 2: Pretty Woman - Roy OrbisonTrack 3: Legs - ZZ TopTrack 4: Fever - Peggy LeeTrack 5: When A Man Loves A Woman - Percy SledgeTrack 6: Got Me Under Pressure - ZZ TopTrack 7: Stand By Me - Ben E. KingTrack 8: You Talk Too Much - George ThorogoodTrack 9: If I Could Be Where You Are - EnyaTrack 10: Move It On Over - George ThorogoodTrack 11: Stand By

Jay Clinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14417576338175379129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9964033.post-1153333357385653532006-07-19T13:12:00.000-05:002006-07-19T14:00:09.510-05:00

From USNewswire,Democrats are proposing a New Direction, where we have robust diplomacy, which is dependent on a military second to none, where we build diplomatic alliances that help us fight terrorism, stop the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, keep the peace in the world, stop global warming, alleviate poverty to end the fury of despair that breeds terrorism in the world, and

Jay Clinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14417576338175379129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9964033.post-1153312293307693322006-07-19T07:25:00.000-05:002006-07-19T13:11:46.436-05:00

In the run-up to the 2006 elections, strident calls to return to an multilateral international order based on Cold War institutions are on the increase. Columbia University Professor of International Politics Robert Jervis offers a quintessential argument that the twin goals of Bush’s hegemonic (his word) foreign policy, to encourage democracy around the globe and transform the international

Jay Clinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14417576338175379129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9964033.post-1153307201050999512006-07-19T06:00:00.000-05:002006-07-19T06:06:41.070-05:00

From a crude attempt to kill the messenger, a blogosphere quote taken wholly out of context, and made right,Repressive agendas do not grow...they stagnate...they do not look for a better way to do things unless it’s for self-serving reasons, because that upsets their egg cart .... To expect change...by doing the same thing over and over again...is the definition of insanity.... Amen.

Jay Clinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14417576338175379129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9964033.post-1153225418117132282006-07-18T07:14:00.000-05:002006-07-18T07:23:38.586-05:00

After Kim Jong-il's madly belligerent missile thrust into the Sea of Japan, much of the resultant commentary and analysis are making three tragically wrong assumptions: the Taepodong-2 launch failed targeting the Taepodong-2 toward America was the intent of the exercise the Chinese are concerned that their "mad dog" is out of control In yesterday's Stratfor.com's Geopolitical Intelligence

Jay Clinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14417576338175379129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9964033.post-1152815879728682722006-07-13T13:26:00.000-05:002006-07-13T13:54:14.950-05:00

At The Nation, Palestinian writer and editorialist Marwan Bishara unilaterally blames Israel for the latest escalation of tension and violence in the Middle East,The Israeli government of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has exploited the capture of Army Corporal Gilad Shalit to restore the country's diminished deterrence against militant Palestinian factions, to break the elected Hamas government and

Jay Clinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14417576338175379129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9964033.post-1151677269975382992006-06-30T09:12:00.000-05:002006-07-13T13:54:42.096-05:00

From the Washington Post,A Spat Over Iraq Revealed On Tape: Rice and Russian Caught Bickering At Private LunchThat alone should be enough reason to put down the paper and find something else to read.Basically, at a meeting of foreign ministers in Moscow, a recording was "made when an audio link into the room was accidentally left on".After reading the transcript, I think the real story is one of

Jay Clinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14417576338175379129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9964033.post-1151676498575127212006-06-30T09:02:00.000-05:002006-06-30T09:08:18.596-05:00

From an AP story in the New York Times,Bin Laden said Bush should return al-Zarqawi's body and that Jordan's King Abdullah II should allow the militant's family to bury him. The Jordanian government has said it will never allow al-Zarqawi to be buried in his homeland because of a November triple suicide bombing his followers carried out in Amman hotels that killed 60 people. "What scares you

Jay Clinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14417576338175379129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9964033.post-1151436446283538422006-06-27T14:25:00.000-05:002006-06-27T14:27:26.316-05:00

On the Senate floor Monday, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid made this statement about one of General Casey's proposals for possible troop withdrawals out of Iraq,Mr. President, this afternoon, I would like the Senate to note how similar General Casey’s apparent plan to withdraw U.S. forces is to the plan put forward by Senate Democrats last week. Our plan—designed by Senators Levin and

Jay Clinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14417576338175379129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9964033.post-1151424923609526902006-06-27T11:10:00.000-05:002006-06-27T11:15:23.613-05:00

Does technology threaten our traditional American values?In the past, the FBI attempted to modernize their investigatory tools with Carnivore computer software to monitor emails, which is analogous to wiretapping. And it has been charged that the US Army's Able Danger data mining efforts before 9/11 could have prevented that horror, as well as the attack on the USS Cole, had there not been as

Jay Clinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14417576338175379129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9964033.post-1151424397290675772006-06-27T11:03:00.000-05:002006-06-27T11:08:12.436-05:00

Patrick Clawson, deputy director for research at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, takes a long view towards Iraq's future,Iraq is most likely to see a protracted internal war and economic difficulties for years to come. A mildly optimistic scenario is possible but so are some outcomes that would be destabilizing for the region, unpleasant for Iraq, and detrimental for U.S.

Jay Clinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14417576338175379129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9964033.post-1151423980257142322006-06-25T18:53:00.000-05:002006-06-27T10:59:40.263-05:00

Harsh words, perhaps. But I have a very rational and logic explanation for portraying Senator Russ Feingold (D-WI) as the ultimate personification of the Democrats’ traditional mascot. Iraqi Prime Minister al-Maliki has offered amnesty to insurgents who have not committed terrorist acts, including those who have killed American and Iraqi forces in combat. On Meet the Press, Feingold, perhaps

Jay Clinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14417576338175379129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9964033.post-1151423819307824062006-06-21T00:55:00.000-05:002006-06-27T10:56:59.310-05:00

As we gear up for the summer campaigns, pundits scramble for meaningful indicators. I think I found one. Potbellies is a sub shop aggressively expanding in and around my neck of the woods. Great sandwiches built to order on an incredible human assembly line that makes Subway blush. Located in the Crystal Court of the IDS tower in downtown Minneapolis, the line stops traffic cold in our skyway

Jay Clinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14417576338175379129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9964033.post-1151423707433829642006-06-13T09:52:00.000-05:002006-06-27T10:55:07.436-05:00

I have often concluded domestic political analysis with "The Democrats still don't get it." Well, have heart. For those with latent progressive tendencies (aka Reagan Democrats), there appears to be a light at the end of the tunnel. Peter Beinart, editor-at-large at The New Republic, offers this defense of President Bill Clinton's legacy, The moral and intellectual critique [of Clinton's

Jay Clinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14417576338175379129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9964033.post-1151423579618796462006-06-08T13:22:00.000-05:002006-06-27T10:52:59.626-05:00

As media consumers, we often take it for granted that those reporting the news have sufficient competence to report it accurately. It takes a great deal of effort to question every story we read and hear. I fell victim to such complacency when I read about Marine Captain Kimber who, in the wake of the Haditha story, has been one of three officers relieved of their commands by their Division

Jay Clinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14417576338175379129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9964033.post-1151423433615207822006-06-01T10:33:00.000-05:002006-06-27T10:50:33.623-05:00

James Carroll's Boston Globe Memorial Day tribute, "Honor the fallen, not the war", honors neither the fallen nor the war. He writes: Because it is natural to regard those who died in war as heroes, it can seem necessary to affirm the wars themselves as heroic, too. The decoration extends to martial rhetoric. This is a human response, dating at least to Homer, but such remembering results,

Jay Clinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14417576338175379129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9964033.post-1151423117716572882006-05-23T23:23:00.000-05:002006-06-27T10:45:17.726-05:00

Iran has been rather belligerent of late, to say the least. America's response has been likewise stingy, again to say the least. I believe America is on the right course and, if it remains on that straight and narrow, Iran will find itself a victim of its own devices, not dissimilar to Saddam's miscalculations that led to his downfall. Iran's belligerence began with the surprise election of

Jay Clinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14417576338175379129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9964033.post-1151422981026753372006-05-23T19:22:00.000-05:002006-06-27T10:43:01.026-05:00

In the recent debate over making English the official language of the United States, the most pernicious and insidious argument against it, is the rationale that if we designate one language as the official language then we must start fully funding English as a Second Language (ESL) courses. Why? To become an American citizen, my wife had to pay an application fee of $330. This was not an

Jay Clinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14417576338175379129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9964033.post-1151422837296807332006-05-19T14:37:00.000-05:002006-06-27T10:40:37.333-05:00

There is a plethora of commentary available for extraction from this, sarcastic and otherwise, but for the time being, I am going to take the minimalist approach. DW-WORLD: The Iranian President Ahmadinejad has ridiculed the European offer to provide a light-water reactor as an incentive to freeze uranium enrichment. Has diplomacy failed? Zbigniew Brzezinski: One has to recognize that when one

Jay Clinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14417576338175379129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9964033.post-1151422725764756492006-05-18T11:15:00.000-05:002006-06-27T10:38:45.766-05:00

From the Stars and Stripes, The widow of a Wiccan soldier killed in Afghanistan last year says after [more than six] months of waiting, she is ready to take the Department of Veterans Affairs to court to get a pentacle engraved on her husband’s memorial plaque. Currently the National Cemetery Administration has 38 permitted religious symbols for headstones and plaques, but none for pagans or

Jay Clinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14417576338175379129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9964033.post-1151422587078175962006-05-17T16:49:00.000-05:002006-06-27T10:36:27.083-05:00

After being ripped asunder and accused of sophism by the Kennedy School of Government Student Newspaper, The Citizen, for his on-campus "War on Terror?" lecture in 2002, you would think Noam Chomsky would have long ago found a new paradigm upon which to launch his philosophies. I myself had rented this lecture from Netflix over the weekend and found his arguments to be less than equal to, but

Jay Clinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14417576338175379129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9964033.post-1151422449758493352006-05-17T15:06:00.000-05:002006-06-27T10:34:09.760-05:00

From the Washington Post's Society Page, Reliable Source Hey Isn't That . . . ? - Nancy Pelosi lunching with former national security adviser Zbigniew Brzezinski in a cozy booth at Washington's Teatro Goldoni yesterday. Brzezinski had been in Europe of late touting his Four Point program for US troop withdrawal from Iraq (Ziggy is a much more complex man than John Kerry, who could only come

Jay Clinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14417576338175379129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9964033.post-1151422292530645612006-05-15T12:17:00.000-05:002006-06-27T10:31:32.533-05:00

[As security clearance] applications continue to pile up, government contractors are concerned that the growing value of already-cleared job applicants will make hiring burdensome. "When you have an event like this occur, it creates a psychological impression that [the] stock [of already-cleared job applicants] is more valuable," said Richard Piske, vice president and general manager of Kelly

Jay Clinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14417576338175379129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9964033.post-1151422071478255562006-05-15T11:07:00.000-05:002006-06-27T10:27:51.480-05:00

From the Fayetteville (NC) Observer online, [James R. Jordan] can look back on a 31-year Army career in which he became command sergeant major of the Army’s only airborne signal brigade, which is based at Fort Bragg. That’s the top job for an enlisted signal soldier . . .Jordan was bumping up against his 30-year retirement date when the 35th Signal Brigade got orders to go to Iraq in 2004. He

Jay Clinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14417576338175379129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9964033.post-1151421846530404592006-05-11T17:29:00.000-05:002006-06-27T10:24:06.550-05:00

The New York Times released their NYT/CBS Poll results for the week of May 4-8, 2006. I am not a big fan of polls. Too much emphasis is oft placed on the voluminous minutiae of the Numbers of the Week game, and on emaciated summaries of long term trends. There is a lot of fascinatingly boring stuff in the NYT/CBS Poll, but what I find most curious, and unsurprising, is the details in one of the

Jay Clinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14417576338175379129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9964033.post-1147219047189748872006-05-09T18:51:00.000-05:002006-05-09T18:57:27.213-05:00

George Friedman writes an insightful piece titled simply, The Intelligence Problem. Not that the good Doctor does not fail to take advantage of a little free PR in his own newsletter, but his analysis of the national Intelligence Community, from the perspective of a private IC analyst, stands on its own.Stratfor: Geopolitical Intelligence Report - May 9, 2006The Intelligence ProblemBy George

Jay Clinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14417576338175379129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9964033.post-1146236657502824462006-05-08T22:52:00.000-05:002006-04-28T14:21:56.953-05:00

My base ... my wing ... my squadron.Tip to Captain's Quarters, Outside The Beltway and Freedom Dogs.Below, the Eagle (Ninety Fifty) was one of ours.The mascot's name, during my tenure, was Apex.He hated any officer carrying a clipboard.

Jay Clinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14417576338175379129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9964033.post-1147123036194083852006-05-08T16:14:00.000-05:002006-05-08T16:17:16.213-05:00

inthesetimes.com, a left-wingnut progressive magazine, is espousing How corporate America perpetuates the health care crisis. In hawking his book (actually it is a guidebook to help people see exactly how politicians’ lies, myths and half-truths justify government policies that allow Corporate America to rip us off), David Sirota proclaims, Let’s be honest—very few political operatives,

Jay Clinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14417576338175379129noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9964033.post-1146778466278602892006-05-04T16:32:00.000-05:002006-05-04T16:34:26.320-05:00

From the 2006 National Geographic-Roper Survey of Geographic Literacy:From the total of 53 factual questions, men got an average of 30.2 answers right, versus 27.0 correct for women. Looking at specific types of questions, there is no significant difference between women's and men's performance on questions requiring map reading skills, and they give similar answers - both right and wrong ones -

Jay Clinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14417576338175379129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9964033.post-1146754575913442252006-05-04T09:54:00.000-05:002006-05-04T09:56:15.940-05:00

Steve Verdon at OutsideTheBeltway has a straightfaced commentary on, well, here's the first couple lines,MR. RUSSERT: Mr. Secretary, if demand is up but supply is down, why are the profits so high?MR. BODMAN (Secretary of Energy): For that reason.MR. RUSSERT: No, think about that.MR. BODMAN: You know?MR. RUSSERT: Play it out.MR. BODMAN: Demand is up.MR. RUSSERT: Correct.MR. BODMAN: Right?MR.

Jay Clinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14417576338175379129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9964033.post-1146692565385991662006-05-03T16:33:00.000-05:002006-05-03T16:53:45.840-05:00

James Forsyth at TNR argues that losing in the 2006 elections will actually help the Democrats in the 2008 presidential election.Consider that the GOP has three potential candidates for 2008 - Rudy Giuliani, John McCain, and Condoleezza Rice - with 50-percent-plus approval ratings from Democrats, Republicans, and independents alike. The Democrats have none. An opponent with these kinds of numbers

Jay Clinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14417576338175379129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9964033.post-1146690775570787902006-05-03T16:08:00.000-05:002006-05-03T16:12:55.616-05:00

Opinion from Russian News and Information Agency,MOSCOW. (RIA Novosti political commentator Pyotr Romanov) - The Paris meeting on Iran, which the media dubbed "secret" because journalists were barred from it from start to finish, ended in failure as expected.The positions of the sides remained the same. The United States wants the UN Security Council to pass the toughest possible resolution on

Jay Clinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14417576338175379129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9964033.post-1146689750496341372006-05-03T15:54:00.000-05:002006-05-03T15:55:50.516-05:00

Georgie Anne Geyer once again gets on her high horse calling for "rational realism" and dismisses any argument of staying in Iraq, of standing up to people who have called for evil upon us, as too much "testosterone".

Jay Clinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14417576338175379129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9964033.post-1146684740304473372006-05-03T14:27:00.000-05:002006-05-03T15:23:18.250-05:00

If, as Bernard Lewis said, "Make no mistake, those who are unwilling to confront the past will be unable to understand the present and unfit to face the future"; if, as Santayana is once to have said, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it"; if, as Mark Twain, or at least, Will Rogers quoting Twain (??) is alleged to have said, "The past does not repeat itself, but it does

Jay Clinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14417576338175379129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9964033.post-1146680662829259652006-05-03T13:13:00.000-05:002006-05-03T13:24:23.113-05:00

At the Captain's Quarters, Captain Ed objects to statements made by James Wolfensohn, the Quartet's international envoy to the Middle East, who resigned "on Sunday because of restrictions in dealing with the Islamic militant group Hamas, which dominates the Palestinian Government." The Quartet is the UN, the US, the EU and Russia.Ben Fishman, researcher and special assistant at The Washington

Jay Clinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14417576338175379129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9964033.post-1146601932161089302006-05-02T15:29:00.000-05:002006-05-02T15:32:12.180-05:00

from theNation.com, The marchers, estimated by the police at 400,000 people, were almost all Mexican-American and mostly young.[...]When hundreds of thousands take to the streets on a day like today, we are witnessing the birth of a movement for social justice of historic proportions.

Jay Clinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14417576338175379129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9964033.post-1146509429778828472006-05-01T13:47:00.000-05:002006-05-01T13:51:54.890-05:00

Iran doesn't stop trying.On Sunday, Iraq's defense ministry said Iranian forces had entered Iraqi territory and shelled PKK positions over a period of 24 hours.[...]"We have security cooperation accords with neighboring countries and we act within the framework of these accords. There is no cause for concern over this kind of thing with neighboring countries," he said.no cause for concern over

Jay Clinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14417576338175379129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9964033.post-1146504141391890452006-05-01T12:19:00.000-05:002006-05-01T12:22:21.433-05:00

The Boston Globe editorializes on Chavez' oil discounts to American consumers via CITGO,Many Venezuelans are far poorer than the Americans who will benefit from the discounted oil. A case can be made that Chavez should help his own countrymen first. Americans, however, are major consumers of Venezuelan oil. It's appropriate for Chavez to offer discounts as an informal rebate to the customers who

Jay Clinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14417576338175379129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9964033.post-1146503098510570652006-05-01T12:02:00.000-05:002006-05-01T12:06:30.956-05:00

Exercise in deconstruction:The Boston Globe editorializes,The imminent US troop reductions that [US Army General George] Casey invoked may make it easier, not harder, for Iraqis to overcome the legacy of Saddam Hussein's despotism and foreign occupation.The thrust of the BG's argument is this:I turned the outside lights off this morning before sunrise. And then the sun came up. Ergo, my light

Jay Clinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14417576338175379129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9964033.post-1146500661181554582006-05-01T11:20:00.000-05:002006-05-01T11:27:55.023-05:00

Friday I alluded to the dissolution of the UN World Order, arguing that the self-serving national interests of the five veto-wielding are corrupting the UN's global mission, namely, preventing war. I also made reference to an article in the Weekly Standard archives by Michael Brandon McClellan that called the UN a Paper Tiger.At a NATO foreign ministers' meeting in Sofia, Bulgaria, Secretary of

Jay Clinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14417576338175379129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9964033.post-1146259491619799392006-04-28T16:22:00.000-05:002006-04-28T16:24:51.663-05:00

In the furor and flurry of international activity over Iran's defiant nuclear posture, one must wonder if this crisis, or one similar to it, will be the UN's ultimate death blow. The AP reported today that, While Russia and China have been reluctant to endorse sanctions, the council's three other veto-wielding members say a strong response is in order.The United States, France and Britain say if

Jay Clinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14417576338175379129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9964033.post-1146251832046938842006-04-28T14:11:00.000-05:002006-04-28T14:17:12.220-05:00

I have read three articles today (here, here, and here) about a Denial of Service attack originating from Saudi Arabia. I wasn't directly affected (no one knows me), but I was unable to join the Captain's Chickenhawk unit (the 101st Fighting Keyboardists) until just now.

Jay Clinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14417576338175379129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9964033.post-1146248034932891812006-04-28T13:06:00.000-05:002006-04-28T13:13:54.956-05:00

Guillaume Parmentier, director of the French Centre on the United States (CFE) at the Institut Français des Relations Internationales, has stepped up to stand beside Ziggy and their defeatist (aka realist) attitude toward the Iranians.I will let Mssr. Parmentier's last paragraph sink or swim on its own merit, repeating what I said at the Gadfly,Better to hold our nose and maintain contact with

Jay Clinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14417576338175379129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9964033.post-1146165640760263392006-04-27T14:14:00.000-05:002006-04-27T15:19:50.906-05:00

RJ Eskow has written a post for the Huffington Post detailing the 7 Points of what a Just War is, and how Bush has failed every point. He has also created his own 3 Point rules that govern ethical Christian conduct in war. Naturally, Bush fails every point in his estimation.Here are my responses to all 10 Points. I give Bush 9 out of 10.The war must have a just cause.Removing the Butcher from

Jay Clinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14417576338175379129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9964033.post-1146087540655865192006-04-26T16:35:00.000-05:002006-04-26T16:47:32.336-05:00

For anyone still foolish and naive enough to think that China's brand of "capitalism" is anything like (or even compatible with) modern Western capitalism, read this:China Gives BlackBerry Maker a RaspberryThe ploy of exploiting BlackBerry's brand recognition is all the more bizarre — RIM's chief executive called it "weird" in an interview — because of the two companies involved. One, not so

Jay Clinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14417576338175379129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9964033.post-1146086650279375562006-04-26T16:18:00.000-05:002006-04-26T16:24:12.353-05:00

"Saint Bob" Geldof, of Live 8 series of concerts, says we need to do something about Africa before the Chinese muck it all up. "It's going to have to happen now because China will be all over Africa ... and they will embrace any government," Geldof told Reuters on the sidelines of a news conference in Johannesburg.Geldof's comments came as Chinese President Hu Jintao tours three African nations

Jay Clinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14417576338175379129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9964033.post-1146064903931964162006-04-26T10:17:00.000-05:002006-04-26T10:29:27.966-05:00

In the wake of 9/11, Iran found itself surrounded by American troops on all sides. Obvious even at the time, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq not so surreptitiously gave the US advantageous ground in containing and even threatening Iran. Iran's recent actions and rapprochement vis-a-vis Syria, Hezbollah, and Hamas have certainly been an attempt to outflank and neutralize America's Iraqi

Jay Clinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14417576338175379129noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9964033.post-1146061727189046032006-04-26T09:21:00.000-05:002006-04-26T09:28:47.216-05:00

Iran warned that it will attack US and Western interests in the Middle East if the US invades Iran. One prominent target identified is the Baku - Tbilisi - Ceyhan pipeline that the US has sponsored as an non-Russian alternative route for natural gas transport.

Jay Clinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14417576338175379129noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9964033.post-1145998098598218202006-04-25T15:16:00.000-05:002006-04-25T15:49:21.426-05:00

Ziggy is at it again. In a HeraldTribune Opinion today (at least he is honoring my request to not come home....), Ziggy makes a profound declarative statement, "Do not attack Iran" and offers " four compelling reasons against a preventive air attack on Iranian nuclear facilities".But it all just washes out in the rain.I honor Ziggy's wisdom by making a permanent place for him at Gadfly's table.

Jay Clinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14417576338175379129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9964033.post-1145978509421192742006-04-25T10:17:00.000-05:002006-04-25T10:21:49.443-05:00

Cool stuff from the NYT. Studies Find Elusive Key to Cell Fate in EmbryoBy NICHOLAS WADEPublished: April 25, 2006For three billion years, life on earth consisted of single-celled organisms like bacteria or algae. Only 600 million years ago did evolution hit on a system for making multicellular organisms like animals and plants.The key to the system is to give the cells that make up an organism a

Jay Clinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14417576338175379129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9964033.post-1145571160864573482006-04-20T16:56:00.000-05:002006-04-20T17:12:40.890-05:00

"I don't see any particular scientific reason to go back to the moon," said Douglas Osheroff, a professor at Stanford University and a winner of the 1996 Nobel Prize in physics. "If we want to beat the Chinese to the moon there's no scientific justification for the expenditure," he said. "It's a political one."ya think?And it ain't just for the prestige of it all. Unlimited resources, energy,

Jay Clinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14417576338175379129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9964033.post-1145568374620688512006-04-20T16:08:00.000-05:002006-04-20T16:26:14.680-05:00

Kamran Bokari's Geopolitical Intelligence Report yesterday (reprinted in the comments) fleshes out the politics of the current Iraqi political crisis and infers it'll all come out in the wash, if only because it has to. Despite the fact that Iraq's national election results were finalized nearly three months ago, there has been no agreement on the selection of a new prime minister. The interim

Jay Clinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14417576338175379129noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9964033.post-1145566264749011182006-04-20T15:47:00.000-05:002006-04-20T15:51:04.766-05:00

According to the OpinionJournal at the WSJ, The hue and cry over America's trade deficit with China is a distraction that masks this broad and beneficial economic relationship. It's also misleading. China runs a trade surplus with America, but it also has a deficit with the rest of Asia. That's because Asian companies that once exported goods directly to the U.S. now send them to Chinese

Jay Clinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14417576338175379129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9964033.post-1145565230531032352006-04-20T15:27:00.000-05:002006-04-20T16:31:56.963-05:00

Peggy Noonan chides Bush for being unyielding, for being the oak and not the willow.If Bush stopped being so damn loyal to his people, if Bush would stop being so dogmatic about his policy, then maybe the criticism would stop.Sorry, but I like the mighty oak.If this White House is all George Bush, nothing changes or shifts, nothing hits refresh unless he does. He is a tough and stubborn man, a

Jay Clinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14417576338175379129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9964033.post-1145563927224648382006-04-20T14:54:00.000-05:002006-04-20T17:20:28.073-05:00

(update 5:18pm - some specifics from an AFP report)Bill Gertz, Washington Times, reports on US military plans to beef up US forces in the Pacific, directly in response to the growing concern of the Chinese threat.he Pentagon is engaged in an extensive buildup of military forces in Asia as part of a covert strategy to strengthen and position U.S. and allied forces to deter - or defeat - China.The

Jay Clinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14417576338175379129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9964033.post-1145558618349863702006-04-20T13:42:00.000-05:002006-04-20T13:43:38.370-05:00

Melvin R. Laird, secretary of defense from 1969 to 1973 and Robert E. Pursley, a retired lieutenant general in the Air Force and military assistant to three secretaries of defense, take issue with the recent flurry of criticism from retired generals over Rumsfeld's tenure as Secretary of Defense. Their article, Why Are They Speaking Up Now?, was in yesterday's Washington Post. The two of us

Jay Clinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14417576338175379129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9964033.post-1145556734422641802006-04-20T12:10:00.000-05:002006-04-20T13:15:08.813-05:00

The backlash against the retired (with pension) generals who have recently called for Rumsfeld's head has begun.Melana Zyla Vickers offers her General Unrest critique of retired Major General John Batiste's Rumsfeld critique, leading with a reference to what I would characterize as "pigs at the trough",The chow line of retired generals waiting for Donald Rumsfeld's head to be served on a platter

Jay Clinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14417576338175379129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9964033.post-1145483206368583032006-04-19T16:34:00.000-05:002006-04-19T16:46:46.423-05:00

I was Googling "Baghdad" to see if I put the 'H' in the right place when Baghdad Bob popped up. What a sweet trove of memories I found. Here are a few of my most favorite Baghdad Bob comments: It has been rumored that we have fired scud missiles into Kuwait. I am here now to tell you, we do not have any scud missiles and I don't know why they were fired into Kuwait. Search for the truth.

Jay Clinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14417576338175379129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9964033.post-1145478959631159282006-04-19T15:35:00.000-05:002006-04-20T12:10:21.470-05:00

I fear the Gadfly has found another victim to feed upon. Georgie Anne Geyer, who most recently wrote a very uncivil article about the incivility of politics (ie the Bush Administration), this matron of unMannerly-like verbage, is at it again.From her most recent virulent exorcism of civility,Donald Rumsfeld's errant personal obnoxiousness ... the ideological madness of his immediate subordinates

Jay Clinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14417576338175379129noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9964033.post-1145473477907285052006-04-19T13:59:00.000-05:002006-04-19T14:04:37.973-05:00

Kerry has "dual-withdrawal" syndrome (here and here); Zbigniew Brzezinski naturally has a much more complex AA recovery program running. It is called Ziggy's Four Pointer.Whilst Secretary of State Rice was in Europe, dogged by European protests, Ziggy offered up his 4 Point Program for an American Withdrawal from Iraq (at least, it was the first time I heard of it). My response was to call for

Jay Clinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14417576338175379129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9964033.post-1145471288971621412006-04-19T13:24:00.000-05:002006-04-19T13:28:08.973-05:00

The Bush administration yesterday was at a loss to explain the rare presence in Washington of an Iranian government official who slipped into the United States under mysterious circumstances, apparently to attend a scholarly conference.The State Department said that Mohammad Nahavandian, an economics and technology aide to Iran's top nuclear negotiator, Ali Larijani, "is not here for meetings

Jay Clinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14417576338175379129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9964033.post-1145470698580387802006-04-19T13:14:00.000-05:002006-04-19T13:19:55.426-05:00

Isn't this the same mentality that brought us 9/11? You remember. Americans would cower in fear.A man selling sheets in a shop off Palestine Square said: "The world ignores us. But through [the bombing] they will know that we are still alive and resisting."We have to continue in the right way - the path of Jihad."And a food stand owner, Talat Hejazi, described his reaction to the news of the

Jay Clinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14417576338175379129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9964033.post-1145469892857690292006-04-19T13:02:00.000-05:002006-04-19T13:13:12.563-05:00

Update 1:10 pm - Israel has opted to not respond militarily at this time - see below) Nine days ago, I blogged an article from the Ireland Online, Hamas works to end upsurge in violence. It seems that Hamas has decided to forgo that decision. The bombing [in Tel Aviv that killed 9 and injured over 60 on Monday during Passover] follows an escalation of attacks last week in and around the Gaza

Jay Clinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14417576338175379129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9964033.post-1145468559999737992006-04-19T12:36:00.000-05:002006-04-19T12:42:40.036-05:00

From The Washington Times, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said yesterday that retired generals' calls for his resignation are rooted in opposition to his push to streamline and restructure the Army. ... a number of retired officers say privately that Mr. Rumsfeld is correct and that the resignation calls are rooted in how he has treated the Army during sweeping transformation.... Mr.

Jay Clinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14417576338175379129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9964033.post-1145461833883353952006-04-19T10:49:00.000-05:002006-04-19T11:03:05.926-05:00

Kerry has put the Bush administration on notice:Decades ago I stood up to the Nixon administration and spoke out for a change of course in Vietnam. Four days from now, I will be delivering a speech at Boston's Faneuil Hall on the critically important topic of war and dissent. It's time to remind America that, when a stubborn president has America headed profoundly in the wrong direction, only

Jay Clinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14417576338175379129noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9964033.post-1144960918002194942006-04-13T15:33:00.000-05:002006-04-20T16:32:27.683-05:00

George Friedman does it again. He takes a valid argument and trivializes it to death. Friedman, whom I have always known as an arch-realist, dismisses idealism and damns it with faint praise,The idealist argument - that a country that pursues only its physical and economic security will lose its moral foundation - is not a frivolous argument.Yet reading the historical examples of realism winning

Jay Clinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14417576338175379129noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9964033.post-1144959335253384742006-04-13T15:12:00.000-05:002006-04-13T15:27:23.030-05:00

The Shi'ites are showing they can play hard ball, too.Maybe the Iraqi's are demonstrating an apt ability at the art of compromise, albeit the hard sell variety.

Jay Clinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14417576338175379129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9964033.post-1144955167394180422006-04-13T14:01:00.000-05:002006-04-20T16:33:28.736-05:00

Austin Bay writes about Iraq's leading Shia cleric, Grand Ayatollah Al-Sayid Ali al-Husseini al-Sistani possibly putting the political squeeze on Iraq's Shia radical Muqtada al Sadr at TCSDAILY,Outsiders - including U.S. government officials - can bewail the Iraqi parliament's lack of progress in forming a government, but since the middle of March I strongly suspect the hidden story has been the

Jay Clinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14417576338175379129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9964033.post-1144943981665957062006-04-13T10:42:00.000-05:002006-04-13T11:10:02.346-05:00

At inthesetimes.com, David Sirota has made a short-sighted plea for Democrats to make Free Trade the campaign issue in 2006. Not that this hasn't been tried already, and not because Sirota truly understands the issue, buthe is dead on.Basically his argument is - Free Trade isn't working. IowaIn its report on the “State of Working Iowa,” the Iowa Policy Project notes that Iowa’s recent loss of

Jay Clinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14417576338175379129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9964033.post-1144938394122523852006-04-13T09:25:00.000-05:002006-04-13T10:41:04.566-05:00

Robert Killebrew, "a retired Army infantry colonel who writes and speaks frequently on defense and national security issues", applies the example of Korea, not Vietnam, to Iraq, in an April 9 Washington Post article.To many in 1953, South Korea was an unlikely winner of the savage civil war that had ranged up and down the Korean peninsula for three years. More than a million South Koreans died,

Jay Clinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14417576338175379129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9964033.post-1144874462700248462006-04-12T15:17:00.000-05:002006-04-12T15:45:57.866-05:00

I am in a funk of a mood.As Spain and Ethiopia were to WWII, the Middle East and Africa are to WWIII.

Jay Clinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14417576338175379129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9964033.post-1144849118546170392006-04-12T08:32:00.000-05:002006-04-12T08:38:38.620-05:00

Lead article from TheNation.com, John Kerry, Breaking the SilenceKatrina Vanden Heuvel writes that John Kerry has broken ranks with a silent Democratic leadership, joining Senator Russ Feingold and Representative John Murtha in taking a strong position against the Iraq war. So, anyone know of a left wing blog site that at least pretends to live in the real world? They don't have to agree with

Jay Clinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14417576338175379129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9964033.post-1144787109565344402006-04-11T15:18:00.000-05:002006-04-11T15:26:45.756-05:00

The LA Times reprinted an editorial today penned by Zalmay Khalilzad, U.S. ambassador to Iraq, and George W. Casey Jr., senior U.S. military commander in Iraq outlining four American objectives in Iraq,First, the principal threat to stability is shifting from an insurgency grounded in rejection of the new political order to sectarian violence grounded in mutual fears and recriminations.[...]We

Jay Clinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14417576338175379129noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9964033.post-1144779077123361232006-04-11T13:05:00.000-05:002006-04-20T16:34:04.433-05:00

Now, I would be offended by these three paragraphs, even if I was a die hard peacenik,By Georgie Anne Geyer Mon Apr 10, 6:26 PM ETWASHINGTON - Was I hearing right? In today's Washington, where lies, curses and calumnies have become the coin of this soiled realm, was it possible that I enjoyed an entire day of speeches and comments about civility, character and consultation between our lawmakers?

Jay Clinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14417576338175379129noreply@blogger.com0