Unqualified Offerings

Arthur Silber says Ralph Peters is a . . . drag.

I’m a sucker for Iraq metrics, and Kevin Drum has done some wicked-useful graphing lately. Me, I’m a table guy. I like rows and columns of numbers, by which I mean – I can’t make graphs for shit. Kevin also makes the most important point:
. . . the various data series aren’t available in a [...]

By Thoreau
I offer this hypothesis:  The American executive and American Empire are now structured in such a way that any President with the support of 34 Senators (it takes 67 to override a veto or convict an impeached President, so 34 is enough to prevent that) can do whatever he wants.
Discuss.
(This may seem like an [...]

By Thoreau
First, we got into SoCal last night and stayed with relatives.  Today we’re in West Covina, but our furniture doesn’t arrive until tomorrow.  So we’re just taking care of errands.  And now I can officially proclaim that I am no longer in Mordor, and no longer working in a federal research institute under the [...]

This looks interesting: former terrorists-turned-politicians from Northern Ireland and South Africa have been meeting with leaders of Iraqi Sunni and Shia factions in Helsinki about how to accomplish the hard work of genuine reconciliation. A couple of thoughts:
First, this flies in the face of the narcissism of the American political class, the sense that if [...]