Unqualified Offerings

Looking Sideways at Your World Since October 2001

Archive for December 28th, 2007

Friday, December 28th, 2007

Ill of the Dead

Leon Hadar, in an article completed before the Bhutto assassination, writes about the utter failure of Bush Administration Pakistan policy, and about the utter fraudulence of Benazir Bhutto as tribune of liberal civilian rule.
There is an Iraq angle here. Five and six years ago I understood that al Qaeda’s grand strategy centered on Pakistan, because [...]

Friday, December 28th, 2007

Heckuva job, Kristol

By Thoreau
William Kristol, a man who is so profoundly wrong that he looks West each morning to see if the sun will come up, is going to be a NY Times columnist. Say what you will about the Times, but that’s a pretty sweet gig for a guy whose SAT score was lower than [...]

Friday, December 28th, 2007

Physicists learn that even if you pitch it, they might not come

By Thoreau
I have a confession about something that I’ve alluded to: As intrigued as I am by a lot of the new curriculum reforms out there, and although I’ve made a few tentative steps in those directions myself, I’m deeply skeptical of the Physics Education Research community. Now, a good friend of mine [...]

Friday, December 28th, 2007

They’re going to say all sorts of things, and some of them might even be true

By Thoreau
As I understand, it’s being said by some (for reasons of fact and/or convenience) that Al Qaeda is behind the attack on Benazir Bhutto.  Now, normally I’d be the first to remind everybody that Al Qaeda is just a name of convenience that the authorities attach to any group of 2 or more angry [...]

Friday, December 28th, 2007

Oud Fellows

Lawrence Kaplan writes about the US Army’s acclimatization to – and enmeshment in – Iraq.
Thanks to D. Moon for the pointer.