Unqualified Offerings

By Thoreau
You know what the hardest part of this job is? The realization that I’m going to have to give out D’s and F’s. (D is just as bad as F for any student who needs more than one quarter of physics, since the prerequisite for the second quarter is C- or better […]

By Thoreau
I was going to blog an article about saber-rattling towards Iran, but it’s too depressing.  Then I was going to blog about some academic stuff, but our unmedicated commenter (OK, I should narrow that one down ) is always offering career advice.  Finally, I decided to blog about the world of furries.  […]

By Thoreau
Somebody’s going to have to put the squeeze on Kucinich to get him to apologize for this latest outrage against the throne:
“You cannot be a president of the United States who’s wanton in his expression of violence,” Kucinich said. “There’s a lot of people who need care. He might be one of them. If […]

Understand I have no use for Rush and never have. But at length, I’ve come to admit that the one song had a point. IOZ and SMBIVA are on about how to change “the system, man.” And I’m all for it, for reasons we’ve gone into at length. What I’m convinced of, though, is that […]

Frontline’s documentary on poet/undertaker Thomas Lynch may well be worth watching. Lynch’s first collection, Skating with Heather Grace (1987), made a big impact on me. Okay, in translation: I desperately wanted to be Thomas Lynch for like three years. I’m over it. But he’s an extraordinary figure.

Go to the website for the new Alison Krauss/Robert Plant collaboration, Raising Sand.
Click “Listen to Album” in the top right border.
Immediately advance to the second track, “Killing the Blues.”
DO THIS NOOOWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!

By Mona
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Lance at A Second Hand Conjecture parses Brian Doherty’s essay on the war in Iraq, wherein Doherty asserts that when contemplating war the question ought to be: “is this absolutely necessary given a fair consideration of the horrors and unpredictability of war and the purpose of the U.S. military?” Lance […]

By Thoreau
OK, it isn’t exactly news that a revolving door between contractors and DoD leads to all sorts of corrupt contracting relationships.  But the Economist details how that relationship even extends to food companies:
Tyson Foods claims that the Army Centre of Excellence, Subsistence (ACES), an army agency in Fort Lee, Virginia, tends to award the […]

Could it be Daniel Davies’ “One Minute MBA - Avoiding Projects Pursued By Morons 101,” that is actually the greatest blog post of all time? It certainly saves one time in figuring out what to think about the revival of Ahmed Chalabi’s political career:
There is much made by people who long for the days of […]

My God.
My God.

By Thoreau
The latest Economist has an interesting article on training armed forces to fight insurgencies. One refreshing part is where the author toys with the idea that maybe “4th Generation Warfare” isn’t quite as new and unprecedented as people like to think.  It’s not like the past few decades showed the world’s first instances of […]

By Mona
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If you found my post below and especially attendant links regarding the email exchanges between Col. Steven Boylan and Glenn Greenwald too much to wade through, here is a concise version of the matter by Greg Mitchell of E&P. That publication thinks the story has legs. Excerpt:

For months the popular blogger […]

By Mona
[See above post.]
The right-o–phere thinks they’ve caught Glenn Greenweald in this horrible lie and misrepresentation vis-a-vis the bizarre and unprofessional email he received — and then posted about — yesterday from General David Petraues’ spokesman, Colonel Steven Boylan.
As one Bluto — in post that memorandum shows is getting linked […]

Lots of talk about yesterday’s hero-in-errorspotting. The passages that most struck me were:
His latest job: To press Iraq’s central government to use early security gains from the surge to deliver better electricity, health, education and local security services to Baghdad neighborhoods. That’s the next phase of the surge plan.
Which is an interesting formulation, since “press […]

By Thoreau
In the midst of a book review, the Economist observes the following about Emperor George’s campaigns in 2000 and 2004:
In 2000 he beat an incumbent vice-president after eight years of peace and prosperity: the wry slogan among his inner circle was: “Things have never been better. Vote for change.” Four years later, with the […]

Now seems a good time to point out that The Editors got the Iraq War wrong when it mattered.
On the bright side: 4-12 is alive!

By Thoreau
But only if the amnesty is granted by a special prosecutor.
And only in exchange for testimony.  (Credit for this phrasing goes to joe at Hit and Run.)
I want orange jumpsuits.  I want US Marshals serving warrants at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, the Naval Observatory, and Fort Meade.  I want perp walks.
Of course, I also want […]

By Thoreau
Let’s say that you are the leader of a party that holds a narrow majority of the seats in a legislative body. And let’s say that a truly godawful bill comes forward. And let’s say that a few members of your caucus are thugs who think that torture, warrantless wiretaps, detention without […]

By Mona
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Notwithstanding the lavishness of the new U.S. Hilton Embassy compound in Baghdad, The State Department cannot find 50 qualified internal volunteers to staff it. So, they are going to order diplomats there, something not done since Vietnam. Cernig has some suggestions for avoiding such heavy-handed measures, namely, recruiting the patriotic […]

Don’t have a Mac. Can’t afford a Mac. So, can’t use Scrivener. But want a writing program for NaNoWriMo. Who has experience with any of the following and wants to sound off, please?
yWriter
RoughDraft
PageFour
Liquid Story Binder
I’m clicking around the homepages and reading up on features. Of the programs above, Liquid Story Binder sounds and looks like […]

1. I don’t think I’m going to get around to reading that paperback copy of Allen Tate’s The Man of Letters in the Modern World on top of the open box in my closet.
2. I’d still like to bone the chick from the old Aviance commercial. I’m pretty sure it came out before I could […]

Ka’bah-ktoberfest (”Islamo-Fetishist Abatement Week“) concludes with - ringing denunciations of the First Lady. For wearing a scarf. No really! See bedwetter celebrities
Debbie Schlussel
Michael Goldfarb
Charles Johnson (link to be blocked in due course, paste into browser window)
Pam Whatsername
Yglesias writes, “I’d kind of hoped that the mass smear campaign against Nancy Pelosi for doing the same was […]