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Saturday, October 11, 2003


Moment of Humbling

So let me take you back to last night. Around 6pm, Graham, Kovnot and I are at a cocktail party at Linda Fowler's house. I haven't eaten all day, so I'm getting pretty toasted off the red wine. I'm chatting it up with this dude, who says, "That's great that you're working for the Kerry campaign, I am too." So we get to talking about Kerry's renewable energy policy, but its clear this guy knows WAY more than I do, so I interupt him to ask- "how do you know so much about energy policy?"

"Well...I was secretary of energy under Bill Clinton for 8 years."

Yeah, thatll do it.
Only at Dartmouth.


Also- Congressman Rob Portman '79 (R-OHIO) was at the same party. Graham and I experienced a major dilemma- is it cool to joke around jovially with a conservative who goes to work every day to fight against what you believe in? Drinking with Talcott is one thing- people at the review don't sponsor anti-welfare legislation in Congress- but ah, what about sleeping/drinking with the enemy?


Posted by janos, 2:39 PM -

"Gaza homes raized in tunnel search" reports the BBC:
The Israeli army has demolished up to 10 Palestinian homes in the Rafah refugee camp as it presses on with its search for weapons-smuggling tunnels, Palestinian sources sa
Another Palestinian is reported to have been killed in the Gaza Strip operation, which was launched on Thursday night by dozens of Israeli troops backed by tanks and helicopter gunships.

Seven Palestinians - including two boys aged eight and 15 - were killed during the first day on Friday and more than 50 have been injured.

The Israeli army says it has discovered a third tunnel in the camp, which lies on the Gaza Strip's border with Egypt.

But no weapons have been found so far and the army says the operation will continue...

...A statement from Kofi Annan said: "Not for the first time, the secretary general reminds Israel that the disproportionate use of force in densely populated areas is not compatible with international humanitarian law".


Full text here (BBC)


Posted by Nikhil, 11:52 AM -

Friday, October 10, 2003


When the Repo Man Comes to Siberia
A Russian energy company has announced a new way of forcing delinquent customers to pay up: confiscating their pets. Faced with arrears of $10 million, the Vladivostok firm Dalenergo said this week that people who hadn’t paid their electric bills would receive visits from collection officials authorized to take any items of value, including Fido. They’ll get their pets back when they pay up. “We will take their nearest and dearest,” Dalenergo head Nikolai Tkachev threatened in a TV interview. Outraged locals compared the threat to stealing their children, but officials were unmoved. “Technically, a dog is a thing,” said the chief bailiff. “So theoretically, the scheme can work.”


Posted by T. Wood, 1:36 PM -

Afghan Women: A Lost Cause?
Remember how the overthrown of the Taliban was going to liberate Afghan women from the chains of fundamentalist Islam? Colin Powell thought so. But two years later, Amnesty International tells a different story. Let's just hope someone in the administration still cares.


Posted by Laura, 12:50 PM -

Property Values-Obsessed Brooklynites "Out" Women's Shelter
A battered women's shelter in Brooklyn, currently under construction, is also under attack by residents in the area who are worried that the shelter will lower property values. Describing the women and children who will take refuge there as "transients," the neighborhood passed out flyers and posted the location of the shelter on their website, taking away the crucial privacy and anonymity that battered women need to escape their violent partners. I understand that residents have the right to complain about development in their community, but these actions are going too far. With so few shelters available, and so little money to support the ones that are, it's discouraging that anti-DV orgs have to face this sort of belligerence. LINK


Posted by Laura, 9:43 AM -

TNR is NOT on the Left
CBS.com is now running articles from The Weekly Standard and The New Republic as a Right v. Left feature for its online readers.

From an Alterman piece in The Nation
At least half of the "liberal New Republic" is actually a rabidly neoconservative magazine and has been edited in recent years by ... Michael Kelly, as well as by the conservative liberal-hater Andrew Sullivan.
This expresses my sentiments. TNR is not Left. It is not Progressive. It is not Liberal. It is, at its best moments, a thoroughly moderate group of DLCers who wet their pants over Al Gore and Evan Bayh. Via Atrios.


Posted by Clint, 9:27 AM -

Read excerpts from the Texas Republican Party platform
And weep for the state of my birth. And for our country. Calpundit has done us a service.


Posted by Clint, 8:57 AM -

Thursday, October 09, 2003


Why hide from your own candidate?
So, lately I've noticed all of these brightly colored "extremecanvass.com" posters up around campus. They have vague enough statements like, "Want to protect the environment?" or things like that. No mention of any candidate's name. Just a whole lot of eXtremeness.

Turns out they're from the Kerry campaign. If you go to the website you're treated to a picture of John F. Kerry on a windsurfer. Extreme indeed!

Why would they not put the candidate's name on advertisements to work on his campaign?
Is the campaign embarrassed about its candidate?


Posted by Graham, 10:33 PM -

Pope to get Nobel Prize for opposing war in Iraq?
To hope for this or not? Oh what a conflict for politically conservative catholics!


Posted by Timothy, 9:39 PM -

HOLY SHIT


How intense was that!? I've honestly never been prouder of the Democratic Party. We've all said we'll support whichever candidate wins, but you know what - now I actuallly mean it!
Lieberman and Gephardt gave their best performances of the primary season-
Sharpton commending Edwards as the embodiment of the American Dream was incredibly moving


George Bush will have a hell of time answering to even a fraction of the charges these 9 fighters waged against him tonight- and he's gonna go down.


Posted by janos, 9:30 PM -

I report, you decide
Under an hour from now, the 9 Democratic Candidates will go toe to toe (sort of) in the 3rd Official DNC debate.
In the time remaining, you could bone-up on every candidate's policy statements and voting record to find out who "flip-flops" under the hot lights of the TV cameras, or you could really prepare for the debate.

Slate's got some good advice that will help you get into the debate on a whole new level.
Or if you trust local advice more than "Big Media," take a ganders at this, written only for the 'thinking man.'

Watch the debate responsibly (or watch the game).


Posted by Graham, 7:22 PM -

Marshall on Up-is-downism:
They truly know no limits. Condi Rice says that if the facts revealed in the Kay Report had been known last winter, the UN Security Council would have backed President Bush in going to war...
[Rice said:] Had any one of these examples been discovered last winter, the Security Council would have had no choice but to take exactly the same course that President Bush followed: to declare Saddam Hussein in defiance of Resolution 1441, and enforce its serious consequences.
Really? Is that how it is? Every administration fudges, conceals, or deceives in this way or that. But, at least in my memory, I cannot remember any administration or even any administration official that so routinely says things that are the polar opposite of reality --- when the facts to the contrary are sitting right out there in the open. Set aside all the ridiculous efforts to spin the details of the Kay Report into some sort of vindication for the White House. The one thing the Report clearly shows is that Saddam was doing far less on the WMD front than even our staunchest international critics suggested. Given that they were unwilling to go to war when they thought he had some stocks of WMD, it’s awfully hard to figure why they would go to war once it confirmed that he had none. It’s just more up-is-downism. The same ridiculous spin as a year ago. [link]


Posted by Timothy, 6:23 PM -

Easterbrook on The Passion
No one will be sure what The Passion contains until Gibson releases the film; movies are readily edited, with content sometimes in flux until opening night. But initial reports aren't reassuring. Gibson is asserting his work is "the truth," historically accurate in the factual sense. Jesus lived, preached, suffered, died, and rose again to redeem the sins of the world; that, I feel sure, is truth. Everything else is speculation.

The four Gospels that recount Jesus' ministry differ on many specifics of the period Gibson is filming. They present mutually contradictory accounts of Jesus' last days in Jerusalem, his trial, his final statements. Most important to me as a Christian, the Gospels differ on Jesus' words at the Apostles' Charge--the moment when, basking in the bright glory of the resurrection itself, Christ told his disciples God's plan for the human future. Man, would I like to know exactly what Jesus said at the Apostles' Charge! I don't, and neither does anyone else. Nor does any Christian, nor any critic of Christianity, know for sure what happened in the hours of Christ's passion. When Gibson says he is only presenting facts, what he means is he presenting his opinion.
But Easterbrook also criticizes the Anti-Defamation and an article in his own The New Republic:
The New Republic is also guilty of Gibson-bashing, in the form of this article by Paula Fredriksen, an eminent professor of scripture at Boston University.... Fredriksen goes on to deliver herself of the same dubious claim at the heart of The Passion, namely, that she knows what really happened. The "historical fact" of Jesus' death, Fredriksen asserts in Gibson-like phrasing, is that Romans, not Jews, bore most of the blame. That may be, but it's an opinion, not a fact. Jesus was executed under Roman legal procedure; whether Romans or Jews or both pushed the execution forward we'll never be sure. Fredriksen says her committee found many "errors" in The Passion but can't prove the film "errors" any more than Gibson can prove it "truth."





Posted by Timothy, 6:19 PM -

Sigh... I hear Emmett's birthday is coming up...
Black leaders are outraged over a new board game called "Ghettopoly" that has "playas" acting like pimps and game cards reading, "You got yo whole neighborhood addicted to crack. Collect $50."...Shine displayed the game board, with properties including Westside Liquor, Harlem, The Bronx, and Long Beach City, and squares labeled Smitty's XXX Peep Show, Weinstein's Gold and Platinum, and Tyron's Gun Shop.

Players draw "Hustle" and "Ghetto Stash" cards with directions like, "You're a little short on loot, so you decided to stick up a bank. Collect $75," and "Steal $$$ if you pass Let$ Roll." The creator of Ghettopoly, David Chang, did not immediately answer e-mails or phone calls seeking comment about the game.

On his Web site, Chang is unapologetic, and promises that more games — Hoodopoly, Hiphopopoly, Thugopoly and Redneckopoly — are coming soon.

"It draws on stereotypes not as a means to degrade, but as a medium to bring together in laughter," Chang maintains, adding, "If we can't laugh at ourselves ... we'll continue to live in blame and bitterness." [Link]




Posted by Timothy, 6:09 PM -

You know, I think he actually believes this...
Altercation points us to this statement by GOP organizer Grover Norquist on the estate tax:
“The argument that some who play to the politics of hate and envy and class division will say is ‘well, that’s only 2% or 5% in the near future of Americans likely to have to pay that tax.’ That’s the morality of the Holocaust.”


Posted by Timothy, 5:51 PM -

And at the beginning of October... Howard Dean is maintaining a 10 point lead over John Kerry in NH, according to a newly released poll by the American Research Group.

These numbers come at the end of a month in which the Dean campaign had no TV ads, although Kerry, Gephardt and Edwards all did in NH.

So interesting details: in the last month Clark's name rec has risen to 90%, which is better than John Edwards despite Edwards being on TV and doing a "Town Hall" Tour this summer.
And the favorable/unfavorables don't look good of Joe Lieberman. For a while now, nobody has expected Lieberman to win NH (people used to think he was in a battle for third with Gephardt, though the Clark entrance causes problems here), but to me, his ratio of fav/unfav seems like it might signal trouble beyond NH's borders.


Posted by Graham, 12:38 PM -

Console Me, Please
Arnold is my governor. Can someone please explain to me what happened here?

Interesting Aside: Assuming that I graduate from the University of California in 2005, and assuming that Arnold is still my governor (oh, the horror!), my diploma will prominently feature his signature.


Posted by Richie Jay, 10:38 AM -

Supreme Court Excerpt
Montoya is a lawyer for a man named Hernandez--a man who contends to be a recovering coke addict. In evidence of this, he provides a letter from his AA counselor.

Montoya: If you construe the facts in favor of the nonmoving party ...

Scalia: The inference you want us to construe is that "alcohol" means "other than alcohol."

So Montoya points out that the letter discusses Hernandez's "sobriety."

Scalia: Sober refers to drunkenness.

Rehnquist: A drug addict is stoned.


Does Rehnquist remind anyone else of a slightly irrelevant older relative who interjects with inappropriate surprise at their own knowledge?

More sardonic hilarity ensues when the cumulative result of this banter is an implication that Hernandez is yet a coke addict.


Posted by T. Wood, 10:21 AM -

Why Arnold May Be Good for Dems
I didn't think I'd ever be quoting George F. Will on FreeDartmouth, but his take on the Schwarzenegger victory is interesting:
In 2004 President Bush will not campaign in a California seething with resentment of spending cuts and attempted tax increases advocated by a hugely unpopular Democratic governor. Instead, Bush will campaign in a California in which the Republican governor will be illustrating the axiom that today only a Republican governor can substantially raise taxes.
Plus, Arnold is hardly conventionally conservative in a lot of key ways (abortion, gay issues). This could be a good thing for Democrats come next year.


Posted by Laura, 8:53 AM -

Listen to O'Reilly get pissy and walk out of an interview.
It takes place during an appearance on Fresh Air, a fantastic interview program on NPR. As a special bonus, Host Terry Gross recently cornered anti-tax advocate Grover Norquist on a not so acceptable Holocaust/estate tax analogy. Listen to that one here.


Posted by Clint, 8:39 AM -

I feel very sorry for Mrs. Miller, if there ever was one.
Sirs,

With respect to feminism—There never has been a female Homer, Plato, Virgil, Ovid, Michelangelo, Leonardo, Louis Pasteur, Victor Hugo, J. W. Goethe, Richard Wagner, William Shakespeare, Charles Darwin, Thomas Edison or Henry Ford, and there never will be.

Furthermore as William Henry, early newspaper columnist, war correspondent, and radio newscaster said: “You could eliminate every female author, artist, and composer from the caveman age to the present without deforming the the quality of Western culture.”

So why don’t the feminists accept the incontestable and just shut up?

Spencer Miller ‘31
From the Letters to the Editor section of the most recent Review.


Posted by Clint, 8:15 AM -

Wednesday, October 08, 2003


More Reflections on the Recall:

Ok, so I'm not thrilled. And I'm sitting here thinking that something has got to change soon. And then this drops into my inbox. www.progressleaders.org

So who wants to run for office in the next 2-5 years?


Posted by Greg Klein, 8:10 PM -

Kerry Assaults Dean on the Real Issues

It's about darn time. The Dems are finally taking on the hot-button contraversies of this campaign season.


Posted by Nick, 6:36 PM -

As simple as... Why is everyone always picking on missile defense? It's not as easy as it looks, and for the sniveling doubters out there, the Missile Defense Agency suggests you try it for yourself:

Imagine trying to hit a ball that has been thrown towards you with another ball in mid air. Better yet, TRY IT!

What you need:

  • Two, synthetic foam (or equivalent) soft-sided balls
  • At least one friend to help

    Directions:

    1. Decide which of you will be the target missile and which will be the interceptor.
    2. The person who is the target missile throws her or his ball into the air in an arch (as if it is a missile following the curve of the Earth) toward the other person with the interceptor ball.
    3. The person with the interceptor ball then needs to try and hit the target ball with the interceptor ball, knocking it away before the target ball is able to hit him or her.
  • I just tried this out in the library, using crumpled up paper balls instead of nerf. Sadly, no intercepts, but missile defense was quite a bit of fun...


    Posted by Brad Plumer, 2:39 PM -

    Racism on the Right: More on Rush from National Review
    Jennifer Graham on National Review has an utterly pathetic defense of Rush Limbaugh, which begins by relaying this anecdote:
    A couple of years ago, the husband and I were eating out - something you don't do often with four kids under 10 - when he lowered his voice and gestured for me to look at the next table. I did so, expecting to find something peculiar, such as Karl Rove conspiring with Elvis.

    What I saw: A young family of five - father, mother, three young children, well-dressed, well-behaved, enjoying their night out, too. Except for the well-behaved children - mythical creatures with which we have no personal experience with - the family was unremarkable.

    But they were black. And my husband whispered that in a nation where 70 percent of black children are born into homes without fathers, it was great to see a picture-perfect black family dining together. "I almost want to go give the guy a high five," he said, somewhat sheepishly.
    Wyeth Wire points out that "the husband" is conservative talk show host Michael Graham, who famously told Chris Matthews he wanted to bludgeon Hillary Clinton with a tire iron. Jennifer Graham somehow relates the above anecdote to a desire to see blacks succeed in American society.
    He didn't, of course. When we left, we nodded, smiled at the children and promptly forgot the exchange...in which both of us unconsciously revealed that — horrors! — we are very desirous that black Americans do well.

    It's true. We desire Condoleezza Rice to do well! We desire Colin Powell to do well! We desire Clarence Thomas to do well! We desire practically every black American — with the possible exception of O.J. — to do well! So sue us.
    Oh my god.

    See also Ornicus on Rush Limbaugh's identity politics and Rush racism.



    Posted by Timothy, 1:12 PM -

    he's back...

    Michael Moore's new book "Dude, Where's My Country" came out yesterday and immediately hopped onto the amazon.com bestseller list.

    Here's my favorite customer review:

    Say what, October 7, 2003
    Reviewer: A reader from Bedford, NY USA
    Oliver Stone must have directed this book. If you like "Black Helicopter" conspiracy theories then this is the book for you!!!
    Funny? Nope.


    Posted by Meredith, 1:07 PM -

    Responding to Rollo...
    Over at Dartlog Rollo's whining about the senior fence. Jesus christ, does it never end? Not a single person cared when I asked around about the fence getting moved, largely cuz no one sits on it. And anyone later expressed reservations was assuaged by the fact that theres no historical reason for it to be where it is, as it already been moved there from its original location, in front of Dartmouth Hall.
    And they ARE building a diagonal pathway to shortcut to the ho[, but because of the fence's setup, the whole corner can be preserved. aside from the grass, a major issue was that big tree, which was dying from the lack of nutrients in the trampled soil.
    of all the things to complain about....


    Posted by janos, 11:14 AM -

    Legal Trouble for Clark?
    Wesley Clark is new to political campaigning and he might already be in a tough spot with the FEC, according to the Washington Post. Legal issues aside, I'm a little discouraged by the lack of follow-up from his campaign after Clark's announcement that he's running. But he looks so damned presidential...That's got to count for something.

    Also, I want to know what the Deanites have to say about Dean's chances in the South: I'm impressed by the grassroots surge of support for Dean up north and amongst liberal unbanites. But what about the other half of the country? Does Dean have a chance?


    Posted by Laura, 9:49 AM -

    Tuesday, October 07, 2003


    He won...
    I guess you can't over-estimate Californians.


    Posted by Jared, 11:34 PM -

    FCC Bows Down, Admits Bono is the Fucking Man

    Fuck. Now, that's one less four-letter word to bleep. After Bono uttered such phrases as "This is really, really, fucking brilliant" and/or "That's fucking great" on The Golden Globe Awards, the FCC received some complaints. And you won't fucking guess what they ruled.

    Check out their fucking brilliant ruling here. Or to sum it up:
    The word "fucking" may be crude and offensive, but in the context presented here, did not describe sexual or excretory organs or activities. Rather, the performer used the word "fucking" as an adjective or expletive to emphasize an exclamation. ...We reject the claims that this program content is indecent.
    This would make a fucking cool commonshare.


    Posted by Nick, 11:01 PM -

    Natural Born Killers Revisited, starring Arnold

    Remember that scene in Natural Born Killers where footage is shown of rallies with people holding up signs that say "Murder me, Mallory"? (To recap, in Oliver Stone's film, Micky and Mallory are serial killers become pop culture icons.)

    Pictures of rallies I've seen lining front pages are a bit too reminiscent of this film for me. In my local Boston Metro, the front page photo the other day was of a bunch of women at a rally with Arnold "bumper" stickers (get it?) pasted across their fannies. They might as well be yelling "Grope me, Arnold!", if they aren't already.


    Posted by Justin Sarma, 8:35 PM -

    Racism from the Right
    "He started off playing a chauffeur in 'Driving Miss Daisy,' and then they elevated him to head of the CIA, and then they elevated him to president and in his last role they made him God. I just wonder, isn't Rush Limbaugh right to question the fact, is he that good an actor or not?"

    -- Pat Robertson on his "700 Club" television show, using the example of black actor Morgan Freeman to defend Limbaugh's jab at Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Donovan McNabb. (via instapundit)
    Morgan Friedman is a damn fine good actor. (It's not his fault Deep Impact sucked!) And it's racist and stupid for Pat Robertson to use this example. And I can say that with confidence because of Friedman's acting ability.

    Flashback to Emmett's comments about whether Rush's comments were racist: "This isn't racist at all. It may or may not be true -- I'm not a sports guy so I don't know if he's overrated or if that's why -- but there's nothing prejudicial or racist at all in that comment. (In fact, wasn't Limbaugh himself criticizing what he sees as prejudice?)"
    What does he think about Robertson? Does Emmett now agree you can make a racist statement by questioning someone's ability and saying they are only being hyped by people promoting them because of their race? If he thinks Friedman is a bad actor, let him say that.


    Posted by Timothy, 6:24 PM -

    Gephardt is on the ropes: Why else would his campaign behave like this?
    The Gephardt Campaign's NH Spokeswoman, Kathy Roeder, tried to mug an elderly crowd at a senior center that had come to hear Governor Dean speak. She circulated a story attacking Dean in as credible a news source as the Manchester Union Leader.

    The seniors were unimpressed by her frantic antics and, according the linked article, asked Dean mostly about the Middle East.
    Read to the bottom of the article for a funny scene from Dean's Keene State visit yesterday (sorry, for some reason copying text from this article is proving difficult).
    Who would have guessed six months ago that the actions the campaigns of every Democratic challenger would revolve around Howard Dean? The Dean campaign continues to get more and more organized while the others (most notably Kerry's and Gep's) start to sputter and go negative (the nation reports that both of those campaigns have already filmed attack ads against the Doctor). Snide sniping does not create a political movement that lasts. For more on that see Gray Davis's political career (which, on a sidenote, I hope extends beyond this evening). If either Kerry or Gephardt are serious about winning the nomination and building a movement capable of bringing about lasting change to the American political landscape, or at least a Democratic victory in '04, they'd be well advised to change their collective tune.

    In other news, things are looking up back home, and the NYTimes editorial board comes out strongly against the domestication of tigers. Bold call.


    Posted by Graham, 3:26 PM -

    Wag The Blog

    Blog comments on campus news, campus newspaper intervenes, blog happenings subsequently become the news. If this continues we'll have no more material from which to start arguments.

    From the front page of today's The Dartmouth:

    "This issue, and the fact that he thinks that Buzzflood is "pretty much a ridiculous idea," prompted Eisenman to begin the petition "on a whim" about two weeks ago by posting a draft of his ideas on several Dartmouth related webblogs, including Free Dartmouth and the Dartmouth Observer."

    "As of yet Eisenman said he has not had any direct conversations with BuzzFlood leadership, but he has been debating anonymous BuzzFlood members via internet message boards."


    Posted by Jordan, 1:45 PM -

    More 'get your war on' here.


    Posted by Clint, 6:30 AM -

    Sick, Sick, Sick


    Posted by Clint, 6:15 AM -

    Cook: Blair knew that Saddam had no real WMDs
    Robin Cook, leader of the House of Commons until his resignation on the eve of the war, and one time Blair Minster of Defense, has published his memoirs of the lead up to war. An article with generous quotations is today's Times, reprinted at Commondreams.
    [a] troubling element to our conversation was that Tony did not try to argue me out of the view that Saddam did not have real weapons of mass destruction that were designed for strategic use against city populations and capable of being delivered with reliability over long distances. I had now expressed that view to both the chairman of the JIC and to the prime minister and both had assented in it.

    "At the time I did believe it likely that Saddam had retained a quantity of chemical munitions for tactical use on the battlefield. These did not pose 'a real and present danger to Britain' as they were not designed for use against city populations and by definition could threaten British personnel only if we were to deploy them on the battlefield within range of Iraqi artillery.

    "I had now twice been told that even those chemical shells had been put beyond operational use in response to the pressure from intrusive inspections. I have no reason to doubt that Tony Blair believed in September that Saddam really had weapons of mass destruction ready for firing within 45 minutes. What was clear from this conversation was that he did not believe it himself in March."
    If it wasn't obvious before, Blair is not long for Number 10.


    Posted by Clint, 5:53 AM -

    Yay "Defense" Department!

    Way to keep the "homeland" safe, guys!

    Why is it that conservatives think every other bureaucracy functions less effectively when it's "bloated" but never turn an eye to the bureaucracy occupying the largest office space on the planet?


    Posted by Jonathan, 5:45 AM -

    Monday, October 06, 2003


    And then there were 9....

    "I'm leaving because I have made the judgment that I can not be elected president of the United States," Graham said in announcing his exit from the race on CNN's "Larry King Live."

    He said he was not successful because he started his campaign too late and had trouble raising money.


    Any guesses on how long it takes for any of the other "2nd-tier contenders" drop out? I think the rest of them either have too much to lose (Edwards already said he's not running for Senate), or too little to lose (why would Sharpton pass up a couple more months of a national audience) by dropping out.


    Posted by Dan, 11:19 PM -

    DFP 3.14 And 3.15 Make a Retroactive Return!...sort of

    For those of you that missed the last two summer issues, they're up now on the web. Except they're not really. Due to some malfunctioning code, 3.15 is there but can't be accessed.

    You can access 3.14 here.

    And currently, the ONLY working link to 3.15 is here.

    If you would like to see a working link to 3.15, feel free to harass a certain '03 whose first name is Jared, and whose last name I can't spell.

    EDIT: All is well. Apologies for originally blaming Jared. As he points out, it appears I must be smoking some strong stuff.


    Posted by Nick, 8:01 PM -

    Arar Finally Comes Home

    Coming back from a vacation in Tunisia, Mr. Arar, of both Canadian and Syrian citizenship, lands in the US to transfer onto another flight to head home of more than 15 years, Canada. But for some reason, US authorities had his name on a list, so they deported him, not to Canada, but to Syria.

    I'm a little confused, though, about what exactly has been going on with the case.

    1) No charges (RCMP may have sent information to US officials)
    2) Deported to Syria (Axis of evil)
    3) Lost in the Middle East
    4) Picked-up and jailed in Syria (possibly tortured)
    5) Canada then wants him back and lobbies for his return
    6) Now at home, probably to face some kind of investigation

    The best part is that he's a resident of Montreal, and as they were flying over to the Middle East, they routed him through the city! But you read the rest.


    Posted by Anthony, 6:14 PM -

    Wilsongate G. Gordon Reynolds offers advice to the White House on how to cover-up the facts.


    Posted by Timothy, 1:45 PM -

    Goodbye Bucharest, Hello Abuja
    A new study of more than 65 countries published in the UK's New Scientist magazine suggests that the happiest people in the world live in Nigeria - and the least happy, in Romania.

    From the BBC. Other gems:

    The survey appears to confirm the old adage that money cannot buy happiness.

    The researchers for World Values Survey described the desire for material goods as "a happiness suppressant".


    And for Clint:

    The exception is Denmark, where people have become more satisfied with life over the last three decades.


    Posted by T. Wood, 10:42 AM -

    Can't The Guardian pick up on satire?
    America's most popular polemicists, on the left or the right, have little use for subtlety or nuance. The titles of the bestselling diatribes say it all. The last two books by Al Franken, who is liberal, were called Lies And The Lying Liars Who Tell Them and Rush Limbaugh Is A Big Fat Idiot. The most recent two by Ann Coulter, who is on the right, were called Treason and Slander.
    Right. But the difference, see, is that Franken--who usually gets the title "satirist" or "humorist" attached to his name--is exaggerating for the sake of laughs. Coulter is dead serious.


    Posted by Clint, 9:06 AM -

    Sunday, October 05, 2003


    This is embarassing
    CNN reports on Laura Bush reading this poem written by her husband:
    Roses are red
    Violets are blue
    Oh my, lump in the bed
    How I've missed you.
    Roses are redder
    Bluer am I
    Seeing you kissed by that charming French guy.
    The dogs and the cat, they missed you too
    Barney's still mad you dropped him, he ate your shoe
    The distance, my dear, has been such a barrier
    Next time you want an adventure, just land on a carrier.
    (via This Modern World)


    Posted by Timothy, 8:42 PM -

    CIA and Progressives
    Progressive blogger Nathan Newman has some thoughts about the Plame affair, and says the CIA should not become a sacred cow for progressives.

    But let's not forget that a huge number of Democrats aren't progressives. And Republican hypocricy among those who exuse the administration is still in the air: if a Democratic President was in the same situation as Bush was in since July, the uproar would be much, much worse.


    Posted by Timothy, 7:39 PM -

    Libertarians attempt collective action
    Not Geniuses warns us that New Hampshire beat out several other states and was selected as a base of colonization for 20,000 libertarians in their attempt to create a real 'live free or die' paradise. I wonder what Mancur Olson would think of this?


    Posted by Timothy, 5:01 PM -

    9/11/01 and art
    Frank Rich begins this article as a poor review of two plays he's recently seen about 9/11. He quickly moves on towards an examination of the role artists have played in processing the events of that day -- ranging from Mos Def to the players in the Bush administration who have fashioned their own story line and dramatic retelling.


    I've had the 9/11/01—Art question on the brain a lot lately. Yesterday at the Brattleboro Literary Festival, poet Sharon Olds (here's an old Salon interview if you're curious) refferenced 9/11 in the introduction to one of the poem's she read. I think her work was successful and appropriate.
    Over the past year I've developed a sort of internal sensor for when artists or commentators are over doing it with 9/11. You all know what I mean, when it gets too self-indulgent, or when it's emotionally dishonest. As a New Yorker, I appreciated the "Today we're all New Yorkers" statements coming from the far reaches of the planet, but there's a difference between showing support and forcing a deep emotional connection where one might not really exist.

    In any case, what do people think about 9/11/01 inspired art? What do you think are examples of successful works?

    For my part, I think the movie 25th Hour does a good job of capturing the mood and tone of post-9/11 New York City.
    I'm also a fan of Bruce Springsteen's album The Rising.


    Posted by Graham, 4:20 PM -

    4.2's Up!
    If you can't get your hands on the print edition, peruse the online version.

    Inside, you'll find Erin Fifield's report on the Labor victory at Yale, Cayelan Carey's adventures with alternative living at Dartmouth, the Editorial Board's thoughts on the nature of the American political landscape, Anthony Bramante's report from the Rolling Thunder Tour, and Rose Mcclendon's recent discussion with Professor Brooks on America's role in the world, along with a bunch of other articles and features as well.

    Check it out.


    Posted by Graham, 4:13 PM -

    A different spin dartlog might have given
    Arnold Suppressed Free Speech!


    Posted by Timothy, 10:28 AM -

    A lot bigger news than gropes or goosesteps
    The foundation for Tax Payer and Consumer Rights has uncovered and released internal Enron email memos detailing a couple of meetings that CEO Ken Lay had with California VIPs (mostly other CEOs) ten days after the State was forced to go to rolling blackouts during its energy crisis. The memos suggest that Lay tell Richard Riordan, who at the time was Mayor of LA, that they want a "comprehensive solution--business support is critical to garner political support."

    The memo also suggests that Riordan was likely to run for governor next year, and implies that he'd be particularly eager to be viewed as the one who saved the state during the crisis for that very reason. Ken lay is supposed to "ask [Riordan] if he'd now like to resolve the energy crisis."

    Only 14 people came to the meeting (the memo notes it "should be for principals only", emphasis in original), held in a ritzy Los Angeles hotel room. Three of them were Riordan, Bill Simon, and Arnold Schwarzenegger.

    Riordan ran against Simon in the GOP primary to take on Davis in 2002. Davis's campaign team knew he would a strong competitor, so they successfully did everything they could to boost Simon's chances. Davis beat Simon in the 20002 race, setting up the recall, in which Simon was also briefly a candidate.

    Schwarzenegger, of course, doesn't recall such a meeting, and isn't saying anything else.

    So why was Ken Lay so eager to meet with the three most promising Republican candidates for Governor? Does Schwarzenegger agree with Lay's explanation and solutions for the energy crisis, or would he support Davis's and Bustamante's efforts to recover the nine billion dollars that Enron and other power generators stole from California before the blackouts?


    Posted by Clint, 10:08 AM -
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