Politics

For quite some time, England has lived with the reality of IRA terrorists who would like to see various important Brits dead. London knows a lot more about living under that sort of threat than we do. That’s a simple statement of fact; 9/11 was of much larger magnitude, but England’s been dealing with this sort of thing for decades. In all those years, they have somehow managed to keep the Prime Minister and the Queen safe without shutting down the London Underground. One wonders what sort of a cowboy is afraid of risks the Queen of England takes on a regular basis. ...

There’ve been a lot of DoD press releases (original) about deaths recently. They’re fairly abstracted, which I think is appropriate. This one (original) reports the death of Robert A. Wise of Florida. His friend Trueman, who is currently recuperating in a hospital in Germany, gives us his account of the attack which killed Specialist Wise.

Others have made this point, but it’s a good excuse to link to a funny comic, so I’m gonna make it again. Tom Tomorrow isn’t saying you don’t have the right to comment on war unless you’re enlisted or a veteran. He’s saying — well, read the second panel. “I’m waging war on the Islamofascists — on my blog!” He’s saying that’s a really stupid thing to say. Now, that might seem like hyperbole. Who says stuff like that? Perhaps the irate blogger is really meant to represent some other class of bloggers. Warbloggers in general, maybe. Maybe he’s saying all warbloggers are stupid. ...

Juan Cole has the scoop on the new plan for transferring power to an Iraqi government. I could meander on but I think he nails the implications, pros, and cons.

Handy Democratic primary link of the day: Poll Roundup, from a Daily Kos denizen’s diary. There’s a clearer but less detailed version here.

The most interesting thing on television today is the 30 hour Senate debate on judicial nominees (original). It’s not going to change a thing either way, but both the Democrats and the Republicans are tossing their best speakers up there to chew up time and sling rhetoric. Good for those fascinated by process.

Wow, those are certainly some attractive jobless numbers there. In fact, they’re so good I stole the graphic so I could stick it up here. Damn, but that’s good. So good, I decided to reformat it a bit so I could admire it again. Oh. And I guess employment dropped by 41,000 anyhow. So, uh… what’s unemployment look like, anyhow? As they say, all this really means is that the rate of increase has decreased. ...

So this means that the RNC is going to be as critical of the Jessica Lynch TV movie as they were of the Reagan miniseries, right?

Bush’s remarks on Middle East Democracy are quite fortuitous, since I wanted to talk some more about that war of civilizations thing. Bush is about to say, or said, that the changes we want to see in the Middle East are not “synonymous with Westernization.” But that’s really the heart of the matter. The thing we call Western culture (and if ever there was a loose definition, there it is) is immensely viral. It spreads. It is intensely aggressive. Give us a new market, and we’ll shoulder our way into it if it all possible. McDonalds on every corner, etc., etc. ...

Ordinarily, I’d be pretty dubious about this report, but one of the sources is Richard Perle. If it’s true, Iraq was trying pretty hard to negotiate a peace — including allowing thousands of US scientists into the country to look for WMDs and UN-sponsored free elections. One could argue that Saddam would have gone back on his deal. But it would have been a lot easier getting international support for an invasion at that point. ...