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I wonder what Apple is up to now?
posted by John Farrell at 9:13 AM

 

"You said there were WMDs in Iraq and that Saddam had friends in al Qaeda. . . . Blah, blah, pants on fire." I have had many opportunities to tire of this mantra. It takes ten seconds to intone the said mantra. It would take me, on my most eloquent C-SPAN day, at the very least five minutes to say that Abdul Rahman Yasin, who mixed the chemicals for the World Trade Center attack in 1993, subsequently sought and found refuge in Baghdad; that Dr. Mahdi Obeidi, Saddam's senior physicist, was able to lead American soldiers to nuclear centrifuge parts and a blueprint for a complete centrifuge (the crown jewel of nuclear physics) buried on the orders of Qusay Hussein; that Saddam's agents were in Damascus as late as February 2003, negotiating to purchase missiles off the shelf from North Korea; or that Rolf Ekeus, the great Swedish socialist who founded the inspection process in Iraq after 1991, has told me for the record that he was offered a $2 million bribe in a face-to-face meeting with Tariq Aziz. And these eye-catching examples would by no means exhaust my repertoire, or empty my quiver. Yes, it must be admitted that Bush and Blair made a hash of a good case, largely because they preferred to scare people rather than enlighten them or reason with them. Still, the only real strategy of deception has come from those who believe, or pretend, that Saddam Hussein was no problem.

Christopher Hitchens.
posted by John Farrell at 12:35 PM

 
And now for some news...

No, Fallujah doesn't rival Jamaica as a vacation resort. But last year at this time it was the epicenter of Iraq terrorism, filled with decapitators and bomb-makers. If progress can be made there, it can be made anywhere in Iraq. Don't listen to the "quagmire" crowd. This war is being won.

From a reporter who is actually over there.

posted by John Farrell at 1:40 PM

 
As Jay Fitzgerald reports, the utter disgrace of David Bradley's "ownership" of the Atlantic Monthly takes another predictable turn.
posted by John Farrell at 10:49 AM

 
Do you suppose stories like this have anything to do with the reason why circulation for "news" papers like the New York Times and the Boston Globe is in decline?

Just a thought.
posted by John Farrell at 8:50 AM

 
Gee, I wonder if anyone at the Boston Globe has seen this:

* Every one of the Army's 10 divisions — its key combat organizations — has exceeded its re-enlistment goal for the year to date. Those with the most intense experience in Iraq have the best rates. The 1st Cavalry Division is at 136 percent of its target, the 3rd Infantry Division at 117 percent.

Among separate combat brigades, the figures are even more startling, with the 2nd Brigade of the 2nd Infantry Division at 178 percent of its goal and the 3rd Brigade of the 4th Mech right behind at 174 percent of its re-enlistment target.

This is unprecedented in wartime. Even in World War II, we needed the draft. Where are the headlines?

* What about first-time enlistment rates, since that was the issue last spring? The Army is running at 108 percent of its needs. Guess not every young American despises his or her country and our president.

* The Army Reserve is a tougher sell, given that it takes men and women away from their families and careers on short notice. Well, Reserve recruitment stands at 102 percent of requirements.

* And then there's the Army National Guard. We've been told for two years that the Guard was in free-fall. Really? Guard recruitment and retention comes out to 106 percent of its requirements as of June 30. (I've even heard a rumor that Al Franken and Tim Robbins signed up — but let's wait for confirmation on that.)
posted by John Farrell at 7:28 PM

 
This is cool.
posted by John Farrell at 9:30 AM

 
Today's must-read from Michael Barone:

Two generations ago, Americans, at the cost of hundreds of thousands of deaths, changed minds in Germany and Japan. The Pew Global Project Attitude's metrics give us reason to believe that today's Americans, at far lower cost, are changing minds in the Muslim world.

posted by John Farrell at 9:08 AM

 
Christopher Hitchens on Cindy Sheehan:

"What do these people imagine that they are demanding? Would they like a referendum to be held, among the relatives of the fallen in Iraq, to determine the future conduct of the war? I think I can promise them that they would heavily lose such a vote. But what if the right wing were also to demand such a vote and the "absolute moral authority" that supposedly goes with it?

"One of three things could then happen. The ultra-right anti-Zionist forces of David Duke and Patrick J. Buchanan, both of whom approvingly speak of Ms. Sheehan's popular groundswell, would still lose the vote. So would the media fools who semi-automatically identify Sheehan and her LaRouche-like drivel with the "left" or "progressive" forces. This would leave us with a random pseudo-majority, made up of veterans and their relatives. Who wants this to be the group that decides? One might as well live in a populist, jingoist banana republic. Never mind the Constitution, or even the War Powers Act. Only victims and martyrs can decide! Get ready to gather under the balcony of a leader who speaks rotundly of such glory."
posted by John Farrell at 8:02 AM

 

In the long run, though, intelligent design will probably prove a political boon to liberals, and a poisoned chalice for conservatives. Like the evolution wars in the early part of the last century, the design debate offers liberals the opportunity to portray every scientific battle--today, stem-cell research, "therapeutic" cloning, and end-of-life issues; tomorrow, perhaps, large-scale genetic engineering--as a face-off between scientific rigor and religious fundamentalism. There's already a public perception, nurtured by the media and by scientists themselves, that conservatives oppose the "scientific" position on most bioethical issues. Once intelligent design runs out of steam, leaving its conservative defenders marooned in a dinner-theater version of Inherit the Wind, this liberal advantage is likely to swell considerably.

That pretty much sums it up....

posted by John Farrell at 1:12 PM

 
Michael Shermer seems to be the only one to get it right on Bush's recent remarks about the controversy surrounding intelligent design:

On Monday, August 1, Bush gave an interview at the White House to a group of Texas newspaper reporters in which he said that when he was governor of Texas “I felt like both sides ought to be properly taught.” When a reporter asked for his position today on whether ID should be taught alongside the theory of evolution, Bush replied that he did “so people can understand what the debate is about.” But when pressed as to his opinion on whether ID is a legitimate scientific alternative to the theory of evolution, Bush wisely equivocated:

I think that part of education is to expose people to different schools of thought. You’re asking me whether or not people ought to be exposed to different ideas, and the answer is yes.

Well of course, but that’s a different question.

So, the claim by IDers and several Christian groups, along with complaints by liberals that President Bush endorses ID, is exaggerated. In fact, Bush’s science adviser, John H. Marburger 3rd, said in a telephone interview with the New York Times that “evolution is the cornerstone of modern biology” and “intelligent design is not a scientific concept.” He added that the president’s comments should be interpreted to mean that ID be discussed not as science but as part of the “social context” in science classes, and that it would be “over-interpreting” Bush’s remarks to conclude that the president believes that ID and the theory of evolution should be given equal treatment in public school science courses.

From his latest E-Skeptic newsletter.
posted by John Farrell at 9:11 AM

 
Wise advice from Lebanon: "To stop a man who wants to oppress you is not a case of you oppressing him."

Anyone on the extreme Right or extreme Left listening?

(via Instapundit.com)
posted by John Farrell at 3:17 PM

 

I had thought, in my Judaic innocence, that Aquinas had gloriously secured natural causality for the Church once and for all.

Leon Wieseltier, in an excellent piece (registration required) on the sudden "occasionalism" of Catholics bewitched by the empty rhetoric of "intelligent design."


posted by John Farrell at 12:39 PM

 
There may be much to appreciate in the work of Edmund Wilson. But I've always suspected deep down he was a narrow-minded blowhard. This article in the New Yorker does nothing to dispel that, I'm afraid....
posted by John Farrell at 12:19 PM

 

Thought-provoking?

The US study, published in Science, took the same theory and applied it to a more everyday example.

They used electrodes placed inside the skull to monitor the responses of brain cells in the auditory cortex of two surgical patients as they watched a clip of "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly".

Aw, come on! And they don't even tell you which scene??! What a rip-off....

("I almost forgot. He gave me a thousand. I think his intention was that I kill you.")

posted by John Farrell at 11:51 AM

 
There's good news and bad news for podcasters (and that means me and other independent producers).

On the whole, though, I think the whole new delivery system is exciting.
posted by John Farrell at 9:24 AM