WARNING
Exams are coming up, expect limited posting.

Special Warning for North
The bees are humming for you, buddy.

U.N. council OKs French-led Congo force
Damn it? Why aren't we in there? This would be ideal situation to apply a little liberal interventionism. I very much doubt the run of the mill warbloggers (or the White House) are going to push for US involvement. Which is really frustrating, because in the wake of the non-existent (or at least, the greatly exaggerated WMDs) they have defended the invasion of Iraq on humanitarian grounds, frequently pointing to the mass graves that have been discovered after the war. Now we have an opportunity to stop a humanitarian disaster in its tracks (as opposed to after the must serious atrocities were completed, as in Iraq) and we're not taking advantage of it. Its really rather displeasing to see the UN and France acting in a more moral fashion than the US.

Cough. Burhmmm. Ahem.

Operation Infinite Bile
The war of words between North and I continues to escalate. So far he has refused to acknowledge his identity and has resorted to empty threats about dispatching the NKVD. If that's how El Norte wants to play it though, he better be careful, I once vomitted up a swarm of bees that went on to terrorize the People's Republic of China and forced them to capitulate. Oh wait, that was in "Megiddo", one of the finest B movies the Christian Right has produced.

Gulag
As regular readers of this blog may have noticed, I'm getting visciously attacked in the comments section by "Uncle Joe". Uncle Joe is none other than North Landesman. Among the many ridiculous comments posted by North was some half-bright criticism of my post on the futility of compromise with the Republicans. North wrote that "why would the Dems want unresriceted party warfare when they are in the minority? wouldn't they lose?". Here it seems he took my hyperbole, "unrestricted partisan warfare" a bit too seriously. What I meant was Democrats should refuse to cooperate with the GOP and whenever it was possible and politically advisable, they should obstruct the Republic Party's agenda. As a student of the BEST TEACHER EVER, I'm suprised North is not more familiar with the ways a minority party can cause some serious discomfort for the ruling party.




If this post strikes you as mean spirited or over the top, please remember that North had it coming.

I'd like to recommend a It's Still The Economy, Stupid, a fairly new weblog. It seems to be run by liberal economists. Its pretty good.

Dick Morris Piles On
In his new book Off With Their Heads the Other Tricky Dick accuses the New York Times of rigging its public opinion polls to favor democrats. Which of course just nonsense and more brain dead Times Bashing, other polling agencies have said that the New York Times polling procedures are perefectly normal and are pretty common in the indusrty. Even though the New York Times drops the ball frequently (Jayson Blair is just the latest embarrasment), its still an important institution and without it, the American press would be far more vulgar and crude. Of course, if your realling looking for refinement, you can read the FOREIGN PRESS mmmm yes, because the B of P approved outlets are so much more reputable. Its common knowledge that if you want the real news, you have to read the Guardian or Le Monde.

The Grand Skeem Homepage
They'll be so much better than a stupid day off. I'm sure.

Chomsky on C-SPAN2's "In Depth" Sunday
Everyone's favorite ALTERNATIVE intellectuall will be appearing on a C-SPAN show...for 3 hours! So, like war liberal says, get your questions ready. I wonder what a weeping Noam looks like.

Oh yes, here are Noam Chomsky's archives, if you want to dig around for stuff to browbeat him about.

Adopt-A-Manatee And Get A Free
Wyland Collector's Plate
Whoa! Whatta deal!

Gingrich Rewrites History
Former Speaker of the House, Newt Gingrich has recently written a new alternative history novel, Gettysburg. In the novel, Arch-Traitor Robert E. Lee and his gang...er...the gallant confederates win. Leave it to Gingrich to bring the southern strategy to the publishing industry.

Some Urge Greens To Sit Out 2004
It seems at least some Greens are beginning to realize that getting Bush elected was not the best thing they could have done for the cause of social progress in America. Let's see if the rest of these resin heads can figure it out or if they'll still drone endlessly about how there is no difference between the main parties, how the democrats deserve to destroyed for "selling out" (possibly to Babylon) and how much better everything would be if hemp farming were legalized. Buh.

Double Scoop
The New Republic compares Joseph Lieberman with Senator Scoop Jackson (who was also a hawk and a social conservative) and wonder if Lieberman will have the same fate as Scoop, who's two attempts to gain the nomination failed. I dunno, I don't think Jackson was the MOST BORING MAN ALIVE. Speaking of which, here is Joseph Lieberman on one of the most pressing issues of our day, video games, specifically Grand Theft Auto (which, by the way, is excellent):

"As I watched it, I feared for my daughters and I fear for yours."

Yes, clearly that's what should keep a man who wants to president up at night's. We shouldn't let terrorism, a tanking economy and a brewing fiscal crisis from distracting us from what's really important; that's just what those filth merchants in Hollywood would want.

Time to Take the Gloves Off
Recently Grover Norquist, anti-tax crusader, ultra-conservative activist and all around wing nut said that "Bipartisanship is another name for date rape." Though Norquist is not all that high on the totem poll, he's still got a fair amount of influence. More importantly, his views reflect the deeds of the Republicans, if not their rhetoric. The GOP has no interest in consensus building or cooperation. Democrats that have tried to appease the Republicans by coping out on various issues have found that they weren't attacked any less visciously than the rest of their party (and frankly, for such disloyalty and cowardice, they had it coming). The Texas Republican's redistricting scheme (and the misuse of Homeland Security to try and track democrats that had walked out in order to kill the plan), which was organized at the national level, the effort to recall Governor Davis shows, the bitter attacks on the patriotism of Democrats, especially in the case of veteran and amputee Max Cleland and less recently, the theft of the presidency show without a doubt that the Republicans aren't interested in playing fair. These ruthless actions speak louder than even Norquist's questionable choice of words. This leaves the Democrats with only one option: UNRESTRICTED PARTISAN WARFARE. Once we finally accept and embrace this truth, we can stop get the stuffing knocked out of us and start having fun.

Manatee May Be Taken Off Florida Endangered List
However, it will not be taken off the NY state endangered species list. There is only one NY Manatee and its especially rare, because it has the ability to walk (or at least flounder) on dry land and talk (though it can't make sense). On a related note, the Ice Queen remains one of a kind and its highly unlikely that will see population growth in that department, recent courtship attempts by the Swamp Thing have been greeted cooly.

Edwards Still Trying to Break From Pack
Arh. My boy Edwards is not doing all that well. He's still in the middle of the pack in the opinion polls. Fortunately, the primaries are still months away and right now this contest is still mostly about name recognition and so its not that suprising that Democratic Party heavies are in the lead. Hopefully as the campaign rolls on, Edwards will rise to the top. I'm a bit unnerved on the campaign finance front, because federal laws might have been broken in order and Edwards' fudraising advantage, which is currently one of his few strong points, might by neutralized the by the many millions of dollars that Kerry might get from his wealthy Ketchup Baronness wife. If Edwards continues to falter, I might be tempted to endorse another candidate, but for now, I'll continue to hope Edwards pulls through.

Senator Diddy
Its rumored that rapper P. Diddy is considering a political career. If these rumors are true, I hope he loses and blows his entire fortune, that ought to be a fitting punishment for such nonsense and an excellent warning to other celebrities that might try to get into politics.

And this is prom night...
No, I'm not blogging from inside a $8,000 a night limo with a wireless high speed internet connection (or 56K connection for that matter), but rather from the comfort of my own home, in my boxers with the pizza grease stain. So, while a number of my friends are having "the BEST TIME EVER" (what nonsense) I've added comments to the blog, in case you couldn't tell. So there it is.

A Word

IN THE SHOWER THIS MORNING I tried something stupid. I thought it would be an interesting idea to mix together the shampoo and conditioner. Sometimes I can be careless. The fire that ensued devoured the whole building. Two people died and one girl lost her eyebrows, which had been beautiful and pinched tight at the ends in a way that could only have been natural.

The above is from this blog . Its by this fellow, Ben, is a student at Bard College and know's Anthony. I've browsed his blog have found it to be very funny. I suggest that you check it out, especially if your looking for a change of pace from my ultra-dry opinionblogging.

UK troops may go to DR Congo
Ah, that Tony Blair. He might be the only world leader that I respect these days.

Is the value of the dollar really falling?
No.

At least, the dollar is not falling where it matters. Though the dollar is becoming weaker compared to the Euro, but not with major (third world) trading partners like China. These countries fix their currencies to the dollar, thereby ensuring relatively stable money. It also ensures that that US will not close the trade deficit in the near future, because the currencies of these countries will decline with the dollar.

Daniel Gross also wrote about this in his Moneybox column at Slate

NY Judge 'Terrorist' Remark Angers Arab-American
Geeze, some damn fool of a judge in Tarrytown (about 15 miles from where I live) asked a Lebanese American woman fighting a parking ticket if she was a "terrorist". The judge has tried to defend himself by saying that the comment was in jest and meant to draw attention to the woman's odd courtroom behavior. I really don't care why he said anyhow, he ought to resign for being such a fool and/or a bigot. In fact, if you live in the Westchester area, writing a letter to the editor or some local elected official (Spano already says the judge should go) wouln't be a bad idea, I tried to find the Judge's address, but I couldn't. In case you want to try, his name is Judge William Crosbie, maybe you can find his campaign site and just let him know its time to go.

Smart Bribes
Centcom's real secret weapon.
So, it appears we bribed at least a few Iraqi generals not to fight. However, no specificis about the bribes have come out yet. I suspect there is a lot of stuff with this war, like the bribes, which we won't fully know about for awhile.

Dividend Voodoo
By Warren Buffett

Financial Guru hits the new Bush tax cut with a rhetorical broadside:

When you listen to tax-cut rhetoric, remember that giving one class of taxpayer a "break" requires -- now or down the line -- that an equivalent burden be imposed on other parties. In other words, if I get a break, someone else pays. Government can't deliver a free lunch to the country as a whole. It can, however, determine who pays for lunch. And last week the Senate handed the bill to the wrong party.

Supporters of making dividends tax-free like to paint critics as promoters of class warfare. The fact is, however, that their proposal promotes class welfare. For my class.

I suggest that you click on the link and read the entire article, its that good. Warren Buffet it is a real asset to the Democrats, one that they should take advantage of more often. The fact that he runs a mutual fund helps insulate him from charges of classes warfare and gives more heft to his economic advise.

Analysis: Bush on course for second term
Just some more completely unbaised reporting by the Moonie Wire Service....er...UPI.

Fleischer Goes Down
Moving Out of Spin City
YES!

THE HISTORY OF ECONOMIC THOUGHT WEBSITE
I was poking about on the internet and came across the above website. Its pretty good and very thorough, providing both summaries of the major schools of economics as well as a large number of writings by notable economists from the various schools. However, I think that the site was made by the same the web designer that did the B of P Homepage. Speaking of which, the drawing on the Economics pages is modelled after me.

Atrios Gets It Right
I rarely talking about I/P issues here for rather obvious reasons. But, let me try and stipulate a few things purely for sake of discussion, not necessarily because they're true. 1) Israel has a right to exist and a right to defend itself. 2) There is a genuine security threat to the Israeli population posed by Palestinian suicide bombers. 3) All actions Israel has taken since the Intifada began are justified by 1) and 2).

So, here is what I want to discuss - at what point do people start asking whether the tactics taken by Israel, if justified, are productive or counterproductive? At what point does it become rather obvious that the security measures of the Sharon government aren't working, and in fact might be counterproductive? At what point should we ask whether smacking a hornets' nest works?

Now, here is where someone jumps in and decides that I'm blaming the Sharon government for the suicide attacks. That's ridiculous. Sharon campaigned on the security issue, implicitly blaming Barak for his failure to ensure the safety of the Israelis. How many successful suicide bombings can there be before Sharon is branded a failure?

The point is, I'm asking to evaluate the success of the Sharon govermnent in purely utilitarian terms from the point of view of Israelis. My larger point is that Barak's attempts to negotiate and make nice eventually led to a new wave of suicide bombings, and no one had problems linking cause and effect there. Sharon's tough approach has led to multiple waves of suicide bombings.

I fully agree with Atrios, especially about his 3 stipulations. I also don't think that the Sharon government has been very effective at controlling Palestinian terrorism. Though Sharon has not successfully combatted terrorism, I don't think the peace process, or the "road map" for peace is the way the to get there. Instead I'd like to plug my personal mideast policy fetish, the security wall.

Why This Isn't a Personal Blog
Though I occasionally write about things going on in my life, if they are some what related to politics (my election as school co-chair) or economics (the post on razors), this is still mainly an opinion blog. This has been a conscious decision of mine from the start. There are several reasons why I haven't given into the temptation to write about myself. First there is the fact that I'm humble, I don't think the details of my life are all that interesting (I might just have one post that would pretty accurately describe everything, "I'm ANGRY", that I could just put up again and again), especially not to others. Secondly, I'm an egomaniac; if were to just write about myself, I'd have no time to tell me readers what to think and show them how right I am about everything. Finally, paranoia plays a major role as well. I believe on keeping my enemies (and friends for that matter) in the dark...to some extent anyway. In my personal life I try to play with my cards close to my chest and control the information the circulates about me. Providing details of my life to the public would completely ruin the element of suprise.

Texas Democrats Kill Redistricting Plan
Well, at least there is some good news.

A Bigot and SO Much More
Apparently Santorum isn't just a homophobe (and a "good man" according to our president), but a complete fool as well. This quote basically proves it:
We are fixated way too much in this Congress on numbers," says Sen. Rick Santorum, in a committee exchange over the impact of tax cuts on U.S. budget deficits, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Naturally, numbers have absolutely nothing to do with budgetting, of course not, its about JOBS. At any rate, this is just another sign that a full frontal lobotomy may soon be a requirement for membership in the Republican party.

Sources:
so there you are.

Edited By Brian's Paranoia

Fun With SiteMeter
When Bloggers get lazy, but still want to post new material, they write about the weird searches they've gotten. Thanks to the folks at Site Meter (scroll all the way to the very bottom of my webpage), I can see which webpages, including google search results referred YOU to my blog. So I too am able to copy the tactic I mentioned earlier and so, with out further ado, the searches that brought people to my blog:

tragdor (9)

"Photographs show a patient whose brain is infested with maggots" (2)

nude frenchman groups

powell "france is a very old country"

Order To Get Rid of SARS

kiko water perfume

kelly brook's tits

I also seem to get a lot of hits for political things. Its not that suprising since this is a political weblog, but then again, I never expected to be rated so highly by the search engines for this sort of thing. I guess I'm getting the recognition I deserve. Its about time someone realized how BRILLIANT I am.

Republicans secure votes to eliminate taxes on dividends
Goddamn it!

The Blair Get-Rich Project
Ah, He's like a modern day Jay Gatsby! Ooh how romantic! The glamour, its so beautiful! The elegence! I forgive him now, he was just living out a dream.

HEZBOLLAH SETS UP SHOP IN IRAQ

In this week's issue of TNR, frequent contributor Hassan Fattah, reporting from Iraq, writes that political groups in Baghdad are arming themselves in preparation for civil conflict, creating the potential for a Beirut-type situation. Worse, Fattah has learned that Hezbollah, one of the world's most infamous terrorist groups, has launched a branch of its organization in Baghdad. Please check TNR Online tomorrow morning for the complete story.

I don't like the sound of this at all. We definetly need to get a handle on this post-haste before it spins out of control.

Clark Visits New Hampshire
Well, it seems that Clark has political ambitions of some kind (this isn't his first visit to New Hampshire). However, I doubt he's looking for the top slot on the ticket. The success of the Iraq war almost guarentees that a Hawk will get the nomination (with the exception of Dean, all of the big names in the primary are hawks). It seems these visits are designed to simply generate press and raise Gen. Clark's profile, which makes me think he might be angling for the vice-presidency. Which makes sense, I think he'd be an ideal vice-president and could really help a candidate like the charming but rather inexperienced John Edwards (if he were to get the nomination) in the gravitas department. Sex.

Morris: Independents Sway Democratic Primary
Dick Morris thinks that independent voters will be a major force in the Democratic primary, because (naturally) W. will not be challenged for the nomination and so the Independents will flock to the Democrats' primary. I'm not so sure about. First of all, it assumes that Independent voters are really want to vote and very politically active, which seems unlikely, I don't think a person can really be all that politically active if they lack a party affiliation. I think his prediction is really based on his desire to see some candidates do some "triangulation" and buck the base. Triangulation is Mr. Morris ' other fetish, the non-foot one. Sex.

Time to Boost the Hits
In order to increase the number of times this page is viewed and thereby boost my ever-hungry ego, I will be ending each post with the word sex . I only hope that it works. Sex!

KRUGMAN STRIKES AGAIN!
Read it here.
Krugman hits the nail on the head with his column on how the media's objectivity and independence is compromised not necessairly by state ownership, but by the profitablity of cooperating with the party in power (specifically, the Republican party, I don't remember giving Clinton a break all that often). This story is really underreported, but is very important. Its really rather disturbing how outfits like Clear Channel (whose radio stations have been conistently pro-war and have organized "grass-roots" rallies) have been cozying up to the Bush administration in order to recieve regulatory goodies from the FCC. A man like Milton Friedman would point out that this case shows the dangers of government regulation being used to discourage dissent (he used a similar case involving the Oil Companies in one of the more hysterical chapters of Free to Choose), but I don't think that's the case. Or maybe I do. Libertarians frequently point out the myraid of methods at the disposal of the government (such as regulation, federal contracts, etc.) which can be used for political purposes. It appears that the Republican (and the Bush administration in particular) are much better at and muc more prone to take taking advantage of these opportunities. The Republicans seem bent on structurally weakening the Democrats, the meddling with the media (which really just kind of exacerbating the media's rightward drift) is only part of the plan, they have also been moving to enforce loyalty among lobbyists and campaign contributors, threatening firms that buck them. I think the Democrats need to win soon before the GOP further consolidates its power.

The GOP's Re-Redistricting Scheme
As you have probably heard, the Texas state legislature is having another go at gerrymandering...er..redistricting. In response, Democratic Legislators have gone in to hiding so the Legislature wouldn't reach quorum and the redistricting effort would be stalled. This is really ridiculous, not that the Democrats have gone into hiding, but for some reason the Republicans have found the need to redistrict so quickly after the last census and the last redistricting. Any and all redistricting done between censuses should be viewed with extreme suspicion and the ever-subtle Tom Delay has confirmed these suspicions when he explained the reason why he was so involved was because, "I'm the majority leader and I want more Republican seats."

The Revenge of Cronyism
Here is my friend Anthony's website. It doesn't have any particular focus, but Anthony's blog makes for fairly good reading anyhow. I suggest you "give it a whirl".

Mishra, Powell discuss axis of India-US-Israel

It shoulnd't suprise anyone that I'm excited by this proposed partnership (despite what the above headline from a Pakistani newspapers says). For too long the US has been aloof towards India and friendly towards its non-democratic rivals, specifically Pakistan. First with the Cold War and then later with the War on Terror, the US has found it convient to maintain cool relations with India and cozy up to Pakistan. I've never been comfortable of America's alliances of convience with various dictatorships and have been dismayed by the less than great treatment India has recieved. I think this proposed alliance makes a lot of sense. The United States, India and Israel are all natural allies (unlike less natural ones such as Pakistan or Saudi Arabia), all three being democracies threatened by terrorism. I think that in order for the US to succeed in its efforts to protect itself, terrorism must be discredited as a strategy and that requires fighting it on all fronts. It must never be allowed to work anywhere, otherwise it will be viewed as a workable way of dealing with grievances.

Cronyism
For your browsing pleasure, I give you Hannah's Rants. Its more a of personal diary than an opinion blog like mine (with the exception of the self-involved posts).
Hopefully, Hannah won't be like her father and not link to my site.

Right Now
I'm listening to Reuben Ship's satire of the McCarthy hearings. Its brilliant and very funny. I won't say anything other than that you should listen to it immediatley.

Do Not Be Alarmed
Yeah, just foolin' around with the sidebars (the robot's legs)...wouldn't mind some feedback

0 Man
This morning I was using my razor, and I realized it was absolute crap, then the amateur psuedo-economist (as opposed to the professional psuedo's that advise the president) in me realized what a perfect example of superflous innovation it was. In my limited shaving career, I have learned a few things.

1)Shaving annonying, because the hair always comes back the next day.
2)All the "improvements" on razors are entirely unnecessary and useless.
3)The only factor (with regards to razor) that matters is whether or not the blade is new.

For the last few years they have been churning out these gimmicky razors. These add-ons don't actually improve the kind of shave you get. Even the "double blade" razors have no substantial advantage over their predecessors. All these changes have been designed to keep the price of razors up. If the Gillette and the other manufacturers didn't have these so-called innovations, then they'd all sell the same basic razor and been forced to compete on price, this would spark ruinous, profit destroying trade wars, which are clearly not in the interests of anyone but the consumer. So instead they make these crafty little variations to distinguish their products, without actually doing anything positive for the consumer. In fact, they make thing worse, by keeping prices artificially high and thereby making new blades (th only thing that actually improves the quality of the shave) more expensive, making so that you use less of them. The razor may also be a case of conspicuous waste on the part of the consumer, but I never really thought of a razor as a status symbol.

Well, that's that.

And here is a little self-portrait
0 0
^
___

Fish And Wildlife Officials Say Manatees Are In Dire Need Of Protection
These poor stupid creatures keep getting themselves in trouble. I'm not sure what to say about this, but I do know that police dogs enable crime.

Hart Goes DownHart Decides Against Seeking Presidency
He never had a chance to begin with.

Kerry & BJU
It seems that John Kerry is interested in visting and speaking at Bob Jones University. You may remember Bob Jones U. as the bigoted, anti-catholic and deeply homophobic college in South Carolina that candidate Bush spoke at in an attempt to win the votes of the neo-confederate crowd. After the visit W. was roundly criticized for going to the University and thereby implicitly condoning the viscious intolerance of BJU. Among those who attacked George W. Bush for his visit was, oddly enough, Senator John Kerry. Now it appears that Kerry wants to speak at Bob Jones as part of his South Carolina Primary campaign. I'm sure he'll try to show how "courageous" he is by chastising the University for its prejudice and so forth. I'm not sure what to think about this, but I think the whole business is really kind of disgusting and seems like just a slimey publicity stunt more than anything else. Its also politically unsound, I doubt that many born agains vote in the Democratic primaries, the visit would be likely to turn off minority voters and there is little doubt that the GOP would make much hay out of the trip in the general election (probably not so much from the bigotry angle as the hypocircy angle, which I think they will use relentessly against Kerry, who is already being seen by the press as an unprincipled opportunist). All around, this is a pretty bad idea, but then again I don't like John Kerry.

Slate has an article on pyschedelic drugs, today. Apparently there is a case going before the Supreme Court about federal anti-pyschedelics laws. The article has a number of excellent arguments against these laws and provides pretty good evidence, but I think its overoptimistic. I doubt these (or any other drug laws) are going anywhere, no matter how boneheaded and atrocious their consequences.

Excuses Are Like...
This week I have the AP's so expect light posting.

Peace Process! Hooray! It'll be the Best Peace EVER!
Unless you aren't equipped with a remotely sensitive sarcasm meter, your probably already know from the heading of this post that I'm not very hopeful about a return to sanity in the Mid East. I'm mildly heartened by the new Palestinian Prime Minister, but everything other than that (like the recent suicide attacks and reprisals) indicates things aren’t likely to get better. Despite what the President and other neoconservative idealists keep saying, I don’t think “democracy” is the solution to the problem. The intifada is popular with the vast majority of Palestinians; so giving them more power might mean more violence, not less. While I think that in the long run democracy, rather than the corruption and cronyism of the PA is essential, I don’t believe its likely to happen soon or that it will do much to solve the problem. Instead, I’d like to push my pet solution (one supported by members of the Israeli Labor party), a security fence. The security fence would help prevent terrorism by keeping suicide bombers out. It would also help end the occupation in the territories, because without suicide attacks, the IDF wouldn’t need launch counterattacks. The Settlements would also become much less practical, because a vast stream of commuters from the settlements would undermine the effectiveness of the security fence. By reducing (if not ending) terrorism and the occupation, a security fence would do far more good for Israel and Palestine than any diplomatic initiative ever could.

A Victory For Taiwan
The Chinese have finally let WHO visit Taiwan, which has also been affected by the SARS outbreak. Its outrageous that Taiwan was deprived of help from WHO for so long. Its high-time Taiwan just built a few atom bombs and gave the Red Menace what for.

David Brooks' Downward Spiral
Earlier on my weblog I wrote that David Brook's was become less of a writer and more of a mindless propagandist. It seems there is no indication that this ugly process is going to reverse itself anytime soon. In his latest article, Brooks complains about the "cynical" reaction pundits had to Bush's USS Abraham Lincoln speech, who saw it as nothing but a campaign event. First of all, the charge that the press' response to the speech was cynical seem completely inaccurate, by and large I believe that their reaction was mainly just fawning and Brooks fails to mention one pundit by name, because apparently in journalism, “facts” and “evidence” are secondary. However, Brooks’ ridiculousness is not simply limited to this. In response to the charges of the unnamed “cynics” (possibly in the pay of the Homo-Marxist Lobby and Civil Rights Establishment and embedded by sympathetic Latte Sipping Backers in the Eastern Elitist Liberal controlled media) is to claim that they are not SUPPORTING THE TROOPS. Brooks focuses on the sacrifices made by America’s men and women in uniform and then and then, with no serious attempt to do draw a logical connection between them and calling the President’s speech what it was, a political event (it was carefully engineered to make the President look as good as possible) and complains that America’s media is anti-military. Yep, that is so bang up work there, I’m sure Fleischer or Rove couldn’t do better.

The Lame Brain's Inquisistion

I know I'm a little late sounding off on the matter, but I think conservatives are making way too much hay over the whole "is Tom Daschle a real catholic?" controversey. The Bishop of South Dakota has asked the senate minority to leader to stop calling himself a Roman Catholic, because Daschle is pro-choice. Now conservatives (like in the Weekly Standard piece I linked to) are talking about how Daschle must be "morally coherent", meaning that he can't be personally opposed to abortion and politically pro-choice. Of course, all this is utter nonsense. The Bishop's directive seems to be politically motivated, because I can think of a good number of catholics in high places that are being "morally incoherent" as we speak and it doesn't look like Mother Church is going to go after these lost sheep anytime soon. Then again, this might statement bythe South Dakota Archdiocese might be the start of a whole new era! Maybe catholics in public life will become pawns of the pope! Maybe Justice Scalia will follow his duty to be morally coherent and rule that the death penalty is unconstitutional, perhaps William F. Buckley will oppose the "unjust war" in Iraq!

An end to my sloth? Unlikely.

A few days back I was elected co-chair of community government at my school, which basically makes me (and my friend Hannah, who has also been elected) in charge of the student council and morning meetings. So, without further ado, I give you some filler material...I mean vital...oh who cares?

Nomination Speech by North
Well, do the sickness of the well respected, articulate, upstanding member of The Community, Isaac Starobin, I am giving Brian's nominating speech. In elections, we look for many things in a candidate, vision, commitment, experience, motivation, not committing crimes, and speaking his mind. Brain can work well with the administration as demonstrated by his role of junior class president. Brain worked hard on our school constitution. Brain is also not afraid to speak his mind. When Henry Kissenger arrived here, Brain expressed his displeasure in a bold and daring editorial in the pages of Tower. This shows how much he values the community at large. I do, however have personal interaction with Brain. Although I might not always agree with Brain's political positions, I do say that he is a logical and rational thinker, unlike myself. Although I may leave Brain "Hanging over the perverbial sink of life" sometimes, I think that we should all respect and vote for Brain Pugh… and stuff


My Campaign Speech

Thank you for that excellent introduction, North. For those of you who don’t know me I’m Brian Pugh. And I’m running for co-chair. I have some experience in student government and have some ideas of my own. I look forward to working to improve this school and will greatly value any ideas that you are willing to share and any effort you are willing to contribute.
I’m here today to talk to you about the future of our school, a future that has been shaped in part by the Constitution drafted by the student government. As junior class president and a member of student government, I’m proud of what we accomplished with this constitution, but I do not believe that our work is finished.
When the constitution was written, the executive committee had it discussed by students in their history classes. We made some changes based on the feedback received, but many good ideas weren’t incorporated into the final version of the constitution that was adopted by the community. With the help of other member of the executive committee I have put together a series of proposals to address students concerns. The first batch is aimed at increasing the voice of students in the student government. In the event that legislation becomes bottled up in executive committee, I think that students ought to be able to use a discharge petition with an appropriate number of signatures to force it to a community wide vote. This measure will prevent legislative jams and will also serve as a check on community government that can be exercised by the students themselves. I also believe that students ought to have the final say over who would best represent them in the community government. I think that the requirements for running for student government ought to be lowered, because it should be up to the students to determine who is best qualified to serve in their name.
My other proposal has to deal with “indirect jurisdiction”, under which a student can be punished for infractions committed off campus. As it stands “indirect jurisdiction” gives the administration a virtual blank check. Though I think that “indirect jurisdiction” is applicable in some cases, I think that there ought to be some protection for students. Specifically, Discipline Committee should review all cases that invoke indirect jurisdiction. If the DC find that indirect jurisdiction was called up improperly, then the case should be dropped. I see no reason why so common sense measures shouldn’t be applied to indirect jurisdiction.
Though my goals are fairly limited, they are also realistic and are still is a tall order that it will require a considerable amount of work on the part of the executive committee, students and myself to accomplish them. For my part I pledge to be relentless about passing my proposals and I believe that my previous experience in student government will be very helpful in advancing my agenda and I look forward to seeing my ideas become realities. To those that doubt my commitment, let me assure you that though I frequently don’t take myself seriously, if elected, I will always take the job of co-chair and the trust that you all have put in me very seriously.
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Some folks have told me I gave a bad speech, at first I tried to defend it, but now I just respond by saying "Well, I won didn't I?" Ah, the joys of gloating like the pompous jerk I am.