Slate expounds on the controversy and conspiracy theories surrounding NSPD-51Either there are secret provisions that address many of its glaring shortcomings (e.g. who declares an emergency, who declare when it is over), or it is as poorly designed as just about everything else that's come out of the Bush White House ( Read more... )

Yes Boys and Girls, "departure" seems to be the word of the day.

The Beeb's Matt Frei on Blair leaving No.10, and general American confusion over thisI remember once being confused by this sort of thing too - but Ian sorted me out. He explained a rather crucial point - the electorate votes for a party and its platform of policies...the role of ( Read more... )

1. More unchecked Swiss aggression ;-) - still, it does provoke an interesting thought. If one can successfully invade a country with a mere 171 men, how many more would it really take to fully subjugate it? ;-)

2. China's human parts just-in-time misdelivery ... technically, UPS's fault.

3. Regarding the Walter Reed scandal, Bush is 'troubled'4 ( Read more... )

1. Kenya: suspected source of recent crime wave, Simon Matheri, found & shot dead - we'll see if this leads to anything useful. Too bad the 200 armed police failed to complete an arrest. It's particularly poor that the rest of the gang were not swept up in the same violent raid.

2. Globalisation: world auto manufacturing history

3. Tea: Britney ( Read more... )

1. It was freakin' freezing last night!

2. Napoleaon as innovator of 'total war'? Bzzz! Nice try, but one is forgetting the rather shocking success of Genghis & Kublah Khan's Mongol Horde.

Mobilizing entire societies? Check.
Every segment and facet of a society as legitimate target? Check.

3. Bush White House surprised by the opposition? ( Read more... )

1. Military Waste: F/B-22, F-35, FCS, UCAVs ... when maybe all that is really needed is "silly string" and chiropractors

The wastefulness is astonishing. I'm getting this Easter Island vision - the last American, in rags, starving, feverish eye gleaming in pride at his ICBM God, cold, unanswering, unfeeding.

Hmm...I guess that's too Beneath the ( Read more... )

Read about it here. Grim. Though the "99.9%" figure does bring to mind The Producers and the "Send for Goebbels!" scene.

Interesting promo vid: http://www.unclassifiedmedia.blogspot.com/

More about it here: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/05/12/MNG0AIQRPT1.DTL

Several 1000 protestors blocked Bush's motorcade and attempt to get onto Stanford campus for his speech at the Hoover Institute. Not only is this number of protestors far higher than Stanford historical norms, but another historical breech was made when protestors were actually arrested on the campus ( Read more... )

Wow, where do I sign up for this bank? I empty my bank account and they give me a new chequebook ( Read more... )