The social and rhetorical effects of nuclear weapons have always vastly exceeded their military or strategic utility. The negotiators in both Iran and the P5+1 understood this, and worked hard to produce an accord that would remove the most effective tool that the hawks on either side had for bringing about war ( Read more... )

So the last few subject headings have been lines from Mad Men episodes. I'm waiting to see if the show becomes as daring as it claims to be. The third season, when it happens or if it happens (apparently negotiations are still under way), should be the key. Each season covers approximately a year in time, though time has been accelerated a bit. ( Read more... )

( Nothing to see here; please move along )

( And Xymphora )

Saturday Holly led a memorial hike for Pete Jeffalone (p.5). The last hike he was on with me was to Jamison Lake last July (his picture is here, kneeling in front at the left, Jamison Falls in the right background). The last time I saw him was at the funeral of another hiker, Gloria Sondergard, last September. The belief is that he was so upset ( Read more... )

( When General Brooks said the soldiers at the Karbala checkpoint were exercising their 'inherent right to self-defense' he was talking nonsense: an aggressor has no right to self-defense )

I'm not sure why I watched The Closer last night. I don't like police dramas particularly. In the end all I see it doing is getting viewers accustomed to the Orwellian state being created before our eyes. Why am I supposed to be impressed by a police officer having been trained in interrogation by the CIA (which would probably be illegal anyway)? ( Read more... )

The first rule of politics is: energize your base, and that's one thing the Republicans know how to do. But if the Democrats believe that the tepid platitudes of the Kerry-ites are going to somehow ignite a winning campaign, they are in for a major disappointment. The Bush administration may not have to bother canceling the election, as one of ( Read more... )

( We all know that the disgusting American press only reports what they are told to report, so why the sudden interest in dissing Mr. Chalabi? )

Americans are going to have to come to grips with the fact that this had to be a home-grown operation.