Hm. It turns out the awesome essay I mentioned in the previous post was written by the same guy (Kenneth Roth) that wrote the awesome article I read in Foreign Affairs this month about the distinction between laws in peace and wartime and the suspension of civil liberties.
I guess I am his new biggest fan. Awesome.
Via Kevin at leanleft, via body and soul (phew, is kevin bacon in there somewhere?), I came across this excellent essay from Ken Roth at Human Rights Watch where he refutes the idea that the war in Iraq was a humanitarian effort, and clearly delineates where HRW stands on when and where a humanitarian intervention is justified.
This is probably one of the most well-crafted essays I've read in a long time, and I happen to agree with everything he says. It's also incredibly relevant now that the legs have been sawed out from just about every other claim for going to war in Iraq. Give it a read.
Over at Lean Left, tgirsch links to debate held between Dr. Dean Ornish and Dr. Stuart Trager (an Atkins follower). It's a bit dull, as the two diets really aren't even that different. Nice to at least see the low-carb idea getting some more coverage. See the thread over at leanleft.com for my fire-breathing rant.
A friend passed a link along with a quote from this article at news.com.com entitled "Dean should come clean on privacy":
It's difficult to reconcile Dean's current statements with his recent support--less than two years ago--for what amounts to a national ID card and a likely reduction in Americans' privacy. "Privacy is the new urban myth," Dean said in that March 2002 speech.
While reading this quote, my knee-jerk spidey-sense kicked in. Seeing as how he's a Democrat, and he's being quoted, I figured it was probably out of context. It was. Surprise! I found a copy of the speech. Here's the quote in question with a bit more context:
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I found this snippet from an e-mail from Wes Boyd at moveon.org to be a pretty accurate summary of the SOTU address:
In Tuesday's State of the Union address, President Bush led with war and terror -- which wasn't surprising. It'll certainly be a big theme for an administration that has used fear again and again for partisan political gain. The agenda is clear: permanent war, permanent abridgement of freedom, permanent tax cuts for big campaign contributors. Worse, the right has clearly decided to pursue a strategy of dividing America. In his speech, Bush tried to open a new front in the culture wars, calling for a constitutional amendment to "protect the sanctity of marriage." We have to ask: from whom?
Pretty short, huh? If only his speech had been as succinct.
I am in the process of building a new file/webserver, in addition to working my butt off in the process, which is why I haven't been posting much.
I recently moved this site over to my new server. If you notice any problems, let me know!
Maureen Dowd's last two columns in the New York Times:
January 15, 2004
January 11, 2004
The Doctor Is Out
Even by the wacky standards of political married life, the Deans have an unusual relationship.
The Argyle General
Trying to soften his image and lure female voters in New Hampshire, Gen. Wesley Clark switched from navy suits to argyle sweaters.
Can someone please explain to me why she isn't fired yet? Thanks.
A while back, I posted about a little RSS aggregator I wrote in PHP for my own needs at http://rss.quietlife.net. Well, despite my complete inability to program, lately it's generated enough interested from a few people (okay, two) that I figured I should make a more detailed post with a link to the code and instructions for installing it.
There's an interesting article in the NYT this morning about Subaru's move to tweak its Outback model slightly so that it meets the federal regulations for "light trucks" rather than passenger cars.
Why? Because the federal restrictions for "light trucks" (which most SUVs qualify as) are much less stringent, allowing Subaru to expand the application of turbochargers, which reduce fuel efficiency, as well as other tweaks, like a tinted rear-window, which aren't allowed on passenger cars.
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From the New York Times:
The unemployment rate fell to 5.7 percent, the lowest in over a year and down from 5.9 percent in November.
Good news, right? Hardly:
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Cool Things