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Time for a ramble. I’m not sure I’m going to have an opportunity to post over the weekend, and we have 9-11-01 Version 3.0 coming right at us. Not good news coming from the world writ large: Ayman Al-Zawahiri, widely regarded as OBL’s key deputy, issued a video shown on Al Jazeera promising an Al Qaeda victory (however that is defined). Coming to the third anniversary of 9-11-01, this is just bad good news, given A.Q.’s flare for the dramatically evil (the Madrid bombings occurred on 3-11-04, 911 days and 30 months after 9-11-01). We can take reasonable confidence that...

We all owe (yet another) debt of gratitude to our hurricane-battered Mistress of Movable Type, Kathy Kinsley, for diagnosing our server problem, enabling us to comeback… again… with… a vengeance. So, thanks again, Kathy. So much to talk about. (Well, not really, but I’m supposed to say that!) I fear this will be a den Beste length post. So be it. Two troubling themes I’d like to tie together. The first one comes straight from Kathy’s blog, where you can read my “clash of civilizations” comment and Kathy’s response. The second comes from the Unseen Editor concerning eerie parallels between...

The Unseen Editor forwards me the latest outrage in Bozo (as distinct from Gonzo) Journalism: the Associated Press’s account of a Bush rally in Wisconsin. The story is that President Bush expressed his prayers and thoughts for the speedy recovery of President Clinton (who is about to undergo heart bypass surgery). So far so good. Supposedly, the crowd booed, and Bush did nothing. Except it didn’t; which is why he did nothing. This would appear to be some sort of invitation to believe that those who would attend a GOP campaign rally are Neanderthal bloodthirsty assholes who would wish a...

It’s now 60 days until the November 2, 2004 election. Accordingly, I’m pleased to announce the talking dog’s “pick the margin of victory” contest. On November 2, 2004, will President Kerry be elected by the minimum 270 electoral votes? A decisive 300 e.v.’s? A blowout at 350 or more? Or will John Kerry snatch defeat from the jaws of the victory that Economic He-Man Ahnold and Unmedicated Zell and Catatonic Dick just handed him, and it will be President Bush with the gaudy electoral college numbers? Just tell me in comments to this (or any other!) post, or in e-mail,...

Over in another front in a (pretty hopeless) War on Terror, Russian officials decided to storm a school at Beslan, Russia, resulting (so far) in hundreds of injuries and the probable deaths of 150 people, and some terrorists remain holed up in a school basement with still more hostages. At least ten of the purportedly twenty dead terrorists were described as “Arab mercenaries”. It was unclear exactly what the terrorists were looking for, most likely the release of jailed Chechen comrades. Cautionary tales of the war on terrorism, Russian style. Well over 100 were killed when Russians decided to storm...

Much as a particular political figure in his late 50’s was widely thought to be the likeliest candidate to need heart by-pass surgery after the GOP extravaganza, it turns out that another one has that particular problem, former President Bill Clinton. After complaining of chest pains, he checked into a New York hospital, which announced it will do by-pass surgery shortly to go around a coronary blockage. Best wishes to President Clinton for a speedy recovery. While he probably won’t be able to participate much in the presidential campaign, he has a really good reason.

Godwin’s law is hereby suspended. When an American national party decides to run “Triumph of the W___”, any and all shots are fair game. (BTW, Fightin’ John has arrived; it couldn’t happen too soon– but the man is a closer, and I am convinced now more than ever, our next President.) While I missed Edwards’ prologue, which I understand was even better, it looks like the gloves are off. And under the light of day, the Bush record meltsdown and shrivels. Take away irrational fearmongering, and the Bush-Cheney team has nothing other than giant tax breaks for multi-millionaires, and running...

Well, it was… I’m not sure what! night at the GOP Convention last night; the Prez was in Queens, hob-nobbing with the firemen. You’ll recall Bush promised greater aid to New York, only to not deliver it (far lower priority compared to repealing that awful death tax); of course, several (well, 6 anyway) City firehouses have been closed since 9-11, as New York spends kazillions defending us from fake terror alerts, protecting visiting foreign dignitaries (like the Republicans), and similar unfunded Bush mandates. Which takes us to last night at the convention; I confess I didn’t see or hear Miller’s...

Hey, boys and girls… remember “yellowcake”, or uranium hexaflouride, one of the key ingredients in the recipe for enriched uranium which can either power a nuclear power plant or a nuclear bomb? Well, Iran seems to be on the verge of having enough of it to actually generate some enriched uranium… enough fissionable material to make up to five nuclear bombs. If we add that to the between two and seven nuclear devices in the hands of North Korea, we get our aggregate “Axis of Evil TM” scorecard: Axis of Evil Member Number of Nuclear Bombs Iran…………………………………….Up to 5 Iraq…………………………………….None...

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger dazzled the GOP Convention crowd last night with his speech about “immigrant dreams”, national security, and significantly, how naysayers about the (disastrous) state of the American economy are really economic girlymen. BTW, I almost hate myself for kind of liking Laura Bush’s speech, which almost had me convinced that George W. Bush is a human being capable of the same doubts and fears as the rest of us. Of course, one quickly realizes that this is not true: like Schwarzenegger, Bush is a multi-millionaire well-divorced from the reality the rest of us face (though unlike Ahnold,...