Category: long story short

Washington Post [T]he Indian Health Service, was created by treaties drawn more than a century ago that promised quality health care (along with quality education and decent housing) for every Native American in exchange for the federal government’s taking vast swaths of Indian land. But the health service, run by the Department of Health and…

Haven’t posted any to-dones in a long time, so there are so many they’d make our heads explode. Here’s a “classic” from just a little over two years ago – interesting all the already obsolete software brand names i was working on at the time (Radio Free Blogistan): Tuesday, October 15, 2002 To don’t Things…

A lot of people have been wowed by the intensity of campaign communication this year. Fair enough. It has been intense. But not intense like the Green Day back-beat, or Hip-Hop’s “Vote or Die,” or the amped-up slackers of 2004. I think there may be an intensity of yet a higher order still in store.…

“I”ll give you Nincompoop and In Denial, if you give me Flip-Flopper and Liberal.” “Flip-Flopper AND Liberal? You’ve got to be kidding!”

If you haven’t heard about Operation Truth yet, please take a minute and pay them a visit. Worth your time. And in my opinion, if you can spare it, worth a donation. Here’s a little bit about them: Operation Truth is a non-profit (501c4), non-partisan Veterans’ organization that seeks to amplify the soldiers’ voice in…

A phrase we would not be likely to hear in our own media, from the Arab News, referring to Iran: wedged between the American occupied countries of Afghanistan and Iraq.

China’s Hu takes Army reins Former President Jiang Zemin resigned his post as head of military Sunday CSM, 9/20/04 “Jiang,…was China’s top ruler until 2002 – when he gave up his post to President Hu….Yet Jiang, still regarded as the most powerful politician,…had retained a firm grip on the Central Military Commission. “Jiang’s half-in, half-out…

At least Zogby gives you some analysis instead of raw, nearly context-free numbers alone. Interesting how even with an average lead near the margin-of error, Bush is often behind in the state-by-state electoral tallies du jour. Worst possible outcome: electoral-college tie that enables Hastert to declare reelection by a majority of state delegations.

If you’re trying to call me on my mobile phone I may miss the call for a few days. The thing doesn’t ring anymore and its about to come to pieces. I’m also about to swith carriers but shhhh! don’t tell Verizon.

Army Defends Baghdad Battle That Left 16 Dead, LA Times, 9/16/04U.S. commanders acknowledged Wednesday that their helicopters fired seven rockets and 30 high-caliber machine-gun rounds onto a crowded Baghdad street this week during a battle that killed 16 Iraqis…Military officials here have adamantly denied Iraqi charges that U.S. forces…fire indiscriminately…[US] soldiers are fighting a guerrilla…

Rumsfeld Downplays Detainee Mistreatment, AP, 9/10/04 “Amid allegations he fostered a climate that led to the prison abuse scandal, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said Friday that the military’s mistreatment of detainees was not as bad as what terrorists have done. “‘Does it rank up there with chopping someone’s head off on television?’ he asked.…

In just a few hours I’ll be getting in a cab to head for JFK to fly home to Oakland on JetBlue. I am way ready to be home. I miss my life. It appears that I missed the killer dry-heat wave too, though I caught the killer humid-head wave here. Both waves appear to…

Looks like Bush and his team are trying to back out of one of the three already-agreed-upon debates: Political Wire: Bush May Skip One Debate: President Bush “may skip one of the three debates that have been proposed by the Commission on Presidential Debates and accepted by Sen. John F. Kerry (D-MA),” the Washington Post…

Increasingly, we are fighting a war to defend the right of American troops to enter Iraqi cities. Per this 9/5/04 NYT article… One by One, Iraqi Cities Become No-Go Zones “In Iraq, the list of places from which American soldiers have either withdrawn or decided to visit only rarely is growing: [Samarra,] Falluja,…Ramadi,…the holy Shiite…

Today, US Maj. Gen. Peter Chiarelli put “an American face” on the most fateful decision shaping the future of Iraq. Per this AP story… Commander: Fight with Al-Sadr Not Over AP, 9/2/04 “The fight with renegade Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr is not over and the U.S. military must retake his stronghold in Baghdad’s Sadr City…

The worst violence in Iraq is consistently touched off in places where there is contact between the opposing forces. If UN peacekeepers (perhaps recruited from predominately Christian nations) could just contain the Americans in unpopulated areas, violence could be curtailed. Another possibility would be to allow US troops into the cities and evacuate the Iraqis.…

The DEA is scrambling to explain reports that a number of dogs in its employ have been found sniffing drugs.

Democrat ‘Ashamed’ He Helped Bush, AP, 8/29/04 “Bush…has said he received no special treatment and did not seek help to be admitted to the Guard….” “White House spokesman Scott McClellan said….’This was fully covered and addressed five years ago. It is nothing new.’ “Five years ago, Barnes’s lawyer issued a statement saying Barnes had been…

[I sent this as a Letter to the Editor of the NYT. today] You said, accurately, in your editorial, “The Road to Confrontation in Najaf,” 8/21/04… “[This] showdown began…because of serious lapses in the American military command structure in Iraq….when a newly arrived Marine Expeditionary Unit in Najaf started skirmishing with Moktada al-Sadr’s Shiite militia…

Following up on Boris Khadinov’s note about the pro-Bush ad that takes advantage of the Olympics: various blogs are now repeating a quote from the German magazine Der Spiegel (here translated by me). An unnamed IOC member says that because Bush won’t stop running the ad, “New York’s chances to host [the Olympics in 2012]…

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. Thank goodness for David Neiwert. He isn’t attracting the most attention among the scholars, journalists, and bloggers rebutting FOX-pundit Michelle Malkin’s defense of Japanese-American internment, but as always he is providing long-form cogent detailed critiques and summaries that will help anyone get up to speed on…