Category: dKo journal

“With hard-liners riding high in Tehran, there’s little chance of changing minds there. But the White House should still try, offering security guarantees in exchange for Iran’s giving up technology that could feed a nuclear weapons program.” NYT Editorial, “Still Spinning,” 8/14/06 Well, will the White House “still try, offering security guarantees”? Is the White…

In the aftermath of the foiled terror plot in the UK, it seems as if the Bush administration and congressional Republicans have suddenly lost their bearings. For a few months this year, they were relentlessly focused on the keys to a safe America, but now they are all over the map. Americans want to know…

It is past time to take a good hard look at the West Bank Settlers, who have led Israeli politics around by the nose now for decades, as if Israel’s right to exist were one and the same with their right to keep their settlements! I believe that peace with the Palestinians has long been…

This is a year old; I came across it in a search. But it’s worth noting. It ought to discomfit the apologists of Dickensian predation. (Old New-Left? Me?) How Costco Became the Anti-Wal-Mart July 17, 2005 NYT “But not everyone is happy with Costco’s business strategy. Some Wall Street analysts assert that Mr. Sinegal is…

[I seem to be working my way back into rambling Philosophy mode here.] General Abizaid said: “So the question is, am I optimistic whether or not Iraqi forces, with our support, with the backing of the Iraqi government, can prevent the slide to civil war? My answer is yes, I’m optimistic that that slide can…

We have been told over and over again the last few years that “The Next Six Months” will be decisive for our Iraq invasion to succeed. Doesn’t that mean at some point that the last six months already were decisive?

The Medicare people were proud when the AARP reported last January that “for many Americans, Medicare drug plans…can cost less than buying the same drugs across the border [DKo: which is forbidden under the Medicare coverage].” Those results have held up since then. Was this something to be proud of? Suppose you asked whether an…

In the post below, I said, ” So, I would appreciate hearing from those ‘of a certain age’: Did you learn about this at the time. Or only later? Or never, until now?” Thanks for the replies! “I remember it happening and have heard many reports since, but I was in the Army for much…

…about these student killings at the time? Mexico Charges Ex-President in ’68 Massacre, AP, 7/1/06 “Echeverria was interior secretary, a powerful position overseeing domestic security, when Mexican troops ambushed mostly peaceful student protests at Mexico City’s Tlatelolco Plaza on Oct. 2, 1968, just before the capital hosted the Olympics. Officially, 25 people were killed, though…

NYT “[In 2005] Amir Attaran, a law professor at the University of Ottawa and fiery advocate on malaria…testified that the American agency, the United States Agency for International Development, was too cozy with ‘the foreign aid industrial complex.’ “Only 1 percent of the agency’s 2004 malaria budget went for medicines, 1 percent for insecticides and…

President Bush has been basking in the unanimity he fashioned concerning Iran among the “Five plus One” countries: the five veto-wielding members of the Security Council (US, UK, France, Russia, and China) plus Germany. With this diplomatic triumph, Bush is shedding his image of “My way or the highway” unilateralism. But only at the cost…

In case you missed it… In 2003, U.S. Spurned Iran’s Offer of Dialogue–Some Officials Lament Lost Opportunity By Glenn Kessler, Washington Post Staff Writer, Sunday, June 18, 2006; Page A16 Just after the lightning takeover of Baghdad by U.S. forces three years ago, an unusual two-page document spewed out of a fax machine at the…

I’ve been following the thread of the story of the Iraqi city of Kirkuk, and it seriously looks as if in late 2007 that city is going to move Iraq into a new, bloodier, level of warfare: pitched battle for territory, with full-scale armies on the attack. It is hard to believe, even for me:…

NYT, 5/29/06 “To avert sanctions, Iran has hinted at readiness to limit the number of centrifuge machines producing enriched uranium…. “Diplomats…say that Iranian engineers stopped pouring a raw form of uranium, called UF6, into arrays of centrifuges after just 12 days….the Iranians kept the empty centrifuges spinning, as is standard practice because slowing the delicate…

In case you missed mention of it, Bob Dylan is DJ on a weekly “Theme Time Radio Hour” on satellite radio. This was his intro to LL Cool J’s “Mama Said Knock You Out” on the show with a Mother’s Day theme. (II’ll put in some line breaks.) Here’s LL Cool J Don’t call it…

Why does the US resist direct talks with Iran and North Korea? This may be part of it: The Bush Doctrine had two basic tenets: Preemptive Force and Regime Change. The second has gotten relatively little notice, compared with the first. The idea behind regime change is that when a country poses a serious threat…

Bosnian Hill an Ancient Pyramid, AP [Note: Joke, hopefully, ensues] So, we have yet another example of the mysteriously universal practice of pyramid building, which took hold at a certain time in every ancient human civilization, in every corner of the world. Maybe it’s just a coincidence. There was certainly no possible route of human-to-human…

“Can we get Person A’s phone records, without a warrant?” No. “Can we get everybody’s phone records, including Person A’s, without a warrant?” Sure. No problem. Can it really be so simple? It’s hard to see why not.

“According to a Washington Post-ABC News poll released yesterday, 63 percent of Americans said they found the NSA program to be an acceptable way to investigate terrorism, including 44 percent who strongly endorsed the effort.” Americans appear so far to have been soothed by government reassurances such as this: “The database… includ[es] called and calling…

No one knows exactly what “price gouging” is supposed to mean in a capitalist economy. Price fixing and collusion are a different matter, but that so far does not appear to be the issue currently with gasoline. There are some relevant things we do know. As traffic volume increases, private cars become less efficient: traffic…

This video “DearMr. President” is very powerful, insightful, and seriously moving. The singer, Pink, is a top-rank music star, and I think it will probably be playing on MTV. She opens it by saying, “This is the most important song I have ever written.” This second one, “I’m the Decider,” is just very clever, ingenious,…