Decision ‘08 » 2006

Archive for August, 2006

Tuesday, August 29th, 2006

More On The Shebaa Farms Myth

Good post at Gates of Vienna on the Shebaa Farms Myth; the right conclusion is reached, mainly that the only reason this piece of land is suddenly of paramount concern is that it is a way of allowing opponents of Israel to claim it still ‘occupies’ Lebanon, and thus provides a justification for the terrorist […]

2 Comments » - Posted in Israel, Radical Islam / GWOT by Mark

Tuesday, August 29th, 2006

Bowers: A Narrow Democratic Majority In The House

Make no mistake, Chris Bowers is of the left, but he has gone to a lot of trouble to put together a comprehensive forecast page for the 2006 House, and here is his conclusion:
I currently project Democrats to take 15-25 seats, which would give them a narrow majority of between 218-228 seats. I am a […]

8 Comments » - Posted in 2006 News, Election 2006 by Mark

Monday, August 28th, 2006

Emanuel Plays Bukharin To Lieberman’s Trotsky

Tom Bevan notes the continuation of the Stalinization of the Nutroots®:
Excuse me while I wipe down my computer keyboard. I spit Diet Coke all over it after reading [Matt] Stoller, of all people, fingering Rahm Emanuel an “extremist ideologue.” This is the sort of stuff that should scare sensible Democrats out of their minds. Rahm […]

2 Comments » - Posted in Donkeys, Progressive Nonsense / Nutroots® by Mark

Monday, August 28th, 2006

A Good Way To Restart

Hard to know where to begin after four days or so with very little news (I knew about the plane crash, and about Tiger’s victory, and precious little else), but I see the MinuteMan is all over the latest ‘developments’ in PlameGate with the deliciously titled “The ‘Hubris’ Of Richard Armitage“, so let’s start there…and […]

1 Comment » - Posted in PlameGate by Mark

Monday, August 28th, 2006

Back In The Saddle Again

Vegas was great…I made a particularly large deposit this year, and there were a couple of infirmary moments (I got all of an hour’s sleep last night, as I got violently ill - food poisoning, perhaps? - and no, I wasn’t drinking!), but all’s well that ends well. It was great fun, and I’m sorry […]

2 Comments » - Posted in Navel-Gazing by Mark

Monday, August 28th, 2006

Vacation Post Eight

Well, I’m flying back by the time you read this, and we’ll be back to real posts later. Hope your weekend was well and thanks for indulging me in my little conceit (and Park Lane, if you came back - I though you were leaving. So leave, already!). How else to end, […]

No Comments » - Posted in Navel-Gazing by Mark

Sunday, August 27th, 2006

Vacation Post Seven

A little Bible lesson to wrap up Sunday:
Moses came riding up on a quasar
His spurs were a-jingling, the door was ajar
His buckle was silver, his manner was bold
I asked him to come on in out of the cold
His brain was boiling, his reason was spent
He said if nothing was borrowed then nothing was lent
I asked […]

No Comments » - Posted in Navel-Gazing by Mark

Sunday, August 27th, 2006

Vacation Post Six

A little Al Gore-ish vibe to start your day:
Picture a bright blue ball, just spinning, spinnin free,
Dizzy with eternity.
Paint it with a skin of sky,
Brush in some clouds and sea,
Call it home for you and me.
A peaceful place or so it looks from space,
A closer look reveals the human race.
Full of hope, full of grace
Is […]

No Comments » - Posted in Navel-Gazing by Mark

Saturday, August 26th, 2006

Vacation Post Five

Hope your Saturday night is soaring:
This must be heaven –
Tonight I crossed the line.
You must be the angel
I thought I’d never find.
Was it you I heard singin’
While I was chasin’ dreams?
Driven by the wind,
Like the dust that blows around
And the rain fallin’ down…
Sure don’t know what I’m going for…

No Comments » - Posted in Navel-Gazing by Mark

Saturday, August 26th, 2006

Vacation Post Four

Hopefully we’ve all managed to stay out of jail this weekend, but if not:
Test me, test me
Why don’t you arrest me?
Throw me in the jail house
Until the sun goes down
Till it go down

I had to move
Really had to move
That’s why if you please
I am on my bended knees
Bertha don’t you come around here anymore
Just don’t […]

No Comments » - Posted in Uncategorized by Mark

Friday, August 25th, 2006

Vacation Post Three

Here’s one to heat up your weekend:
Long distance runner what you standing there for?
Get up, get off, get out of the door
You’re playing cold music on the bar room floor,
Drowned in your laughter and dead to the core
There’s a dragon with matches loose on the town
Take a whole pail of water just to cool him […]

No Comments » - Posted in Navel-Gazing by Mark

Friday, August 25th, 2006

Vacation Post Two

Happy Friday to you. I’m in travelling mode now:
Escapin’ through the lily fields
I came across an empty space
It trembled and exploded
Left a bus stop in its place
The bus came by and I got on
That’s when it all began
There was Cowboy Neal
At the wheel
Of a bus to never-ever land…
Are you on the bus?…

No Comments » - Posted in Navel-Gazing by Mark

Friday, August 25th, 2006

Okay, One More Real Post

I’m sneaking this one in before I head to the airport: don’t miss David Ignatius’s report from the heart of Baghdad:
Gen. John Abizaid made headlines three weeks ago when he told Congress that civil war was a possibility in Iraq. Yesterday he went into two of Baghdad’s most dangerous neighborhoods to see whether a new […]

No Comments » - Posted in Iraq by Mark

Thursday, August 24th, 2006

Vacation Post One

Okay, this one is a test…I’m still at home, but I want to make sure I remember how to do this with the timed messages. I’ve decided this year’s open thread theme will be ‘Grate Song Lyrics’ (yes, I know how to spell, all will become clear shortly).
Here’s our first piece of beauty, and a […]

5 Comments » - Posted in Navel-Gazing by Mark

Thursday, August 24th, 2006

Really, Really, Really Big News

No, really:
The annual Miss America pageant will be held on the Las Vegas Strip again next year, organizers said Thursday. The crowning will air live on Country Music Television from the Aladdin Resort & Casino on Monday, Jan. 29, organizers said.
The 85-year-old beauty contest jilted its hometown of Atlantic City, N.J., for Las Vegas last […]

No Comments » - Posted in Navel-Gazing by Mark

Thursday, August 24th, 2006

Welcome To Austin, America’s Fifth-Drunkest City

And we won’t rest until we’re number four!…

4 Comments » - Posted in Navel-Gazing by Mark

Thursday, August 24th, 2006

France Steps Up To The Plate (Belatedly)

Well, another bit of welcome news today:
President Jacques Chirac said Thursday that France will contribute 2,000 troops to an international peacekeeping force in south Lebanon, responding both to international pressure and new U.N. pledges about protection and command of the troops.
Chirac’s announcement in a nationally televised address followed days of intense negotiations with the United […]

5 Comments » - Posted in Israel, Radical Islam / GWOT, Foreign Affairs, UN/Oil-For-Food by Mark

Thursday, August 24th, 2006

Good News From Iraq

No, it’s not the return of the much-missed Arthur Chrenkoff, but rather a report from, yes, the MSM (in this case, ABC):
Military Stryker vehicles saturating Baghdad’s most dangerous neighborhoods have been credited with what Iraqi authorities say is a 30 percent drop in violence in the city since the deployment of 5,000 additional U.S. troops […]

2 Comments » - Posted in Iraq by Mark

Thursday, August 24th, 2006

Drawing A Line In The Sand

The WSJ on Iran’s continued stalling:

“A nuclear-armed Iran would likely embolden the leadership in Tehran to advance its aggressive ambitions in and outside of the region, both directly and through the terrorists it supports–ambitions that gravely threaten the stability and the security of U.S. friends and allies,” says the House Intelligence report. With a nuclear […]

2 Comments » - Posted in Iran, Radical Islam / GWOT, UN/Oil-For-Food by Mark

Thursday, August 24th, 2006

I Stayed Away From The Conflict-Of-Interest Angle…

…but the New York Times didn’t:
When Judge Anna Diggs Taylor was given the job of deciding whether the Bush administration’s wiretapping program was unconstitutional, she certainly understood that she would be ruling on one of the most politically charged cases in recent history. So it would have been prudent for her to disclose any activity […]