Category: News

NewDonkey asks the critical questions about Iraqi troop withdrawl.

I raise this point not to annoy people with details, but because the growing obsession of many antiwar folks–and for that matter, of their critics– with calendar dates may miss the more fundamental question that needs to be raised about Iraq: which missions would we be turning over to the Iraqis, and which missions would be continued, and for how long? Isn’t that at least as important as how many months a given proposal would provide for withdrawal of an ill-defined number of troops?

In my day to day job, we call that scope. And scope is one of, if not most often the key, element, to determining how many resources are needed to do a job. If we don’t talk in terms of the missions (i.e. scope) of what the Iraqis will do and what the US forces that remain will do, we’ll have not only botched the war, and the aftermath, but even the withdrawl.

A couple of thoughts on the SOTU as I watched tonight.

* Overall I thought Bush’s speach wasn’t bad, and he did a fairly decent job of delivering it.
*Condi Rice needs a new stylist. She looked like a vampire.
* Was John McCain winking when George Bush mentioned earmarks, or is his left eye dysfunctional.
* Speaking of earmarks, I like how the leader of the party in charge of the most abusive Congress in history is suddenly railing against them now that they’re no longer in power.
* Cheney perched over Bush’s shoulder gave the impression he was the puppet master. This was highlighted by the fact that both drank a glass of water at the same time midway through the speech.
* Why didn’t all the Democrats stand when Bush said we don’t want a nuclear Iran? Seriously, do they SUPPORT a nuclear Iran? I was reminded at how Democrats can be idiots on foreign policy at times.
* The health insurance policy was not well described. Whether this is intentional or unintentional I don’t know, but I’m suspicious.
* I can’t wait to see the whole balanced budget idea.
* While the Sunni/Shia Middle East conflict was oversimplified, and al Qaeda was perhaps too liberally mixed in with at least some of the events in Iraq, he nonetheless highlighted the fact that the situation a) isn’t progressing well, and b) has the potential to (d)evolve in to a wider regional conflict between Iraq, Iran, Turkey, Syria, and other powers. This has become an increasingly real concern due to our involvment in Iraq.
* Why will 20,000 more troops make a difference? And how does that actually reflect a change of strategy?

In any case, here we go.

While a few people mentioned that today Bush gives the State of the Union address, I’m more interested in Northwest’s changes to their Worldperks program due to be announced either tomorrow or Thursday. That clearly shows where my priorities are.

Ok, how freakin’ cool is it going to be to get my hands on one of these? Thank you Wired for finding the next item I’ll eagerly drop $250 on.

Who knew Tony Blair flew on commercial airlines. After all, how many commercial flights has George W., el Presidente extraordinaire, flown since 2001?

A UK study stirred up a bit of a discussion on the rights of robots last week, which leaves me with two ideas. 1) We don’t give rights to our vaccuum cleaner or computer, so why would we need to grant rights to something we create, and 2) do we really want to create “self-awareness” in a digital device in the first place? Will we really generate sufficient benefit from this that it outweighs all the long-term risks? In the end, I doubt that question will endup being relevant, since somewhere in the world someone will do it anyway, regardless of whether it should be done.

A statement like the following in an article by an oversight or management group is like a bright flashing sign saying “out of touch”.

Gamper said he was surprised at all the attention this decision has received.

“This whole subject matter amazes me that it would get so much publicity and notoriety,” he said. Gamper said the population affected by these cuts is relatively small. The total student population on the New Brunswick campus is approximately 30,000 as of fall 2005, and those affected by the six sport teams being cut amount to 115, according to a statement prepared by the University.

Had Rutgers gone through a thorough evaluation, solicited some input, or otherwise had a semi-transparent look at whether to eliminate the six sports that are currently on the way out, I doubt that there would have been an extended discussion on the matter. It was the backdoor, underhanded nature by which the Athletic Director went about having the sports cut, and the Board of Governors complicity in the matter, that has fueled the ongoing debate about whether to cut them. It has nothing to do with the number of students involved in the sports. Even people who would otherwise give the benefit of the doubt to the AD are unhappy, simply because of how the decision was made.

France has decided to join the 24 hour news cycle with the launch of the network France 24, “to cover international news with a French perspective… and to carry the values of France throughout the world”. I look forward to watching, should it ever appear on a cable network I get here at home.

Working in Congress just went from being better than working in France to worse. What kind of America are we becoming?

In a ruling that may pave the way for some unique-looking (or at least feeling) money, a judge ruled that the current bills in your pocket are discriminatory toward the blind.

I just checked out the 10 and 20 pound notes in my wallet, and they’re of a different size. Could the UK be ahead of the game here?