In reference to American para-military contractors in Iraq, Paul Krugman at the NY Times writes: "mercenaries, whom Machiavelli described as ‘useless and dangerous’ more than four centuries ago", saying that mercenaries are back in vogue once more. More: As far as I can tell, America has never fought a war in which mercenaries made up…
Author: marc
Marc is a software developer, writer, and part-time political know-it-all who currently resides in Texas in the good ol' U.S.A.
Chris Matthews: Difficult to Debate a Woman?
Amanda at ThinkProgress writes that: During last night’s post-Democratic presidential debate analysis, MSNBC host Chris Matthews was hung up on the fact there is a woman running for president. After questioning Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT) about Sen. Hillary Clinton’s (D-NY) position on entitlement reforms, he then asked Dodd, “Do you find it difficult to debate…
No Gays in Iran
I absolutely had to preserve this for posterity! Pat Bagley, Salt Lake Tribune h/t The Moderate Voice
Vancouver Muslims Smoke, Canucks Don’t
Mark Steyn writes that a proposed city bylaw in Vancouver, Canada would exempt Muslim "hookah lounges" from the no-smoking ordinance: In Vancouver, infidels can’t smoke but Muslims can: Vancouver’s hookah-parlour owners are celebrating after winning an exemption Thursday from a proposed new bylaw that will ban smoking on most sidewalks in commercial districts, in bus…
Patriot Act Unconstitutional, in Part
The WaPo reports that a U.S. District court ruled earlier today that two provisions of the Patriot Act are unconstitutional because warrants issued under FISA may not demonstrate probable cause: U.S. District Judge Ann Aiken ruled that the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, as amended by the Patriot Act, “now permits the executive branch of government to…
The End of Judgment
Melanie Phillips’ latest article is entitled “The drowning of common sense“. It was written after a young boy named Jordon Lyon drowned while emergency workers allegedly dithered rather than trying to save him. Not surprisingly, the police have a different understanding of the tragedy. Somehow it seems difficult to lay blame on the police now…
Herbert Trashes Republicans
Bob Herbert is mad at Republicans again and wrote in the NY Times that the party is “anti-black”. His response to the ‘Pubs in the Senate refused to vote for a bill that would have given the District of Columbia a voting seat in the House of Representatives? The G.O.P. has spent the last 40 years…
Ahmadinejad Who?
The New York Times says that focusing on Iran’s president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, is a mistake. Political analysts here say they are surprised at the degree to which the West focuses on their president, saying that it reflects a general misunderstanding of their system. Unlike in the United States, in Iran the president is not the…
Ride a Bike, Save Time
Look familiar to anyone? The Houston Chronicle says that "traffic congestion in the Houston area and around the country is getting worse". No kidding. More: Some drivers blame the supposed waste of highway dollars on mass transit, or the wrong kind of mass transit. Transit advocates, and some who say they’d ride transit if only…
Justice for Ashton?
Ashton Glover was 16 years old when she was murdered by two high school classmates last year. After his arrest, Matthew McCombs, the trigger “man”, stated to police that he’d done it out of “morbid curiosity.” The evidence agreed: There was no fight or adversarial relationship between the girl and the two suspects that led…