It’s time for Iraqis to “do more”, the White House says. But can the Iraqis maintain their own civilization? Not likely. Granted, I was 7 when the U.S. bailed out of Vietnam, but doesn’t this situation parallel that one very closely? There’s about as much chance of the Iraqi army restoring order on their own…
Op-Ed Blog
1/3 Say Torture OK
The BBC says that 29% of 27,000 respondents from 25 countries think some amount of torture is OK when used to combat terrorism. The percentage is 36% in the U.S., making us more amenable than average to inflicting pain on our enemies. Is this wrong? I say that it is not, given that the people…
Math Study Results
Many studies and exams have demonstrated that American students are at best second-rate. Here’s another one. The crux of it: Forty percent of U.S. eighth-grade students believe they do well in math, far higher than the 4 percent of Japanese students and 6 percent of Korean students.However, U.S. students scored much worse than their counterparts…
Illegal Immigration, Conclusion
In recent posts I’ve talked a lot about our country’s immigration laws and possible (dis)incentives for breaking them. Illegal immigrants, regardless of how we try to stereotype them, aren’t stupid – they know that they can get away with what they’re doing because they have help from right here in River City, U.S.A. Enablers Gasp!…
Smoking Bans, a Hesitant Thumbs Up
On the surface of it, I love the new rage of banning of smoking in public restaurants and bars. As a matter of principle, however, I hate the idea of the government coming in and telling people what to do. What’s a guy to do? I’m going to go with immediate gratification on this one,…
Space Cowboy
Dubya evidently doesn’t think being a black-clad gunslinger here on Earth is enough, judging by a couple of juicy quotes lifted from the administration’s still partially-classified space policy docment. Consistent with this policy, the United States will: preserve its rights, capabilities, and freedom of action in space; dissuade or deter others from either impeding those…
Dave Winer, Geek Equivalent of Babs Streisand?
I’ve been reading Scripting News for a good while now because Dave Winer, best known as an evangelist for RSS, is a techno-dilletante extraordinaire and seems to be leading the life every geek (like me) longs for. But that’s not what’s interesting at the moment; DW’s recent political coming out is. Witness this piece, this…
Gay Republicans: To Purge or Not to Purge
The answer clearly is the former. Republicans have, at incredible volume, trumpeted themselves as the defenders of American family values and the champions of the Christian plurality for so long that their betrayal absolutely reeks of the worst kind of hypocracy. Six months ago the idea of voting for a Democrat wouldn’t have entered my…
Congress and Its Dirty Tricks
Declan McCullagh agrees with me that Congress is screwing us by lumping unrelated spending measures and regulations together with other bills. Specifically, McCullah lists the following tech-related measures that may come home to roost soon if Congress isn’t stopped: The Real ID Act, which creates a national ID card starting in 2008, was glommed on…
News from Iraq
The U.S Army is planning to maintain present troop levels for at least 3-4 more years. To me this indicates that they have little confidence in the Iraqis being able to take care of themselves in that timeframe. It also means that the Army is going to have to convince a new batch of recruits…