Don't put your tongue in a socket. The taste of power is too refined for you.

 
I guess it's obvious, but I'm not really updating this site anymore. To my faithful readers, thanks. And to the rest of you, well, I'd recommend browsing other sites.
posted by David at 5:41 PM

 

* Foreign Policy

Interesting discussion of the simplification of foreign policy in the Bush White House.
posted by David at 10:22 AM

 

** World Affairs / Politics

If you have the time to read a long article, check out this well-written, insightful discussion of the Bush administration's Iraq motivations.
posted by David at 6:29 PM

 

** Diplomacy

This in-depth NYTimes piece on the ongoing UN machinations with respect to Iraq is worth a read.
posted by David at 1:46 PM

 

** News

Google News -- Google is launching a real-time news clipping service. This could be really useful.
posted by David at 9:58 AM

 

* Military

In terms of military tactics, it's best to fight Iraq in the winter. Here's why.
posted by David at 5:21 PM

 

** Terrorism

ABCNews performed an experiment where they smuggled some depleted uranium into New York via ship. Although not actually dangerous, this material has the many of the same characteristics (including radioactivity) as material that could be used to make nukes or dirty bombs. Although the customs service claims that they can prevent stuff like this from getting through, they failed to detect this shipment of uranium.
posted by David at 3:16 PM

 

* Food

The Economist has an interesting analysis of food in America and how economics interplays with food consumption.
posted by David at 1:43 PM

 
It's vacation time, so I probably won't be posting again until the week of September 9.

In the meantime, there are some interesting articles on Debka.com right now, all worth a read.
posted by David at 1:58 PM

 

*** War

According to Debka.com's August 10 article, we are currently at war with Iraq. American and Turkish forces are allegedly operating in Northern Iraq, and at least one important battle has already taken place. They also say that Bush's statements to the effect that no decision has been made on attacking Iraq are disinformation.
posted by David at 8:17 PM

 

* Entertainment

Before you buy the Lord of the Rings DVD, read this article. There are multiple versions coming out at different times, and the version with 30 extra minutes of footage isn't coming out until November. I'm waiting.
posted by David at 10:10 AM

 

** Military/Politics

Salon has a great article about the relationship between the military and its civilian leaders. Turns out the military was happier under the Clinton administration! (Unfortunately it's premium content -- subscriber only).
posted by David at 1:15 PM

 
Sorry for the lack of stories, but it's been a sloooow news week. Howard Kurtz did point out this funny story, however. I quote, "Calling someone Monica Lewinsky may be "highly offensive," but it's not necessarily sexual harassment, a federal judge has found."
posted by David at 10:00 AM

 

** Middle East

Debka.com's August 5 article follows up their previous article regarding currently ongoing US operations in Iraq. Apparently US army engineers are building airstrips in Kurdish areas that can be used by American and Turkish forces.
posted by David at 9:39 AM

 

*** Middle East

Debka.com's two articles dated August 3 are must-reads. In the first article, they state that American special forces operations are going on right now in Iraq. The second article discusses plans regarding the possible economic future post-Saddam and post-Arafat.
posted by David at 6:59 PM

 

* Insanity

Weird coincidence, or a bad consequence of war, I don't know. But since returning from Afghanistan, no fewer than three different members of the US Special Forces based in Fort Bragg have murdered their wives. Two of them also committed suicide. The article also mentions a fourth soldier from Fort Bragg (who did not go to Afghanistan) who killed his wife in the last month.

Of course, this is being reported by The Guardian Unlimited, a UK operation. The US media wouldn't want to malign the Army, now would they?
posted by David at 6:08 PM

 

* War

Lots of Iraq war articles these days. The NYTimes has another good one; it's about the probable affect of the war on the US Economy (hint: not good). But read the article until the end -- the key paragraphs are the last two. It appears that the real fear is that the war might spread to Saudi Arabia and really mess with world oil markets.
posted by David at 11:27 AM

 

** War

The July 28 and July 29 Debka.com articles about the forthcoming war with Iraq are both worth a read. The July 28 article discusses the posture of the relevant arab governments, while the July 29 article discusses possible US tactics.

The NYTimes is also running an article on possible US tactics.
posted by David at 9:34 AM

 

* Health

What a shock. Turns out that the alleged health benefits from drinking wine may actually be explained by the wine drinkers' generally more healthy lifestyles as compared with beer and hard-alcohol drinkers. What a scam. The wine-makers have actually been pushing for legislation to allow them to tout the "benefits" of drinking wine. Now don't get me wrong, I drink plenty of wine (and other spirits). But I don't kid myself that it's good for me.
posted by David at 11:20 AM

 

** War

The July 23 and July 22 Debka.com articles are both worth a read. They're projecting war in September.
posted by David at 9:35 AM

 

*** Politics

They're not usually my favorite authors, but I highly recommend this hard-hitting political analysis of George W. from Jonathan Alter and Howard Fineman.
posted by David at 8:56 PM

 

* Terrorism

Is your UPS / Fed Ex. / Verizon guy spying on you on behalf of the government?
posted by David at 1:30 PM

 

** Media

So get this. A reporter questions a government official about problems with US visas in Saudi Arabia. The reporter is then detained by the government for 30 minutes and questioned about his sources. Boy, Saudi Arabia sure needs freedom of the press, and a Bill of Rights, right?


Er, no, this actually happened in the US. It was a reporter for the National Review, and he was detained by our own State Department. Of course, nothing came of it except for some bad press.
posted by David at 9:53 AM

 

*** Health

Given the vast amount of medical research, are human brains sufficient to diagnose illness? Is a doctor's memory good enough? What about for very rare diseases? Wouldn't it be great if there were a computer program and database that could help doctors out? Well, there is, but it seems that doctors don't like it. (Perhaps they are afraid that the public will finally catch on to the fact that much of the time they're just guessing.)


This was a great article, but I wish that the author had compared standard Western medicine to homeopathy. Homeopaths have been using software like this for a long time, and it helps greatly at ending misdiagnosis.
posted by David at 11:15 AM

 

* Politics

The AP is running a funny article about who the biggest accounting crook in the US really is: the US.
posted by David at 9:46 AM

 

* Health / Economics

Celebrities are now getting paid by pharmaceutical companies to talk about their illnesses on news shows. Apparently it's quite an effective way to boost sales, and it doesn't even look live advertising!
posted by David at 5:16 PM

 

* World Cup / Economics

This is a June 29 Washington Post article that examines the economic impact of the World Cup on South Korea and Japan. Turns out it wasn't so good.
posted by David at 10:33 AM

 

** Politics

These George Bush stories are getting funner by the day. For a good summary, check out this morning's Media Notes.

I hestitate to mention, however, that the National Review has a good rebuttal to the evidence against W.
posted by David at 10:08 AM

 

** Food / Economics

Today we have some good articles about everyone's favorite thing: food. First, the NYTimes Magazine explores low-fat vs. low-carb diets.


Next, the Guardian tells everything you never wanted to know about chicken nuggets. Also lots of good information about world trade in food, and what happens to the food.
posted by David at 1:47 PM

 

** Humor

Evangelist Hurls Insults At Funeral
posted by David at 9:48 PM

 

* Health/Politics

Oops. It looks like irradiated mail may not be harmless. Bummer for Capitol Hill mail handlers since the Anthrax scare.
posted by David at 9:37 AM

 

* Media/Politics

This morning's Media Notes is worth a read. In addition to summarizing some good articles, Kurtz talks about how basically everyone has let society down; he specifically goes after business leaders, accountants, Wall St. brokers, the Government, Martha Stewart, Amtrak, airlines, historians, athletes, Internet geeks (god forbid!), and journalists.
posted by David at 10:13 AM

 

** Media

Why have the online versions of the LATimes, Chicago Tribune, and Dallas Morning News recently started requiring registration? The Online Journalism review is running an excellent article that discusses this issue. It also includes some information about how registration has (theoretically) affected these sites' traffic.

I don't know about you, but I haven't yet registered with the LATimes, and I don't know if I will. Sure, I like the paper, but is it worth another potential source of spam? I'd register for the Washington Post, and have, of course, registered with the NYTimes, but that may be it for me. The LATimes is right on the bubble. We'll see.
posted by David at 10:43 AM

 

** Politics

Drudge is reporting that the White House is preparing for a Supreme Court resignation within the next few days. No word on who exactly it might be, but speculation focuses on Rehnquist, O'Connor, or Stevens.
posted by David at 10:52 AM

 

* Hypocrisy?

Salon's Eric Boehlert does a good job of putting the Martha Stewart story into perspective. (Premium content, unfortunately). Perhaps I was being overly harsh before.
posted by David at 10:44 PM

 

** Terrorism

The Washington Post is running an in-depth article on possible vulnerabilites to cyber-terrorism. The focus is on how computers could be used to cause physical damage to utilities, dams, and other key infrastructure components.
posted by David at 11:31 AM

 

* Economy

No wonder Wal-Mart is so cheap. According to this interesting NYTimes article, they routinely force their employees to work off the clock. The employees generally don't complain because they are afraid of getting fired.
posted by David at 2:05 PM

 

* Politics

The Bush Administration is getting into the habit of announcing decisions relating to the environment on Fridays at 5:00, which minimizes media coverage. Sooo unlike the Clinton administration, right?

* Golf

Are the old geezers of golf unfairly attacking Tiger's opponents?
posted by David at 10:13 AM

 

* Hypocrisy

Today we have a couple of good articles on the Martha Stewart insider trading story. This is a great case for the SEC -- they've gotten more publicity on insider trading with this case than with all other insider trading cases ever. So I predict they'll throw the book at her. Anyway, for some good analysis, check out this NYPost article, and this Slate article.

And thanks to today's Media Notes article, which cited these articles.
posted by David at 11:19 AM

 

* Terrorism

Israel's best English-language newspaper, Ha'aretz, has published details of an interview between the Israeli defense minisiter and two captured suicide bombers. It's a long article, but it provides a window into the mind of two different suicide bombers; one who was caught in the act and another who changed her mind at the last moment.

To me, the most interesting part of the article was the interview with the guy who was caught in the act. His justification was pure greed. He was looking for status and reward in the afterlife. "I didn't go to commit suicide. I went to die a martyr's death. I wanted to get the reward."
posted by David at 10:32 AM

 

* Terrorism

The Washington Post is running a provocative rant from a State Department terrorism analyst who accuses the US media of treason for pointing out the nation's vulnerabilities to terrorism. He argues that terrorist organinzations don't have much ability to do field work, so they are benefitting from the myriad reports about potential targets -- things like "Private Plane Charters: One Way Around Air Security" and "Chemical Plants Are Feared As Targets".

He advocates "cooperation" or voluntary censorship. In other words, he wants the media to submit these types of articles to the government before publication. Obviously this is too draconian of a solution, but the article does make you wonder ...
posted by David at 10:41 AM

 

* Crime

Here I am writing about crime again. Am I being sucked into the media vortex? Nah, I'd just like to give a link to this article which takes a look at the different press coverage given to two missing children, one white, one black. Guess which one is getting the media attention? I can't even watch CNN at the gym anymore since they've gone almost completely over to Eliazabeth Smart coverage.
posted by David at 10:15 AM

 

** Terrorism

According to the June 18 Debka.com article, Al Queda operatives have been entering the US by stowing away in shipping containers. It is alleged that there have been firefights in US ports between these operatives and US Special Forces, CIA, and/or Coast Guard. Apparently, however, no one has been captured alive.
posted by David at 9:48 AM

 

* Crime

Normally I don't write about crime stories (far too much of that in the media for my taste), but this one hits close to home. Literally. HOSTAGE HORROR IN E. VILLAGE BAR. On Saturday night, less than 200 yards from my apartment, there was a racially motivated hostage situation and shootout. It's a pretty weird story, perhaps worth reading even if you don't know me or give a shit about New York. Fortunately nobody was killed.
posted by David at 10:45 AM

 

*** War

The June 15 Debka.com article is a must-read military analysis. It looks at the Middle East and India/Pakistan conflicts, as well as the connections between the two.
posted by David at 9:34 AM

 

* Humor

Rufus is a pimp for three girls. If the price is $65 per trick, how many tricks per day must each girl turn to support Rufus' $800 per day crack habit?

This is an actual question from a math test for 13 and 14 year olds in Canada. Check the article for more humorous questions.
posted by David at 3:00 PM

 

** Humor

The LATimes has followed up the story about the article from TheOnion that was picked up by a Beijing newspaper. Apparently the Beijing Evening News finally admits that they made a gaffe. But they still haven't learned their lesson, and are now criticising TheOnion.

"Some small American newspapers frequently fabricate offbeat news to trick people into noticing them, with the aim of making money," the paper said. "This is what the Onion does."

It cited a recent Onion article about the U.S. government issuing life jackets to all Americans for some unexplained reason. "According to congressional workers, the Onion is a publication that never ceases making up false reports," the Evening News said.

posted by David at 10:44 AM

 

* International Culture

It seems that Britain and Germany are having a spat. According to a German newspaper, "Great Britain is a degenerate country, riddled with complexes because of its loss of power, inhabited by fox-hunters in ludicrous costumes and hypocritical lefties who send their spoiled children to private schools." Meanwhile, "Germany, in the opinion of many Britons, is an insufferably dowdy country, inhabited by perpetual students with bumfluff mustaches and satanic fetishes."

Maybe an interesting World Cup matchup could result?
posted by David at 10:40 AM

 

** Tech

Salon is running this article about the economics of file sharing. Not premium content. I was interested to learn that right now more songs are downloaded from the Internet than purchased in CD form. Yet CD sales are down only 5%, which would be expected in a recession in any event.
posted by David at 10:29 AM

 

* Humor?

Police Dog Accused of Racial Profiling

I found this article on Metafilter. It does not appear to be a joke.
posted by David at 3:50 PM

 

*** Personal News

Very good news. I got a job offer today which I have accepted. Call or write me for details.
posted by David at 3:20 PM

 

* Sports

Long profile about Phil Jackson.
posted by David at 5:19 PM

 

* Terrorism

This morning's Media Notes does a good job of putting the dirty bomb arrest story in perspective.
posted by David at 10:40 AM

 

* Politics

When Ronald Reagan was governor of California, he spent years working with the CIA and FBI "unlawfully trying to quash the voices and careers of students and faculty deemed subversive at the University of California" at Berkeley. This information came to light as a result of a 17-year FOIA lawsuit filed by the San Francisco Chronicle.

Maybe this will slow down the movement to name a landmark after Reagan in each of the fifty states? I wish.
posted by David at 11:16 AM

 

** Humor/Journalism

TheOnion recently ran a hilarious parody about Congress threatening to leave Washington DC for Charlotte or Memphis unless they got a new Capitol building. It was one of their best pieces in memory.

Well, apparently Beijing's most popular newspaper believed it was a legitimate article, and they reprinted a translation of the article in Chinese. Good stuff.
posted by David at 12:59 PM

 

* Sports/Politics/Humor

So according to this article from the San Francisco Chronicle, Ralph Nader has written a letter to NBA Commish David Stern asking for a review of the officiating of game 6 in the Lakers/Kings series.

I'm not normaly one to bag on Nader -- for example, I don't blame him at all for Gore's loss. But isn't this type of thing a bit out of his area of expertise?
posted by David at 10:39 AM

 

* Entertainment

Is it all over for Woody Allen?
posted by David at 11:29 AM

 

* India/Pakistan

Salon is running this interesting analysis of India/U.S. relations. Premium content.
posted by David at 11:13 AM

 

** Psychology

I ran across this really excellent Guide to Flirting on MetaFilter. It's a long read, but well worth it, particularly for a shy male like myself.
posted by David at 3:59 PM

 

** Education

As described in this NYTimes article, the state of New York regularly edits literary works that are used in high school regents tests. According to the article, "the vast majority of the passages drawn from the works of Isaac Bashevis Singer, Anton Chekhov and William Maxwell, among others had been sanitized of virtually any reference to race, religion, ethnicity, sex, nudity, alcohol, even the mildest profanity and just about anything that might offend someone for some reason."

Some of the examples given are very funny. For example:

In a speech by Kofi Annan, the United Nations secretary general, in addition to deletions about the United States' unpaid debt to the United Nations, any mention of wine and drinking was removed. Instead of praising "fine California wine and seafood," he ends up praising "fine California seafood." In Carol Saline's "Mothers and Daughters" a daughter no longer says she "went out to a bar" with her mother; on the Regents, they simply "went out."

Authors are pissed off about this, of course, and are writing letters to the state to complain. The state's justification for this absurdity: "Even the most wonderful writers don't write literature for children to take on a test."
posted by David at 10:41 AM

 

* Politics

Today's Media Notes contains an excellent summary of articles on the CIA and FBI.

The June 1 Debka article on the India/Pakistan situation is definitely worth reading.
posted by David at 9:53 AM

 

*** India/Pakistan

The Washington Times has this very interesting military analysis of the potential India/Pakistan war. The article/editorial is written by a former undersecretary of defense from the first Bush administration, and it discusses each country's forces, as well as tactical advantages and disadvantages. India obviously has a much larger army. But I was surprised to see that Pakistan has a superior air force.

The article also asserts that diplomatic pressure is unlikely to prevent confrontation, and that the war may commence at any time.
posted by David at 2:08 PM

 

* Health

I love this headline: Late-Night Drinking Impairs Surgical Skill Next Day. According to this brilliant study, surgeons who stay out late drinking suffer a noticeable decline in surgical performance the next morning.
posted by David at 1:57 PM

 

** India/Pakistan

Salon has got an interesting discussion of the India/Pakistan situation. Premium content, yada yada.
posted by David at 10:51 AM

 

* Sports

This article explores Sacramento's inferiority complex with respect to Los Angeles in the context of the current NBA semifinal. I never did like Sacramento anyway.
posted by David at 10:05 AM

 

*** Terrorism

This article from the New York Times Magazine provides a very in-depth discussion of nuclear terrorism possibilities.
posted by David at 2:31 PM

 

* Star Wars

Rumor has it that Padme (Natalie Portman) maybe inserted into future editions of Return of the Jedi, and that Jar Jar may be inserted into future editions of Star Wars.
posted by David at 4:19 PM

 

* Media

According to this NYTimes business section article, Tom Brokaw will remain as NBC's lead anchor until the Novermber 2004 election, at which time he will be replaced by Brian Williams.
posted by David at 4:45 PM

 

* World Cup

The World Cup starts in just a few days. This year, for once, Brazil is not expected to do particularly well. This NYTimes article explains why.
posted by David at 10:51 AM

 

** India/Pakistan Conflict

As today's Debka.com article indicates, nuclear threats continue in India and Pakistan.
posted by David at 1:52 PM

 

*** Religion

Terrific premium Salon article discussing evangelical Christian support of Israel. This article is worth reading even if you are not interested in Israel, because it sheds light on the 46% or so of the American population that describes itself as born-again.
posted by David at 3:41 PM

 

* Military

This NYTimes article discusses military readiness and the impact that an attack on Iraq or North Korea might have on American military capabilities.

I find this interesting because I have had conversations with several people who stated that the US could take on the entire Islamic world in a war and prevail. This article shows that that is not the case. While the US could beat one country at a time, it certainly could not take on a whole host of countries at once.
posted by David at 3:20 PM

 

** Tech

As you may or may not know, the Content industry has been lobbying Congress to enact legislation that would inhibit or prevent digital piracy. The main effort has been to pass a bill called the CBDTPA. This is a bad idea.
But even if that law were to pass, the Content industry would still have a big problem: people can always use analog devices to circumvent the digital protections that would be mandated. For example, even if my MP3 software prevented me from making unauthorized digital copies, I could always just play a music file and then record the output with an analog device.

So now, of course, the Content industry is trying to "plug the a-hole", i.e. the analog hole. They want to require any analog device to shut off if it encountered watermarked content. This is a really really really bad idea. For example, theoretically if you were recording a wedding on your camcorder, and the DJ played a copyrighted tune, the camcorder would shut off if it heard the magical watermark that would be included with all copyrighted content. This would be very comical if it weren't so scary. Slashdot commentary on this issue is interesting, and is available here.
posted by David at 2:00 PM

 

* Terrorism

This Salon article states that French authorities warned the FBI of links between Moussaoui and Al Queda well before 9/11. (Premium content, sorry, but you should subscribe anyway).

In my opinion, the FBI is going to end up taking the fall for the pre-9/11 intelligence fuckups. It's just too convenient, since Mueller became FBI Director very shortly before 9/11. And the previous Director, Louis Freeh, was a Clinton holdover.
posted by David at 3:10 PM

 

*** Terrorism

Uh, let me put it this way. If you are reading this sentence, then you really really should read Debka's May 22 story entitled Fresh Mass-Casualty Terror Wave Plotted for Israel and US - Engineered by Arch-terrorist Mughniyeh. This is way scary. Unfortunately, since I started reading Debka a month or two ago, they have proven to be fairly prescient. If this is correct, well ... read it for yourself.
posted by David at 7:14 PM

 

* Tech

Software radios. Virtually unlimited bandwidth. Is it possible? How would it affect the telecommunications industry. Some interesting things to think about from this Dan Gillmor article.
posted by David at 6:50 PM

 

* Politics

As I'm sure is obvious to all of my readers, the latest terror warnings from the Executive branch seem to be designed to distract the country from focusing on the intelligence failures pre-9/11. Today's Media Notes article does a good job of summarizing the articles on this issue.

* Entertainment

The surviving members of the Grateful Dead are reuniting for a concert for the first time since Jerry Garcia died in 1995.
posted by David at 10:11 AM

 

** Politics

A chilling article on the possibility of a nuclear war between India and Pakistan. Biased to the Indian perspective, but nonetheless a scary read.

And when you're done reading that article, then read this one, by a retired Major General from the Indian armed forces, which argues that it's time for India to retaliate "assymetrically" against Pakistan for the latest violence in Kashmir. The author of this article thinks that it would be unlikely for Pakistan to respond with nukes. But, he argues, even if Pakistan were to launch nuclear weapons, only the northern part of India would be affected, whereas Pakistan would "cease to exist." Yikes!
posted by David at 3:32 PM

 

* Politics

Here's another excellent article on the Condi Rice lie that I've been writing about. The article contains the relevant text from her press conference. It concludes::

For people like Condi Rice to suggest they had never considered this possibility of suicide hijackings is either a bald-faced lie--or a more scathing indictment of our anti-terrorism establishment than any memo the president actually did see.

posted by David at 9:52 AM

 

** Entertainment

This entertaining article argues, not too unconvincingly, that in the Star Wars universe as depicted in the five movies so far, the Empire is good -- preferable to the Rebellion.
posted by David at 2:59 PM

 
Salon.com is doing a great job covering KnowledgeGate. There are five or six excellent articles on the subject posted in their Politics section. Most require registration, but, hey, you oughta subscribe anyway.
posted by David at 2:43 PM

 

** Politics

In my earlier post today, I argued that Condi Rice's justification for not being able to predict 9/11 was a fabrication. Today's Debka article goes into more detail about this issue, and does an admirable job of explaining why Rice's statement is not particularly believable.

Not to mention, of course, the 1999 federal report that warns of possible Al Queda suicide plane attacks.
posted by David at 4:22 PM

 
Oh, there's some good stuff this morning. Here's an article about a state court judge who smoked pot. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals has ordered a hearing to consider evidence about whether a death sentence rendered during his pot smoking days should be overturned.

And did you know that Neil Young is a Reagan supporter? This and everything else that you didn't want to know about Neil is discussed in this article.

Finally, I can't resist mentioning the unusual Condi Rice press conference yesterday. (Articles are everywhere, so I'm not going to link to one). She almost makes a convincing case that the government had no reason to predict 9/11, but her argument falls in one critical aspect. She stresses that while the governement had warning of hijackings, it had no idea that the hijacked planes could be used in suicide attacks pre-9/11. This is a fabrication. Al Queda's MO is to do suicide attacks, and other governments had prepared for plane missiles in the past (e.g. at a G8 meeting in Europe). In my opinion it was implicit, at least, that any plane hijacked by Al Queda would be used as a missile.
posted by David at 9:58 AM

 

** Tech

If you have a hotmail account then you need to read this article. They've opted you in to some bad stuff. And if you have time, Slashdot has some additional interesting commentary here.
posted by David at 11:13 PM

 

** Politics

Cheney Says U.S. Faces Threat of Worse Attack. I have to quote Cheney from this article:

An investigation must not interfere with the ongoing efforts to prevent the next attack, because without a doubt a very real threat of another perhaps more devastating attack still exists.

The people and agencies responsible for helping us learn about and defeat such an attack are the very ones most likely to be distracted from their critical duties if Congress fails to carry out their obligations in a responsible fashion.

In other words, don't investage what we knew, because if you do we will become distracted. And then we will fail to stop the next terrorist attack.

It sure sounds to me like they're trying to set up an excuse if another attack comes -- blame it on the Democrats and the Media.
posted by David at 10:15 PM

 

* Media

Some of my readers will find this tidbit interesting. Adam Moss, the editor of the New York Times magazine, has made it into the news in connection with the sacking of Andrew Sullivan. I'm not inclined to give Mr. Sullivan much press, but since Adam Moss is well-known to much of my audience, I have to at least give this story a mention.
posted by David at 10:54 AM

 

* Entertainment

I've been waiting for the Salon review of Attack of the Clones. Well, it's finally here, and I'm kinda worried. I was able to dismiss all of the other bad reviews, but I tend to agree with Salon's perspective on these types of movies. I'll still be seeing it, of course, (tickets Saturday afternoon), but the bad hype is starting to get to me.
posted by David at 10:39 AM

 

** Politics

The biggest threat to American security may not be the Israel/Palestine conflict -- it might actually be the Pakistan/India situation. According to this Washington Post article, Pakistan prepared nuclear bombs for possible deployment in 1999 during a border conflict with India.

Nuclear bombs are useless unless other countries believe that you may use them, no?
posted by David at 10:45 AM

 

* Media

This article, written by a Pakistani journalist, describes the post-9/11 jounalism frenzy in Pakistan. Due to a lack of local knowledge, the professional international media had to rely upon local Pakistani journalists to help with tasks from securing hotel rooms to providing briefings on local politics. These Pakistani "fixers" made between $200-$300 per day for their services, and had a large impact on media coverage. A nice, behind the scenes look at international journalism.
posted by David at 1:56 PM

 

*** Politics

Today's Debka article is a must read. They argue that Palestinian statehood issues are on the back-burner right now, while Saudi Arabia and Jordan vie for control over the West Bank. Apparently Saudi Arabia is allied with Egypt and Syria, while Jordan is with the US and Israel.
posted by David at 11:52 AM