Office of the Independent Blogger

I’ll be gone for over a week. I’ll be back on November eighth.

I’m swamped with College work and Chemistry. Forgive me, but I’ll make it worth your while when I return.

The Salt-Lake Tribune has run today an article that I greatly enjoyed, this one, about the greatness of General George Marshall. It’s worth remembering or, if you’re unaware, of reading about (then check out his Wikipedia page). An excerpt:

Foremost, he believed in putting those at the bottom of the ladder - the ground troops, the infantrymen - at the top of his list. From his time at Fort Benning, there’s a great story about him ripping an officer because the troops didn’t have blankets and stoves. He called the officer on the carpet and said, “Get every damn one of those things tonight. Not tomorrow. Tonight. We are going to take care of the troops first, last, and all the time.” “First, last, and all the time … ” That is the kind of commitment we owe the troops.

He believed that personal integrity conferred more authority than any ribbon or star ever could. Marshall was a guy who almost never pulled rank to make a point. But he scared the living hell out of people. Think about General Patton, who was no shrinking violet. Patton once said if he had to choose between facing Marshall in an interview or face a whole Nazi Panzer division by himself …. The decision would be easy: face the Panzers.

Marshall believed that he had a solemn duty to speak truth to power. That’s something that you don’t learn in basic training. In his very first meeting with President Roosevelt - one of the most popular and powerful presidents and commanders-in-chief to ever sit in the Oval Office - Marshall, then chief of staff of the Army, had the courage to look him in the eye and say, “I am sorry, Mr. President, I don’t agree with you at all.” His very first meeting! And I have to tell you, that takes more than guts.

He believed in being candid and direct. Churchill was once arguing to delay the invasion of Europe in favor of an attack on Rhodes. Marshall listened quietly for a long time, nodding, and then finally he exploded. He said, “You can plan all you want. But not one American soldier is going to die on that goddammed beach.” He believed in extreme loyalty: the kind of loyalty that goes up and down the chain of command. His view was that you select talented people, you put your trust in them, and then let them do their job. In 1947, when it became clear after face-to-face talks with the Soviets that the Cold War was going to be a reality, Marshall came back to the State Department and called George Kennan into his office. He told him that he would have to immediately set up a policy office and write a master plan to deal with the threat.

So, there you have Kennan, this brilliant guy who immediately sees 389 dimensions to the problem. And you have the grand strategy for the fate of the Western world hanging in the balance. It doesn’t get bigger than that. So Kennan tells Marshall, “Mr. Secretary, I am going to need more guidance from you.” Marshall paused for a few seconds. And then he looked at him and said precisely two words: “Avoid trivia.”

And that’s one of the things I have always loved about Marshall: he didn’t believe that anyone, regardless of rank, should take himself too seriously. One time, Gen. Walter Bedell Smith - in full uniform - came to report to Marshall’s house to give him a report. And it turned out that Marshall was out in the rain, picking corn in his vegetable patch. After a few minutes in the rain and mud, Smith started to get a bit testy. And he said, “General, do I have to stand out here to make my report?” And Marshall said, “No, Smith. Of course not. Turn over that bucket and sit down.” If there’s one idea - one lesson - from Marshall’s life that I could leave you with, I think that would be it.

That’s why I love History, and why I love General Marshall. I’m sure Iraq would be better off if we had men in the Department of Defense, State and NSA that processed as he did.

In Iraq today, their Prime Minister had strong words for our ambassador, and it’s an interesting situation.

Iraq’s prime minister sharply criticized U.S. policy Friday during a private meeting with the American ambassador, pointing to the United States’ failure to either reduce violence or give his government authority over security matters, aides to the Iraqi leader said. The criticism was the latest example of tension between the two governments and stood in contrast to a joint public statement issued after the meeting.

They want more authority? We should pull out and give it to them!
(Want to read another interesting story? “How the Neo-Cons Lost the War.“)

I try to never disagree with Slate magazine but today, that task is far more than I can handle as they’re running a piece about Barack Obama as a man who has turned American politics upside down. They list seven “truths” of today’s politics that he destroys, but it’s shallow. Almost all of their “truths” of today are simply media creations that would never hold water in reality, and some of them are true and some of them aren’t even affected by Obama.

Remember, on paper, the conventional wisdom was that John Kerry could defeat George Bush easily, Dewey defeated Truman and Jimmy Carter’s honesty would revolutionize American politics.

Here, I’ll quickly go through the conventions he lists and illustrate how shallow they are rather than the fact that the Lord of Illinois is a Political Prophet.

1. Hillary Clinton is the front-runner for the Democratic nomination. She certainly is, with or without Obama in the race. “Front-runner,” of course, means the person leading in the polls, with the most money, and biggest organization. Durr.
2.John McCain can beat anyone the Democrats put up. Of course he can beat anyone we put up, theoretically. Howard Dean can, theoretically, beat George Bush. Anything can happen in politics. But let’s not kid ourselves: the idea in the media that McCain is the best candidate the GOP can run is nonsense. He’s not God just because Jon Stewart thinks he’s handsome.
3. Democrats have a problem with religion. Of course that’s true. That’s transparently true. Evangelists don’t often vote Democrat, and that’s the truth. Now, the idea that Obama is going to get anti-abortionists and pro-marriage? people excited is ridiculous. Obama is pro-choice and that’s unacceptable to a vast majority of Evangelists. Nothing would change with him, sorry. Don’t be stupid.
4. Old liberalism is dead. Barack Obama is an “old Liberal”? What in the hell does that mean?

I can’t go on, because the idea that a hypothetical Obama run has “changed” politics is absurd. At the end, they write, “Obama could turn out to be just another liberal fad, like Howard Dean in 2004. Once he decides to run, the cynics assure us, his halo will tarnish or crack. And maybe so. But this time, maybe not” in an effort to dismiss criticism. My criticism isn’t based on cynicism but on simple logic and truth. Obama can not win the Presidency.

The old saying, “You learn something new everyday!” is one I hope to follow and more often than not I do. Today was one of those days, as I came by this article about an animal abuser crying Alford.

A Fairfield woman who has taken in dogs other people didn’t want is now forbidden from having any of her own. Robbin D’Urso was accused of housing nearly 130 dogs in cages in her home. The 44-year-old D’Urso today pleaded guilty under the Alford doctrine to six of 104 counts of cruelty to animals and one count of having an animal nuisance. Under the terms of the Alford doctrine, she does not admit guilt but acknowledges the state has enough evidence to win a conviction at trial. A Superior Court judge sentenced D’Urso to a suspended five-year term and three years of probation. She was warned to not keep animals of any kind in her home or yard during that time period.

I, naturally, think that this type of thing is shady and dishonest, both on the government’s side and on hers. In the government’s case, it allows criminals to get off with lesser sentences for the sheer sake of convenience (although it is understandable, I must admit); in the woman’s case, it allows her the ultimate copout of admitting her guilt without facing real punishment for it (whereas I truly believe that she should fight if she’s innocent and she should concede her guilt if that’s the case, instead of pleading something so cheap). It’s cheap. (Needless to say, I’m no fan of plea bargains or those involved.)

Yesterday, I mentioned the Ford advertisement in Tennessee. Today, that ad was pulled by the GOP and that’s that — but I still can’t figure out what the hell they were saying in the first place.

Tennessee, my favorite Southern state, is playing host to a Senate race that may control the balance of power in said body. Harold Ford, the black Democratic candidate, was leading quite thoroughly and still is, but in an attempt to cut into his lead, Republican groups are running a “racist ad”.

In the ad, a blond white woman brags, “I met Harold at the Playboy party.” At the end she looks into the camera, holds her hand like a telephone and says, “Harold, call me,” before winking. The line is an apparent reference to Ford’s attendance at a Playboy Super Bowl party in Jacksonville, Fla., last year. “I was there. I like football, and I like girls,” Ford said Tuesday. “I don’t think they’re doing it to talk about the goodness of me or the goodness of my opponent,” Ford said. “They want to scare people about me.”

Call me dumb, but I don’t quite get it. Is the message here that, “Hey, he might appeal to your political senses, but he has sex with White women. How could you vote for that?” If Ford loses (though I don’t believe he will), is that because voters figure that they can vote for a black man provided he has nothing to do with white women? Wow, this is a humdinger of a political move!

About a month ago (and I talked about it here), Karl Rove talked about an October Surprise waiting for Democrats, and I dismissed the idea. This week, and today, the President has dropped “stay the course” from his rhetoric. Bill Frist, meanwhile, is telling Republicans to avoid Iraq on the campaign trail and focus on domestic issues. Democrats, on the other side, are talking tough on terrorism and charging Bush with failure while calling for, well, nothing. Somehow, I don’t think Rove’s October Surprise is quite the Earthquake that Mark Foley’s was.

For those of you wondering what a Democratic Congress may look like, let me say that from my point of view, it won’t be too pretty in the House, at least, because Nancy Pelosi would head that, and I’m not fond of her. She reminds me of Jeanine Ferraro and that’s not a good thing. But, beside her, there are plenty of good characters in the Democratic House, and this is a good look at one of them.

But the House Energy and Commerce Committee has its fingers in nearly every nook and cranny of the American economy. And for those who complain that the Democrats lack a serious domestic agenda, Dingell, can be expected to single-handedly make up for the gap. Dingell, who has spent slightly more than 50 of his 80 years in Congress, has never been a shrinking violet when it came to the exercise of power - but neither is he a raving ideologue.

Thus in a recent interview he resisted the temptation to gloat over the current polls (or that Republicans in Michigan were unable to come up with a candidate to run against him). “There’s an old saying that before you sell a bear hide you’ve got to shoot the bear,” as he puts it. “The voters usually have their own ideas about these things.”

When pressed, however, he confesses to a lengthy list of initiatives that he has in mind should he once again run the committee that he chaired from 1981 to 1994. For starters, Dingell favors legislation to “reform” health care in incremental steps. His ultimate goal: universal health care along the lines of the Canadian system, an idea his congressman father first introduced in Congress in the late 1930s and that he has re-introduced at the start of each new Congress.

Dingell also supports the idea of a “Manhattan Project” for energy; higher levies on food and drug companies to finance a more active Food and Drug Administration; free access to broadband digital service; an end to “unfair currency manipulation” by Japan and China; and much, much else. Insofar as “oversight, oversight, oversight” is the Democratic mantra of the moment, Dingell makes clear he will provide plenty of that as well.

Who says there’s no hope for the future? Or the St. Louis Cardinals, for that matter.

President Bush is a guy capable of making the most innocent of questions into a revealing glimpse at his soul.

In a CNBC interview with Maria Bartiromo, Bush was asked a question on many of our minds: “I’m curious, have you ever Googled anybody? Do you use Google?”

According to CNBC’s unofficial transcript, he replied: “Occasionally. One of the things I’ve used on the Google is to pull up maps. It’s very interesting to see that. I forgot the name of the program, but you get the satellite and you can — like, I kind of like to look at the ranch on Google, reminds me of where I want to be sometimes. Yeah, I do it some.” He added: “I tend not to email or — not only tend not to email, I don’t email, because of the different record requests that can happen to a president. I don’t want to receive emails because, you know, there’s no telling what somebody’s email may — it would show up as, you know, a part of some kind of a story, and I wouldn’t be able to say, `Well, I didn’t read the email.’ `But I sent it to your address, how can you say you didn’t?’ So, in other words, I’m very cautious about emailing.”

I’ve read words to this effect before — that he doesn’t email because it leaves a papertrail — but it’s surreal to hear it from his mouth. I guess he isn’t being too secretive about being secretive anymore. He must figure, “Sometimes you’ve got to say, What the hell.” I’m glad he’s finally being straight with the American public!

Woke up this morning to find this in my inbox, and I enjoyed it. It’s nice to see Joe Lieberman fire back, and I think you should give it a read, Dear Reader. It’s always nice when a man who has been harassed defends himself.

No surprise here: US getting ready to offer amnesty to Insurgents in Iraq. It’s no surprise if you’re a follower of foreign policies past: you can not get passed an insurgency without offering those same people some sort of amnesty. I’m not sure it’ll work in Iraq, since Iraq has gone from Insurgency to Civil War, in my opinion, though I did believe this to be the right thing to do long ago, but we’ll see how it goes. Likely badly, since this White House doesn’t do good ideas until they’re dated.

Newsweek has heartening news in its most recent pages. First is this.

For two years the Democratic political establishment has been unabashedly applying one litmus test to candidates: their ability to win. In the Senate, Schumer took flak from activist groups when he backed candidates like Pennsylvania’s Bob Casey, who is anti abortion rights. In the House, Demo-cratic Congressional Campaign Committee chair Rahm Emanuel corralled a group of Iraq and Afghanistan vets to run as “macho Democrats” against Republican incumbents. At Howard Dean’s Democratic National Committee–well, who’s even heard anything from Howard Dean? He’s largely taken a back seat to Bill Clinton and Barack Obama in making the Democrats’ prime-time case. “The days of Democrats’ having to check 28 boxes before they run are over,” Schumer says. “We want to win.”

Second, is this, also from Newsweek.

If the elections for Congress were held today, according to the new NEWSWEEK poll, 60 percent of white Evangelicals would support the Republican candidate in their district, compared to just 31 percent who would back the Democrat. To the uninitiated, that may sound like heartening news for Republicans in the autumn of their discontent. But if you’re a pundit, a pol, or a preacher, you know better. White Evangelicals are a cornerstone of the GOP’s base; in 2004, exit polls found Republicans carried white Evangelicals 3 to 1 over Democrats, winning 74 percent of their votes. In turn, Evangelicals carried the GOP to victory. But with a little more than two weeks before the crucial midterms, the Republican base may be cracking.

If something doesn’t give—and quick—Republicans will view 2004 as the good ol’ days. Fifty-five percent of likely voters in the new NEWSWEEK poll say they would vote for the Democrat in their district if the election were held today, versus 37 percent who say they would vote for the Republican. That’s not surprising; the Democrats have been leading in the opinion polls for months. But the new poll suggests—from the leanings of bellwether voting blocs to voters’ priorities—that a possible Republican loss could turn into a rout.

Good news, but let’s not jinx it, Newsweek. The Detroit Tigers found out last night that being a Paper Champion doesn’t make you the King, and I don’t want the Democratic Party to experience the same.

Before I begin, really begin, let me refer you to this article from Kuwait and said country’s relationship with Russia. It makes me appreciate the fact that American Propaganda is, at least, flashy!

The City seized in Iraq yesterday has been retaken and I’m glad to hear it, but that doesn’t take away from the fact that a Civil War is raging in Iraq and that this war will go on forever. I don’t expect the Administration to begin pulling out or anything like that, however, for a long time, as King George is on record as saying he’ll stay the course even if Barney and Laura are his only supporters. Barney is his dog.

Personally, I’d bet the Dog bailed a long time ago. Man’s best friend isn’t so loyal as to stay the course when his tail is being pulled from every angle! (Wanna know something sad? Army Chief of Staff Peter Pace says that Rumsfeld’s actions are “inspired by God.” Jesus Christ, no wonder George won’t fire him! Here I was thinking that Rumsfeld had naked pictures of him. Instead he’s pointing a Bible right at the King!)

It explains a lot.

It’s a strange world we live in. Kim Jung Il is sorry to have detonated his bomb and pledges no new nuclear tests. Even more bizarre, he says he’s willing to come back to the table if the White House makes a minor diplomatic concession, though not specified what that would be. I’d imagine it involves pornography at the next talk session. Or maybe he wants to be reintroduced to Madeline Albright?

I’d point out, though, that contrary to what the news media is reporting, contrary to its simplification, Kim isn’t sorry that he offended the Japanese, Koreans and Americans; he’s apologizing to China. That is a good thing, as it means that the Chinese have genuinely put pressure on him to knock it off. Surprising, but good.

Anyone who doesn’t think Iraq is in a Civil War is an idiot, especially after things like this happen.

The Shiite militia run by anti-American cleric Muqtada al-Sadr seized control of the southern Iraqi city of Amarah on Friday in one of the boldest acts of defiance yet by the country’s powerful, unofficial armies, witnesses and police said. A British military official said 25 gunmen and police were killed during gunbattles in the city of about 750,000. Mahdi Army fighters stormed three main police stations Friday morning, planting explosives that flattened the buildings, residents said. About 800 black-clad militiamen with Kalashnikov rifles and rocket-propelled grenades were patrolling city streets in commandeered police vehicles, eyewitnesses said. Other fighters had set up roadblocks on routes into the city and sound trucks circulated telling residents to stay indoors.

The fighting broke out as the United States acknowledged it’s military drive to crush violence in Baghad had largely failed and only days after sectarian killings raged through the region around Balad, killing about 100 people. Americans had only returned the Balad area, just north of Baghdad, to the control of the Iraqi army in August. About the same time, British forces turned over control of Amarah to Iraqi security forces. Thick black smoke billowed from behind the barricades of a police station. Much of the smoke came from vehicles set on fire inside the compound. Hooded gunmen roamed the streets. Some streets were entirely deserted except for the gunmen, but children were playing in others, pointing in the direction of gunfire. The militiamen later withdrew from their positions and lifted their siege of police headquarters under a temporary truce negotiated with an al-Sadr envoy. It wasn’t clear on Friday afternoon whether security forces had reasserted control over the city.

This is going to go on forever. I think this Administration should understand that you can’t go forcing something if it’s just not right and that this just isn’t right. A change of strategy is needed and that change involves the beginnings of withdrawal and a comprehensive dialogue with the Insurgents and Iraqi Government.

The most surprising news item I read today, though, is this. Let’s just put it this way: Vladimir Putin’s beautiful soul admires rape, especially when politicians — like the President of Israel — do it. Is there any judgement that this President can make accurately?

I wholeheartedly enjoy bad advice, but only when it isn’t given to me. RealClearPolitics is running a realclearandbad article urging the President to “go for it,” and that “it” is best defined by its last paragraph.

Go to an Indiana courthouse in a closely-contested district, Mr. President. Make a tough but funny speech taking on the media, telling the truth about the liberals who want to change America into something only a European could comfortably call home. Tell the truth about the media’s distortions of the news. The Sulzbergers and Downey’s will scream. And the louder they do, the better off you and your party will be in the next two years. Go for it, Mr. President.

Ooh, we’re going the Populist route! “Give ‘em hell, Georgie!” I can see more bad advice coming. “Take a train across the country and introduce Laura as “the boss” and your daughter Jenna as “The Boss’ Boss’” and then Barbara as “The Boss’ Boss’ Hoss!”" “Maybe the people will think that you’re folksey and vote back the Republicans!” Or maybe the President should understand that he is not going to Win any more elections in his lifetime. And he certainly won’t turn the tide by giving any sort of speech, and he’ll do even less good if he decides to do something transparently phony like give a speech in an Indiana courthouse.

Besides the fact that this advice — to take a populistic, angry attack forward in the spirit of Harry Truman — is ridiculously simplistic, there’s another, glaring item that makes it stupid: Indiana is not a swingstate. What good would that do the GOP for him to speak in a GOP stronghold?! Durr!

Listen, I’ve said it all along. If Bush wanted good to come out of these mid-terms, or if he were interested in minimizing his harms, he would shut up, do his job and leave the politics to the Congress. There is nothing he can do this year to help himself politically. Nothing, and Karl Rove can’t do it, either. Karl Rove, incidentally, is an okay political advisor who’d never stand out if he weren’t Machiavellian. Today, I went to Slate and saw an article saying the same, and I’m glad someone else doesn’t buy into the myth of Rove as God.

Speaking of Slate, my favorite blogger, Bruce Reed, has a new piece up about Idaho politics. Believe it or not, I’m a big fan of Idaho as a state — it’s beautiful, and I want to go as soon as I can — but also of its politics, and often read my friend’s blog, Liberal Idaho. Reed’s piece is about the First District Congressional race in Idaho, and it’s fascinating. At the least, you should give it a read to learn about Helen Chenoweth, the last Great, Authentic Rightwing Nutjob. And speaking of Rightwing Nutjobs, I’d like to, first, endorse Brad Miller of North Carolina who is fast becoming one of my favorites. In part it’s because he can talk to Republicans about sex without laughing, and because he’s a genuine good guy, it seems, from reading about him and reading his blog entries, too. He’s cool beans, and speaking of cool Beans, let’s talk about Melissa, a Congresswoman near me seeking re-election.

I like her. Very good woman. If she loses re-election, it’ll be a great loss to the Congress (in terms of taking it back numerically and keeping good people in Congress), and if there’s anything you can do to support her, do it.

I promised to recount the story of my two friends who had to deal with the Secret Service and I will, but it isn’t very sexy. They knew the day before that they’d be talking to authorities as a notebook filled with nonsensical ways to kill people (celebrities and politicians, too) was found and had been given to the authorities, but then they were told that the Secret Service agent would be talking to them, too. Apparently he asked them nothing threatening aside from “Did you write this about the President because he’s the President or because he’s Bush?”

They said that the Secret Service Agent asked only three questions, and that none of them were memorable but for the cited one. Oh! They said he had a look of disbelief as he asked them if they really wanted to rip the President out of the White House and crucify him. They said no, obviously.

Tax dollars. You know?

We’ve been reading books like Brave New World of late in one of my courses and for an assignment I had to answer a few questions about what the government should do and should not do to ensure order. You know, “Where’s the line between individual freedom and society’s safety?” and through it, I decided to write something here that I’ve always believed: philosophy is overrated, that being philosophy as some big live-your-life-by-saying — like Hakuna Matata, or “Trust no one!” It goes by in politics, too. There’s nothing wrong with being flexible. I’m flexible intellectually, but you’ve got to have some backbone, too. Beyond that, it’s silly to go about with some fixed philosophy.

That’s all for tonight.

In the Washington Post today there’s an article about North Korea entitled, An Offer Kim Can’t Refuse and it’s sensible nonsense. I buy into the idea that we can pull the Korean nuclear program underwater if we were to get China to work with us. I also believe that I could go to the Moon if I could pay NASA the billions of “Space Tourist” dollars they would charge me.

I’m about resigned to the fact that Korea will simply have to be contained from here on out and Kim Jung Il will have to die for change to be affected.

I haven’t got much time, but I’d like to direct everyone here, an article about the November Elections asking, Could the Democrats Lose? Yes, they can, and I spoke of this with a Republican friend recently. Democrats are going to win Seats; I’m not sure that they’ll win the Senate or the House simply because it’s so difficult to do, numerically. Will Democrats end up losing net seats? Hell no. They’ll win more seats than stay the same, and that’s all I know for sure.

If you’ve ever wondered about corrupt Congressmen, who they are and what they do, you should take a look Beyond DeLay and check out that site’s handy checklist of crooked politicians. These guys are so smarmy they’d feel cozy in the Politburo.

Beyond that, I’d like to reference everyone to two articles that illustrate, to me, a White House and Treasury Department gone mad. A man in Colorado told Dick Cheney that his policies were reprehensible, and our dear friend Dick (who is as sensitive as his good friend Clitoris, whose sensitivity he had once criticized…) sent the Secret Service after him to allege that he’d been “assaulted.” A Secret Service Agent arrested him, and threatened to have his son taken by Social Services but the boy ran off and found his mother. The man was held in prison for three hours and had his charge reduced to “harassment,” which was later dropped altogether. All I know is,

Now, let me be clear: if I were arrested for criticizing one of our Dear Leaders to their unattractive and dishonest faces, I’d have no fear because this is how the Bush Administration allows its Secret Service to operate: arrest someone, hold them a few hours, and then charge them with something minor that eventually gets dropped. It’s a power play on their part, and nothing more. The White House knows that it can’t genuinely send a man to prison for telling one of them that they should be ashamed, but they allow the SS to harass people just to send a message. That’s how I see the White House and SS working when incidents occur with the President and Vice President in the vicinity. In other cases, the Secret Service just seems a little paranoid, like in this case, wherein they went after a fourteen year old girl who had posted a “Kill Bush” message on MySpace. Before they’d even gone after her, however, she deleted it, as she’d been informed that it’s illegal to “threaten” the President.

All the same, the SS decided it’d be worth their time and money to go after the girl and speak with her, pulling her out of class and hounding her mother, too, to ask questions. This isn’t as gross an abuse of power as what happened to the man who called Cheney’s policies reprehensible, but all the same, it’s an example of waste and a lack of intelligence on the Secret Service’ part. Really, man, someday, I’m going to be in a position to give orders to the Secret Service, and when I do, I fully intend to tell them not to spend time protecting me from fourteen year old girls and their MySpace pages.

A couple of years ago, I believe I was a Sophomore at the time, two of my friends (both girls) had a silly little notebook in which they wrote about killing people. They fantasized a little about people they’d like to kill, who they hate, and then they wrote silly little stories in which they proceeded to kill the Steroid-Taking Governor of California, the President, and silly little classmates of ours. It was found by a Teacher who turned it into the office who called the police. Through the police, the Secret Service was notified (because Bush was killed in the story) and the SS came to our school to question my dear friends. They were let go, but I wish I’d have been there to hear what they had to say.

“So, yeah. Are you going to kill the President by having your pet unicorn ram its horn through his heart?”
“Uh, no,” says my friend.
“Very well then. Live long and prosper! Don’t kill the President, please!”

Actually, I’ve never asked them exactly what happened with their meeting. I’ll get those details soon, and have them to you, Dear Readers, by Tuesday. (Can you believe it? I never wrote about sex aside from mentioning what’s going on in the World before, and now I’ve loaded my last couple of posts with double entendres. Oh to hit puberty!)

The UN has approved sanctions of Korea, and part of the sanctions call for the inspection of cargo ships leaving North Korea. Keep in mind that this is a UN Resolution and that means that it’ll inherently be weak.

The new draft resolution dropped or softened several provisions to placate China and Russia. It eliminated explicit mention of military enforcement of the sanctions; placed more limits on the kinds of cargo that could be inspected going in and out of North Korea; and dropped a blanket embargo on conventional weapons.

No surprise, but a big disappointment that these countries can’t understand the danger posed by their games. China keeps thinking that it can toe the line and they’re going to wind up flabbergasted when Kim Jung Il demonstrates that he is not their docile dog. He’s a pitbull with no respect or fear of the Chinese, and someday, they’ll understand that.