Office of the Independent Blogger

A Hurricane is headed toward the Gulf Coast — and New Orleans — and has therefore disrupted the Republican National Convention, essentially canceling the first night of the event and likely canceling the second. I can’t imagine how much work is going on in the White House to prevent another fiasco from occurring. John Dickerson thinks this event is “good” for John McCain; I am just worried about a friend who lives there and has decided to stay because he doesn’t want to “abandon the city.” Brave man.

David Gergen called Hillary Clinton’s speech tonight her “finest hour in politics” and I must say that I agree. It was a phenomenal speech that had me on the verge of tears at various points. And I felt a surge of emotion before she took the podium, too, as the DNC’s video tribute to her was incredibly moving.

This article speaks for itself.

Despite a campaign that attacked corporate and special interest lobbyists as evil and banned their money and participation, Sen. Barack Obama has done little, if anything, about their pervasive, free-spending presence at the Democratic convention in Denver, ethics watchdog groups say.

“I think he could have sent a signal to say I want this tamped down,” said Ellen Miller of the Sunlight Foundation, a political ethics watchdog group. “But he has not,” she said, “so it’s party time.”

A spokesman for the Obama campaign, Ben LaBolt, said the Senator could not “make changes to this year’s convention” because of the “very late end to the primary season.” As a result, lobbyists are once again spending millions of dollars here on gourmet food, top-shelf liquor and private lavish parties for Democratic elected officials who seem more than happy to play the role of world-class freeloaders.

John McCain has been endorsed by “Daddy Yankee.” The crowd goes wild while I consider whether or not this is the silliest story I’ve ever read.

Overall I appreciate Senator Obama’s choice of Senator Biden because the man is a great character and a good thinker with a great life story that ought to give everyone hope. This New York Times article about Biden demonstrates his ability to “bounce back” from hard times and this Newsweek blog is a good introduction to the good things he brings to the ticket while this is an overview of the bad things about Biden. Or the bad thing: he talks a lot, and he isn’t a genius. He has no hint of sexual scandal and very little to his name that will attract financial criticism. He’s a solid choice but I would have preferred Bayh. I can’t say I see this as a “game-changer” but it might be a very effective choice in Pennsylvania. At the least it locks up Delaware and all thirteen Biden primary voters.

This might be the most significant news story of the general election campaign to date.

U.S. and Iraqi negotiators agreed to the withdrawal of U.S. combat forces by the end of 2011 and are nearing resolution of other issues, Iraqi officials said. Among the outstanding issues is whether U.S. military personnel would be subject to Iraqi law if accused of committing crimes, The Washington Post (NYSE:WPO) reported Friday.

“We have a text,” Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said after U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s visit Thursday to Baghdad. Both governments must complete and approve the agreement before a U.N. mandate authorizing international military intervention in Iraq expires at the end this year.

It is a significant development for the American effort in Iraq and signifies that victory is at hand, but it also takes away Obama’s greatest weapon and wisdom (that Iraq was a mistake) and gives credence to John McCain’s greatest claim (that he knows foreign policy and was right to stand by the War in Iraq). This move effectively removes Iraq from the discussion except for McCain to say “I told you so!” and allows McCain to attack Obama’s flank on economic issues. “Tax Man,” as Laura Ingraham was saying on Fox News tonight. Shades of 88.

I’m not buying the reports about Chet Edwards being Barack Obama’s running mate. We’ll just have to wait and see.

John McCain was asked how many homes he owns by a reporter and answered that he didn’t know and would have his staff respond to the question. (It must be nice to have an exceptionally-rich wife whose money allows you the luxury of never having to look at your bills.) But now it is the largest controversy since Janet Jackson’s breast. Aren’t pundits supposed to be intelligent people? Why are they talking about this nonsense?

Pakistan’s President, Perves Musharraf, resigned, and now there are “cracks appear[ing]” in the new government’s ruling coalition. Worse is this article about Pakistan’s intelligence agency and its “rogue behavior” in recent months.

Pakistan’s new government has failed to prevent the country’s intelligence agency from aiding terrorist attacks and supporting the Taliban, a senior US official has told the Financial Times. Speaking under condition of anonymity, the state department official added Pakistan needed to speed up efforts to control the ISI, the intelligence agency, after the resignation of Pervez Musharraf as president.

“The position of the ISI has always been ambiguous [but] they may have been more directly involved in actions in more recent months because of lack of supervision,” he said, referring to “a lot of allegations” that the agency was involved in the July 7 bombing of the Indian embassy in Afghanistan.

This article makes a compelling case that nuclear weapons will be unaffected by Musharraf’s fall, noting the intense security around the facilities, but this editorial calls Pakistan the West’s “worst nightmare.” I understand that the prospect of nuclear weapons being given to terrorists by Pakistan is a slim one but it is still possible and a potential nightmare, as is the general situation in that country. I hope they can stabilize soon.

What a strange international incident this was. Chinese baseball players managed by an American fighting Americans. At least we won 9-1, right?

I’ll be back with serious commentary soon.

(The title comes from Rocky Balboa.

Excerpt one:

The United States on Sunday accused Russia of stalling its military pullback in Georgia, but the Bush administration is not rushing to repudiate Moscow for its actions.

The White House is struggling to figure out the best way to penalize Russia. It doesn’t want to deeply damage existing cooperation on many fronts or discourage Moscow from further integrating itself into global economic and political institutions. At the same time, U.S. officials say Russia can’t be allowed to get away with invading its neighbor.

Excerpt two:

The best-known dreadlocks in these parts got a little shorter Thursday.

Heeding the request of his manager, Manny Ramirez got a haircut, but as teammate Jeff Kent said with a smile, holding his thumb and forefinger about an inch apart: “Yeah, about that much.” “One inch, half-an-inch,” Ramirez said. “It’s still long. If I come back next year, it will be shorter.”

The slugging outfielder, a free agent after this season, said a local barber did the job. “One of my friends recommended him,” Ramirez said, adding it took “maybe five minutes, 10 minutes.”

After the Dodgers acquired Ramirez from the Boston Red Sox on July 31, manager Joe Torre said he asked Ramirez to “clean it up a little bit.” “I was in the principal’s office right now,” Ramirez said upon emerging from Torre’s office some three hours before the Dodgers faced the Philadelphia Phillies. “(Torre) told me he’s fine, for now.”

If you stop and consider these two news stories and the recent histories of Russia and Manny Ramirez, you can see the similarities. The United States has tolerated Russia’s activities since the Soviet Union collapsed but the relationship is straining under the combined pressure of needing to act but being incapable of acting due to the positives a strong Russia brings to the table while Manny Ramirez had tried the Red Sox’ patience for years until they finally traded him. Through much of his tenure in Boston the organization and its fans shrugged off all his exploits as “Manny being Manny” but could not shrug it off forever. We have been doing the same, shrugging “Russia being Russia” for years but it is a bond that is straining. The comparison goes deeper if you look further: the Red Sox put Ramirez on waivers several years ago, waivers being a process whereby anyone can claim a player but they have to take on his contract completely and unconditionally, owing him all the money due to him as a result. Our attempt to sanction the Russians and our inability to do so is a functional equivalent of this process. Next thing you know, they’ll be signing billion dollar contracts with Halliburton just like Ramirez will be signing a hundred million dollar deal with some team this offseason.

It’s good to be out of your mind but powerful no matter what the field, eh?

Barack Obama and John McCain attended a “Faith Forum” today held by Rick Warren, famed Christian author of The Purpose-Driven Life (which I read my sophomore year of high school after a teacher recommended it to me, and I enjoyed it very much). Read more about the event here. It seems to have been a great success for McCain as he works to gain Christian support.

The Georgian government signed a cease-fire today and the Russians are expected to sign it tomorrow. Condoleezza Rice stood with the President of Georgia at a press conference after the fact and it might just be the most painful moment of the Bush Presidency.

As the secretary of state spoke in Tbilisi, Russian forces remained camped out just 25 miles away.

Associated Press reporters had seen a convoy of some 50 Russian army trucks and armored personnel carriers roar without warning southeast from the city of Gori on Wednesday, some shouting they were heading to Tbilisi, the Georgian capital. But they veered into a field outside the town of Igoeti and set up camp conspicuously within sight of the road. The Russians were still visible there Friday.

Even as Rice stood with Georgian President Mikhail Saakashvili in a show of solidarity, he asked, “Who invited the trouble here? Who invited this arrogance here? Who invited these innocent deaths here?”

Shaky and near tears following a difficult, nearly five-hour meeting with her, Saakashvili answered his own question: “Not only those people who perpetrate them are responsible, but also those people who failed to stop it.”

Rice let that pass, focusing instead on the demand that Moscow immediately withdraw its forces.

“With this signature by Georgia, this must take place and take place now,” she declared.

But the truth is that we have let the Georgian people and their government down by not forcefully warning them about the dangers of provoking Russia before this whole crisis erupted, and we failed them by not carrying through with our commitments to protect them. Now we are reaping a storm that I still believe to be limited in terms of impact on international relations but I fear that it will last forever for families that will grow up hating Russians for the deaths of their loved ones and mistrusting America for our inability to assist them overtly in this conflict. They should be bitter toward us. I just hope that we are better prepared to aid our friends in the future, especially since Russia is now threatening Poland. I think it’s just Cold War-era rhetoric with little else behind it but you never know what you’re going to get from the Russians.

Bill Clinton chose Al Gore to be his Vice President in 1992 and in so doing chose a man who was his mirror image except Gore was in shape, knew the difference between right and wrong, didn’t sleep with every willing woman and was a lesser-presence on a stage as a speaker. They were similar in their youth, their southern heritage and, most importantly, in their mastery of government and policy: Clinton as a great Governor of Arkansas and Gore as one of the more influential and intellectual men in the US Senate. Now Barack Obama is said to be seriously considering Tim Kaine for the Vice Presidency and I would enjoy the choice as he is almost a mirror image of Obama, too. Both are intellectual lawyers who did non-traditional work after graduating from law school. But more important is the fact that each of them is a hollow government official. Brilliant, sure, but they haven’t achieved anything aside from getting elected to higher and higher office. While Gore was a leader on environmental policy and nuclear proliferation and Clinton was heading the Democratic Governors Association and turning the state of Arkansas around Tim Kaine and Barack Obama were giving speeches and playing the harmonica in the name of love and hope and “unity,” whatever that means.

This is not a particularly important news story — at least not in the way that a story about a sudden, violent event such as the invasion of Georgia is — but it is significant for what it tells us about Chinese attitudes toward beauty, talent and the female gender.

In a last-minute move demanded by one of China’s highest officials, two girls were put together for the opening ceremony Friday, with one lip-synching over the other’s singing. The real singer, 7-year-old Yang Peiyi, with her chubby face and crooked baby teeth, wasn’t good-looking enough for the ceremony, its chief music director told state-owned Beijing Radio. So the pigtailed Lin Miaoke mouthed the words.

In a brief phone interview with AP Television News on Tuesday, the music director, Chen Qigang, said he spoke about the switch with Beijing Radio “to come out with the truth.”

“The little girl is a magnificent singer,” Chen said. “She doesn’t deserve to be hidden.”

Don’t you ever let anyone tell you that self-esteem and body-image issues are products of American society and culture.