http://officeoftheindependentblogger.com With a keyboard on loan from God, I welcome you to the Office of the Independent Blogger. "Independent" in the same sense that Ken Starr was, meaning "not very independent" indeed! Thu, 03 Jul 2008 08:53:18 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en I almost died today. Well, yesterday, but that's just a detail. The greater point is that I am alive. Who knows what would have happened if there didn't happen to be lifeguards at the beach in Encinitas just outside of San Diego? This is definitely not what I expected to ... http://officeoftheindependentblogger.com/2008/07/03/near-death-on-the-west-coast/ You know, the Human Genome Project proves that we are all far more alike than different, with a 90+% margin of similarity, too. That's the first thing I thought of when I read the news this evening. Barack Obama has pledged five hundred million dollars in faith-based initiatives, which I ... http://officeoftheindependentblogger.com/2008/07/02/human-genome-project/ David Addington, who is one of the Bush Administration's legal experts and can be charitably described as a cross between Dick Cheney and Chewbacca, appeared before a subcommittee to discuss the use of interrogation techniques and "stunned" his questioners with the contempt he showed for them. Toward the end of ... http://officeoftheindependentblogger.com/2008/06/29/hairy-situations/ A couple of nights ago I commented on the "Merry-Go-Round" pace of our negotiations with North Korea over their nuclear program. Tonight, I want to refer you to this Fred Kaplan analysis of the situation, especially these paragraphs: Daniel Sneider, assistant director of the Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center at Stanford University, ... http://officeoftheindependentblogger.com/2008/06/27/what-goes-around/ Robert Novak has written an article on potential Republicans for Obama whose defections John McCain is said to fear, and the two biggest names on the list are Chuck Hagel and Colin Powell. “The national security adviser for Ronald Reagan left the present administration bitter about being ushered out of the ... http://officeoftheindependentblogger.com/2008/06/26/more-powell-to-him/ I've only got a couple of small notes for you, dear reader, before I head to bed. The first is just my recommendation that you read this article, about the FBI's file-deletion program and regulations. We often like to think of our age as the "information age," but while information ... http://officeoftheindependentblogger.com/2008/06/25/information-merry-go-round/ Forgive me for the absence yesterday, dear reader, but I am in Indiana to support my cousin in his Little League playoffs and their Internet is beyond working for me without a hassle. I'll be back home tomorrow evening, so expect more thorough posts then, but right now I am ... http://officeoftheindependentblogger.com/2008/06/24/battery-life/ This New York Times article is an excellent one chronicling the CIA's interrogation of KSM, the 9/11 mastermind. From beginning to end it raises questions about whether or not we would be able to successfully interrogate terrorists without using harsh methods, and I'm afraid I have no concrete answer to ... http://officeoftheindependentblogger.com/2008/06/22/inside-the-cia/ In My Life, Bill Clinton describes FEMA as an organization that no one thinks about until a disaster strikes, and while no one ever votes on the basis of a candidate's disaster-relief program it should still be a primary consideration on the agenda of elected officials because people die when ... http://officeoftheindependentblogger.com/2008/06/21/business-as-usual-2/ I know that many of my fellow liberals are furious with the House for compromising with George W. Bush on domestic spying, but I think the solution they came across is fair and sensible. The House on Friday easily approved a compromise bill setting new electronic surveillance rules that effectively ... http://officeoftheindependentblogger.com/2008/06/20/bipartisanship-makes-a-cameo/ Barack Obama officially announced his decision to opt-out of the public finance system for Presidential campaigns this morning, and I am deeply disillusioned by this decision. But before I comment on the decision itself, I want to comment on the manner in which it was announced to the public: not ... http://officeoftheindependentblogger.com/2008/06/19/price-change-we-can-believe-in/ Israel and Hamas have agreed to a truce over Gaza. That's the good news. The bad news is that it does not appear to have anyone's full committment to it. I hope it will succeed. I believe there will be quiet in (Israel's) south," Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said ... http://officeoftheindependentblogger.com/2008/06/18/vicious-cycles/ I received the following email from a good friend and Iowan this morning: My family is ok, but many, many people here have not been so lucky. Lots of people were told when they bought their homes that there was no need for flood insurance because the water never gets ... http://officeoftheindependentblogger.com/2008/06/17/fixing-iowa/