Links 7/27/2010

Pretty Diverse group today

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“Analysts Find Little New in Wikileaks Afghan Documents” – this “little new” came at a terrible, terrible price. I haven’t seen anyone else in the mainstream media focus on this [boldface mine]: Mother Jones’ Adam Weinstein worries about the safety of Afghan officials and individuals who meet with the U.S. in “what the military calls KLEs—key leader engagements. Military officers, as well as officials from State, USAID, and other agencies regularly meet with important players in a war zone to get their take on the situation. … If they were ever outed as collaborators with American forces, they’d be as good as dead. And Wikileaks has 16 pages of secret military KLEs with individuals and groups in Afghanistan, spanning six years. No names are redacted. In this case, what retired general James Jones, the White House national security adviser, said yesterday is correct: WL is putting some lives at serious risk with that particular data dump.”

Steven Malanga, “The Muni-Bond Debt Bomb” – long with lots of depressing detail. Sometimes I wonder why we get mad at the federal government for spending – a quick perusal of the profligacy of cities and states shows many in them to have almost no sense that money borrowed has to be paid back.

Megan McArdle, “Why Tax Estates Instead of Inheritances?” – from the article: what is the justification for taxing estates, rather than inheritances?  After all, why should we care if Bill Gates wants to leave $300 apiece to millions of people?

Liam and Me, “Say It Out Loud” – synth-rock in the style of The Killers, and they’re from Philly, and they’re gooooood. If you have Stumbleupon or Reddit or some other sharing service, put this on there please and vote it up. A friend of mine works with the band. Read more at www.ashokkarra.com

 

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Safety burden shifts to State Department after Iraq war Military urged to aid workers with logistics

Hillary Clinton,Iraq, Who will provide Security once DOD is out of Iraq? I expect the Body Count to go up.

Amplify’d from www.washingtontimes.com

Safety burden shifts to State Department after Iraq war

Military urged to aid workers with logistics

The Obama administration has not settled on a plan to protect and supply thousands of State Department diplomats and employees left behind in Iraq once all but a relatively few U.S. troops leave the county in a little more than a year.

In what would be the first time a large contingent of American government workers will remain in an active war zone without U.S. military protection, the State Department is urgently demanding that the Pentagon provide equipment at no cost.

The State Department also wants the Army to let it tap into the huge, billion-dollar logistics system that fed and supplied more than 100,000 combat troops at one time. So far, the Pentagon has not given the State Department an answer.

"I can't think of another time when the State Department will have been required to take over a mission of this magnitude," Grant S. Green, a member of the special Commission on Wartime Contracting in Iraq and Afghanistan, told The Washington Times. Read more at www.washingtontimes.com

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Sunday Funnies

Enjoy Your Sunday.....

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Iran says it has 100 vessels for each U.S. warship

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I Think it will be a Target Rich environment

Amplify’d from www.navytimes.com

Iran says it has 100 vessels for each U.S. warship

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — The former naval chief for Iran’s Revolutionary Guard said the country has set aside 100 military vessels to confront each warship from the U.S. or any other foreign power that might pose a threat, an Iranian newspaper reported Saturday. Read more at www.navytimes.com

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• Iran says it has 100 vessels for each US warship (sfgate.com)
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• Iran remembers those killed in 1988 downing of Iranian airliner by US warship (foxnews.com)
• Are U.S. Warships Gearing Up for a Confrontation With an Iranian Aid Flotilla to Gaza? (alternet.org)
• New UN sanctions on Iran for its suspect nuclear program (taragana.com)

At the very least, majority Democrats are getting a taste of what it's like to manage a transcendent scandal in the shadow of an election.



Four years ago, then-Speaker Dennis Hastert and other top Republicans were besieged daily by reporters demanding to know why Foley's conduct was allowed to go on for years.



Then, it was Democrats running the negative ads. And, while all the Republicans wanted Foley to quit, his resignation didn't stop the bleeding. The cover up became the story. Then came the election. Republicans lost the House.

Amplify’d from www.washingtontimes.com

In Rangel case, Democrats face unsavory choices

Representative faces ethics charges

WASHINGTON (AP) — Democrats nervously anticipating Rep. Charles Rangel's ethics trial know all about the media frenzy and negative ads accompanying election-season scandals. They generated it themselves in 2006, when Republican Rep. Mark Foley was forced to resign in disgrace.

Foley's misdeeds stemmed from his dealings with House pages and efforts by Republicans, then in the majority, to ignore and cover them up. Rangel's ethics charges raise questions about his management of money and taxes and his official role — and pose difficult choices for the party that won its majority in large part by vowing to run the most ethical Congress in history.

Rangel has long acknowledged that his ethics troubles had no upside for Democrats in difficult re-election bids. The good news, he said at a news conference Friday, was that perhaps the matter would soon end.

Not if Republicans, still feeling the decisive sting of the Foley scandal, can help it. Read more at www.washingtontimes.com

 

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I never Thought I would hear a Democrat say that November must be a worry to some

Amplify’d from voices.washingtonpost.com

Webb calls for end to most affirmative action programs, criticizes 'myth' of white dominance

Updated 4:21 p.m. Just as race issues have returned to the forefront of political debate, Virginia Sen. James Webb (D) on Friday reiterated his opposition to some affirmative action programs and suggested that white Americans are being "marginalized" by current government policies.

In a Wall Street Journal op-ed headlined "Diversity and the Myth of White Privilege," Webb writes: "Forty years ago, as the United States experienced the civil rights movement, the supposed monolith of White Anglo-Saxon Protestant dominance served as the whipping post for almost every debate about power and status in America. After a full generation of such debate, WASP elites have fallen by the wayside and a plethora of government-enforced diversity policies have marginalized many white workers." Read more at voices.washingtonpost.com

 

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Good Stuff Have a good Weekend

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Comment on Cowboy Bebop, “Speak Like a Child” (Session 19) Read more at www.ashokkarra.com

“Speak Like a Child” (video)

Faye is gambling on horses, hoping one will win; Spike is fishing, and has almost caught something. She loses at the same moment he loses the fish, although both are in wholly separate locales.

So what exactly is going on? There’s some kind of link between memory and fortune.Read more at www.ashokkarra.com

 

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How Bout that Obama:))

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Al Qaeda inmates escape days after U.S. transferred jail

In this Thursday, July 15, 2010, file photo, Iraq's Minister of Justice Dara Noureddin, left, and U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Jerry Cannon, right, hold a symbolic key to the U.S. Theater Internment Facility at Camp Cropper during a ceremony transferring the facility to Iraqi control in Baghdad, Iraq. Iraq's justice minister says four al Qaeda-linked detainees have escaped from the Baghdad area prison that was handed over by the U.S. to Iraqi authorities a week ago. (AP Photo / Maya Alleruzzo, File)

BAGHDAD (AP) — Four al Qaeda-linked detainees have escaped from a Baghdad area prison that was handed over by the U.S. to Iraqi authorities a week ago, Iraq's justice minister said Thursday — a daring escape that embarrasses a government struggling to prove it is capable of operating without U.S. oversight. Read more at www.washingtontimes.com

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• Iraqi minister says 4 al Qaeda inmates escape jail (ctv.ca)
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• Top Insurgents Escaped Prison Days After Iraq Took Over (nytimes.com)
• You: Four Iraqis escape from prison at Baghdad airport compound (latimes.com)

Select Posts on American History

I really Like History. If you like US History You might want to check these out:))

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Some of the older posts on this topic need to undergo heavy revision. In nearly all cases I’ve provided a copy of the primary source on the blog itself. Here are a few that need less revision:

Lincoln

The Gettysburg Address

Second Inaugural

Proclamation of Thanksgiving

Remarks to Baltimore Presbyterian Synod

The Federalist

Federalist No. 9 (Hamilton)

Jefferson

Letter to William Ludlow

On Jefferson’s Epitaph Read more at www.ashokkarra.com

 

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Margaret Levine, “A Man I Knew”

Poetry and Philosophy....

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“…in many liberal arts fields, the only possible consumer of the research in question is a handful of scholars in the same field.  That sort of research is valuable in the same way that children’s craft projects are priceless–to their mothers.  Basically, these people are supporting an expensive hobby with a sideline business certifying the ability of certain twenty-year olds to write in complete sentences.” – Megan McArdle

A Man I Knew

has a condo

a maid who comes every other week

kids who won’t

are on the dresser they float forever

like a boat Read more at www.ashokkarra.com

 

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Nice for Poetry Buffs

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Five Poems for People New to Poetry Read more at www.ashokkarra.com

None of the poems below are particularly long, and all of them are certainly memorable.

Shakespeare, Sonnet 73 – I give a general method for reading poetry (“New Criticism”) in this post. And for this poem, I actually stick to the method (I think).

Emily Dickinson, “If I can stop one heart from breaking…” – been muttering this to myself recently at times.

Jane Kenyon, “Otherwise” – any comment on this wouldn’t do it justice.

Kay Ryan, “Sharks’ Teeth” – it’s complicated and packed, but short, and the main questions are almost intuitive.

Ario Farin, “Up, up and away!” - as good as it gets. Read more at www.ashokkarra.com

 

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I believe that every Service member and Friend,Family or concerned US Citizen should write,Phone and Harass all of their Politicians Whether Federal or State Or County until this is fixed

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By most accounts, the 2008 presidential election was a disaster for military voters. Thousands of them were disenfranchised when their absentee ballots were sent to wrong addresses, lost in the mail or mailed too close to the election for the ballot to be returned. To make matters worse, thousands of ballots were rejected by local election officials because the ballot - through no fault of the military voter - arrived after the election deadline.

Much of this disaster could have been avoided by the Voting Section of the Justice Department, and without swift action, the Voting Section will cause a similar disaster in 2010 despite congressional efforts to fix the problem.

EVERSOLE: Military voters soon to be disenfranchised - again Read more at www.washingtontimes.com

 

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I Remember USS Pueblo. I was in the Task Force that set off N Korea for 6 weeks and Did Nothing....'

As I recall there was A Democratic Senate, House and LBJ was President.

Amplify’d from www.mysanantonio.com

While the Cheonan's sinking has created a crisis, it is only the latest one triggered by Pyongyang and the only one that sparked the stern U.S. response. The north captured the USS Pueblo in international waters in 1968 and tortured crew members held in captivity. North Korean commandos assaulted Seoul's presidential mansion, tried to assassinate South Korean presidents, blew up a jetliner and in recent years tested missiles and nuclear weapons.

Gates orders naval maneuvers as “clear message” to N. Korea By Sig Christenson - Express-News Web Posted: 07/20/2010 12:01 CDT

SEOUL, South Korea — Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Tuesday that upcoming joint U.S.-South Korea naval exercises aim “to send a clear message to North Korea that its aggressive behavior must stop.

The three-day exercise, which will start Sunday, will be the first of a series meant to deter attacks like the one in March against the warship Cheonan, which claimed 46 lives and heightened tensions here.

While the Cheonan's sinking has created a crisis, it is only the latest one triggered by Pyongyang and the only one that sparked the stern U.S. response. The north captured the USS Pueblo in international waters in 1968 and tortured crew members held in captivity. North Korean commandos assaulted Seoul's presidential mansion, tried to assassinate South Korean presidents, blew up a jetliner and in recent years tested missiles and nuclear weapons. Read more at www.mysanantonio.com

 

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Part Two of an Interesting Read

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Below is an outline of the Protagoras that should make things clearer even to those who have not read the dialogue. If you are really pressed for time, the most important sections are “Protagoras’ myth,” followed by “Protagoras’ logos,” and the Socratic concerns about virtue which precede Protagoras’ myth. This post is about 1400 words.

309a – 310a: Socrates encounters an unnamed companion. The companion seems to think there is something between Socrates and Alcibiades; Socrates does nothing to discourage this impression. The companion is an “enthusiast for Homer;” he did not know Protagoras was in town, which would mark him a bit less enthusiastic about sophistry than Hippocrates. Socrates relates to the companion his story of the events leading to and including the discussion with Protagoras. Socrates admits he has “just now come from seeing [Protagoras]” and he seems to have met this companion by chance: contrast with Socrates’ saying he “has something to do” (335c-d) and the “appointment” he is late for (361e). Socrates has nothing to do, but uses the first excuse (along with a threat to leave) to get control of the conversation from Protagoras. The second mention of “appointment” is more curious: does Socrates have something to report, i.e. did he learn something? The encounter with Hippias, a sophist (see the Greater Hippias) does result in Socrates’ saying he learned something (Greater Hippias 304e).

Socrates in Hades: On Plato’s Protagoras, Part II Read more at www.ashokkarra.com

 

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Socrates in Hades: On Plato’s Protagoras, Part II

The conflict between the poets and the city is very strange [...]" says Ashok Karra. Why? Find out on his blog:

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Originally, I wanted to post comments regarding a reread of the Republic I am supposedly doing. But so many issues went over my head I broke away from the reread and started reading the Greater Hippias. While a shorter dialogue, the discussion of “the beautiful” and how it relates to how we use “both” and “each” also stumped me, even with the help of a secondary source (written by a teacher of mine, no less). Finally, I’ve been working on the Protagoras, and thanks to Google Books’ excerpt of Robert Bartlett’s commentary (“On the Protagoras,” in Plato’s Protagoras and Meno, Cornell 2004) and Seth Benardete’s “Protagoras’ Myth and Logos” (“The Argument of the Action,” Chicago 2000), I may have something sensible to say.

We must wonder, however, whether Socrates’ concern for Hippocrates fully explains the conversation before us. After all, it is Socrates who suggests that he and Hippocrates make their way to Protagoras and the other sophists (314b6-c2), just after he has issued a stinging rebuke to Hippocrates for his uninformed desire to do so, and at an important juncture in the dialogue Socrates assures Protagoras that his cross-examinations have as their goal the discovery of the truth about virtue, about a question that perplexes Socrates himself. His conversation with Protagoras is intended to make certain one or more of Socrates’ own thoughts, as only conversation with or “testing” of another can do (347c5-349a6; consider also, e.g. , 328d8-e1, as well as 357e2-8: Socrates is not consistently concerned with harming the business prospects of the sophists, Protagoras included). (Bartlett 68) Read more at www.ashokkarra.com

 

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YouTube - Obama Bumper Sticker Removal Kit - Available at BSRemoval.com - feat. Brad Stine

YouTube - Obama Bumper Sticker Removal Kit - Available at BSRemoval.com - feat. Brad Stine

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The Tea Party movement has received considerable news coverage this year, in large part because it appears to represent a new and potentially powerful force on the American political scene. Whether Tea Party supporters are a voting segment that is unique and distinct from the more traditional Republican conservative base, however, appears questionable. There is significant overlap between Tea Party supporters and conservative Republicans, both groups are highly enthusiastic about voting, and both are heavily skewed toward Republican candidates -- although the latter somewhat more so than the former

Amplify’d from www.gallup.com

PRINCETON, NJ -- There is significant overlap between Americans who identify as supporters of the Tea Party movement and those who identify as conservative Republicans. Their similar ideological makeup and views suggest that the Tea Party movement is more a rebranding of core Republicanism than a new or distinct entity on the American political scene.

Tea Party Supporters Overlap Republican Base

Eight out of 10 Tea Party supporters are Republicans

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Reality gap: U.S. struggles, D.C. booms

The disconnect between D.C. elites and the general public is stoking the growth of more direct popular movements

Amplify’d from www.politico.com

America is struggling with a sputtering economy and high unemployment — but times are booming for Washington’s governing class.

The massive expansion of government under President Barack Obama has basically guaranteed a robust job market for policy professionals, regulators and contractors for years to come. The housing market, boosted by the large number of high-income earners in the area, many working in politics and government, is easily outpacing the markets in most of the country. And there are few signs of economic distress in hotels, restaurants or stores in the D.C. metro area.

As a result, there is a yawning gap between the American people and D.C.’s powerful when it comes to their economic reality — and their economic perceptions.

A new POLITICO poll, conducted by market research and consulting firm Penn Schoen Berland, underscores the big divide: Roughly 45 percent of “Washington elites” said the country and the economy are headed in the right direction, while roughly 25 percent of the general population said they felt that way.  Read more at www.politico.com

 

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Heros call-Irena Sendler

Recently, Irena was up for the Nobel Peace Prize ... She was not selected.

However, Al Gore won, for a slide show on Global Warming and Barack Obama won for a speech on peace.

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One Marine's View: Hero's Call-Irena Sendler

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The Chief is always right

The Chief is always right