Archive for March, 2007

Having it Both Ways


Posted by Bruno on March 22nd, 2007

This is hilarious:
Justice spokesman Brian Roehrkasse disputed the rankings. He said more than half of prosecutions involve immigration or drug offenses, so it is “no surprise” that numbers are higher along the Southwest border.
Shorter Justice Department: “The attorneys were fired because they didn’t prosecute enough immigration cases.”
Shorter USA Today: “3 of the 8 attorneys were [...]

Making Distinctions


Posted by Bruno on March 22nd, 2007

I think David Brooks has the right idea in trying to distinguish among the eight US attorneys who were recently fired, but I think he’s wrong about which ones go in which boxes:
When you look at the prosecutors who were fired by the Bush administration, you see some who were fired for proper political reasons [...]

Classic Rock Redux Redux


Posted by Bruno on March 21st, 2007

Sweet. My CD collection is once again hip, as a new generation of 14-year-old guitarists learns the genius of banging out “Comfortably Numb”:
Classic rock may be their parents’ soundtrack, but teens like Lawrence are making it their own. They’re tuning into classic-rock radio, wearing vintage tour shirts and putting their own spin on the [...]

Gore vs. the Bureaucrats


Posted by Bruno on March 21st, 2007

I’m sure that Drudge, Limbaugh, and the other right-wingers who attacked Al Gore’s “hypocritical” power consumption at his Tennessee home will rally to his side now that it’s been revealed that onerous local regulations prevented him from installing solar panels on his roof.
It’s clear that the city of Nashville hates freedom, and wants to tell [...]

If it’s common knowledge that at one point Lybia was targeting U.S. diplomats, then this tidbit from the Times’ profile of departing hawk Robert Joseph seems pretty juicy:
Inside the White House, he drafted a new policy for aggressively pursuing trade in unconventional weapons, one that goes far beyond export controls. It became the “Proliferation Security [...]

The Economics of Waiting on Warming


Posted by Bruno on March 20th, 2007

As the Professor has often noted, corporate liability concerns will drive the global warming debate:
“What businesses need to move forward is a mandatory policy that finally will address the global financial risk of climate change,” Mindy S. Lubber, Ceres president, said in an interview. “It’s very hard for businesses to act without certainty.”
(via Autopia, which [...]

Lost in the Woods


Posted by Bruno on March 20th, 2007

Win some, lose some.
Anyone headed down to Mt. Rainier — be careful! From what I can tell, the park’s infrastructure was badly damaged in last December’s storms. Much of it won’t re-open for months or, given the backlog of NPS maintenance projects, probably years.

Opportunity Costs


Posted by Bruno on March 20th, 2007

For the first time in decades, the 82nd Airborne no longer has a brigade on ready alert:
FORT POLK, La., March 14 — For decades, the Army has kept a brigade of the 82nd Airborne Division on round-the-clock alert, poised to respond to a crisis anywhere in 18 to 72 hours.
Today, the so-called ready brigade is [...]

Obama Ad


Posted by Bruno on March 20th, 2007

I think this much-lauded mash-up of Obama and Apple’s “1984″ ad is actually pretty uninspired. Apple ad mash-ups are a close second to Star Wars mash-ups in the web-geek-cliche category (though the stabbing at Leia’s party is pretty funny).
That said, it’s a testament to the pervasiveness of YouTube that the video’s gotten [...]

Matthews on Iraq


Posted by Bruno on March 20th, 2007

I have to say, I think Chris Matthews comes off pretty well in this 2003 Weekly Standard gloat-fest:
“This invasion of Iraq, if it goes off, will join the Bay of Pigs, Vietnam, Desert One, Beirut, and Somalia in the history of military catastrophe. What will set it apart, distinguishing it for all time, is the [...]


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