Some months ago I wrote an article outlining why I thought that it was important that the middle east solve their terrorist problem themselves.  Let me postulate one example reason why. Imagine this scenario: New York, Fall, 2008. A suicide bomber team has smuggled into the United States a crude 8 kiloton nuclear device. Assembled in lower New Jersey, the team rents a boat and brings it into New York harbor and sets it off. The destruction kills 47,000 people and destroys much of Manh...

Just for the record - stockpiles of chemical or biological weapons were never the principle reason for the coalition to remove Saddam from power. But the lack of these stockpiles is something those who have opposed the war have, in my view, cynically jumped onto to argue that the war was unjustified (as if those who were in favor of removing Saddam were losing sleep over mustard gas). Anyway, they are apparently starting to find some of this stuff. For whatever it's worth.

Another excellent satire over at Right Wing News. Here's an excerpt: Mr. Ben-Gorelick: Mr. Lincoln, you took us to war two years ago and said it was to save the union. Lincoln: It still is. Mr. Ben-Gorelick: And yet - and I’ll put this text in the record - there’s not a single reference in this speech to saving the union. Lincoln: It’s implied. Mr. Ben-Gorelick: Not a single reference. Isn’t it a fact that you said in the speech, “dedicated to the proposition that all m...

This evening on the way back from my son's little league game I turned on NPR. I was greeted with an incredibly sympathetic report on a Mexican immigrant who was on death roll for his roll in double homicide commited during an armed robbery. The report gave air time to every member of his family. Father, mother, sister, etc. It provided a sound bite from his attorney and talked about all the support he had received from various organizations. Missing from the report was a single word or me...

This was over at Right Wing News today. Thought it was hilarious. Here's an excerpt. Read the whole thing at the link below. Dan Koppel: I'm your announcer Dan Koppel here with my co-hosts Peter Brokaw and Laurie Malkin. It's late in the third quarter and the Damascus Jihadis have the LA Lakers on the ropes. It has been a dominating performance by the Jihadis... Peter Brokaw: You said it Dan! Nothing has gone right for the Lakers tonight and coach Phil Jackson's gameplan is the likely c...

The underlying model and algorithms for The Political Machine are pretty good. Ultimately, the model is a mishmash of polling data from dozens of sources combined with demographic data. What, I think makes The Political Machine special is that it makes heavy use of demographic data rather than just looking at polls. What that means, fundamentally, is that at the end of the day, conservatives tend to vote for Republicans and liberals tend to vote for Democrats and once you understand that, it's ...

Here's a great article I found that really talks about just how absurd the situation is where people go from one day feeling great anguish about the abuse of POWs to the next day wanting to "turn the whole place into a parking lot" due to changes in events. The fact is, there are villains in any military or any organization. But there are also real monsters out there. Some people villify the United States. But what they don't seem to recognize is that there are real monsters that lurk out the...

This whole war on terror thing seems rather all over the place doesn't it at times? What does Iraq have to do with 9/11? Americans asked the same questions in 1942 when Americans were attacking French soldiers in North Africa -- what did France have to do with Pearl Harbor? Wars only seem neat and tidy in hindsight. Only when all the facts and information are publicly available after the events are over can the tangled web of a global strategy be made to make sense. This war is no exceptio...

If I were trying to model what it takes to become a world power in a competitive strategy game these would be the key factors I'd use: A single contiguous common market (currency, language, culture) A large population Abundant natural resources A free press Sufficient access to the ocean Relatively low tax rates (limited government) Relatively few impediments to starting a business Strong property rights laws (both physical and intellectual property) Light...

The problem I have with the anti-war crowd, particularly those who are on-line, is that I find them intellectually dishonest. When someone tries to say "Bush lied about WMD" or that the invasion of Iraq was largely because we believed Saddam had stockpiles of WMD they are really being dishonest. But dishonesty in debate is, sadly, a regular occurrence. But when it comes to blogging, blogs can be re-read from the time frame.  And those who favored going into Iraq have been consistent in th...

Saw this at www.instapundit.com regarding an article in Today's Telegraph (UK), hardly a bastion of right-wing propaganda. At least $1.1 billion was paid directly into UN coffers, supposedly to cover the cost of administering the $67 billion scheme, while Saddam Hussein diverted funds intended for the poor and sick of Iraq to bribe foreign governments and prominent overseas supporters of his regime. . . . Although the UN Security Council approved the plan to levy a 2.2 per cent commissi...

John Kerry keeps talking about "Internationalizing" the war in Iraq. In a speech he put it quite plainly: "The United States is bearing 90% of the military and financial burden in Iraq."  His assertion is that "Bush's go it alone policies" have created this situation. And Kerry is wrong, the US is "only" bearing roughly 75% of the total burden militarily (I don't have the exact figure and the number changes by a few percent but if you add the UK + Poland + Japan + Ukraine + Australia, + ...

Bush 2000/Bush 2004 African-Americans: 8%/11% Whites: 54%/58% Hispanic: 41%/44% Married: 53%/56% Not Married: 38%/40% Union Members: 37%/40% Gays: 25%/23% Gun Owners: 61%/67% Protestants: 63%/59% Jewish: 19%/25% Catholics: 45%/52% Republicans: 91%/93% Democrats: 10%/11% Men: 51%/55% Women: 43%/48% 18-29 year olds: 46%/45% 30-44 year olds: 49%/53% 45-59 year olds: 49%/51% 60+ 47%/54%

Wallstreet Journal read Rob Steele writes some advice for the Demorats on how they can win the next election: Dear Democrats, While you think about how to do better next time, please stay true to your core values and feelings. Don't restrain your anger; part of your problem in this election was that you didn't put it out there enough. If other Americans understood how truly mad you are it would make more of an impression. You need to try harder to make them see that you're smarter a...

Controlling land is meaningless but it is still telling the way non city voters tend to vote. Courtesy of USA Today