Independents Day

2004-02-24T08:18:00.000-05:00

North Dakota's young people are leaving despite a healthy economy, this USA Today article says. I can relate, I was one of those kids once. The article does a good job of laying out some of the good things that are happening in the state as well as the challenges they face in stabilizing the population.

I've always thought that the way to hold people would be to steal a page from some of the New England or European towns and build charming places -- I love my hometown, but to the outsider does not begin to compare with even the below average towns in Vermont or Maine. Part of that is inevitable -- North Dakota doesn't have mountains or oceans to build around -- but not all of it. The Great Plains can be beautiful, after all. Somehow, North Dakota needs to use its natural assets to create a mystique -- a unique and desirable lifestyle that will carve out a spot for the plains in the American psyche.

Why not have community beer gardens in every small town as a community gathering place rather than dark smokey windowless bars? Surround communal tables with a few small pubs and restaurant kitchens, and give people a reason to reconnect with their community. Put a big open pit fire in the middle to keep out the cold. Let the kids run amok in the aisles.

Why stop there? Build a reputation for the best locally brewed beers in the nation (using locally grown barley). Bread and pasta are other products that are made out of raw ingredients grown in the state -- why isn't North Dakota known for them? Why are jello salads and lutefisk the only dishes the state is known for?

2004-02-11T14:37:00.000-05:00

Centerfield is being berated by a Bush fan who says that too many "centrists" (me included) are reflexively going to vote for the Democrat, no matter who he is. This is a worthwhile bipartisan topic. (Where are the Bull Moose Republicans when you need them?)

2003-10-21T15:41:00.000-04:00

Progress exceeds prognostication in Iraq, according to the Christian Science Monitor. (Via Instapundit, or rather Instabackup.)

2003-10-09T09:44:00.000-04:00

TheStar.com - Bush and Blair refuse to look away from tyranny

Rosie DiManno puts into words what I've been trying very hard to articulate. (Via Instapundit)

2003-09-08T16:45:00.000-04:00

Amir Taheri is noting a trend toward freedom of speech, at least, in the Arab world. It's time for Arabs to step out of the shadows and assume the rights and responsibilities of free men -- that's the one sure way for them to throw off the shackles that have bound their culture for the last 500 years and achieve the respect they so crave. Our insistence on standing up to the Saddam's of the world is making this possible.

The fact that Howard Dean refuses to countenance the notion that this is a good thing is the main reason why I won't vote for him in 2004. (Via Instapundit.)

2003-09-04T20:40:00.000-04:00

Yet another reason to admire our men in uniform. (Via Instapundit)

2003-09-02T15:21:00.000-04:00

This Time article discusses Gerald Posner's "Why America Slept", which makes some interesting claims about the Saudi and Pakistani governments' involvement in al Qaeda. It sounds a bit too pat to be completely accurate, but may be worth adding to your conspiracy reading list.

2003-09-02T13:12:00.000-04:00

So much for the traditional pickled beet side dish...

2003-08-29T10:43:00.000-04:00

It's hard to believe today, but this Business 2.0 article on "The Coming Job Boom" suggests that it won't be hard to find a job forever.

2003-08-26T17:21:00.000-04:00

Jane Galt has some interesting points about the degree to which both parties pander to their bases. I think she's right about the party activists -- the Democratic Party's base is a nest of mutually contradictory factions, and it's impossible to keep all of them happy, while the Republicans have far fewer distinct groups to pacify. On the other hand, there are a lot of moderate Democrats (this author included) that are not activists and are not sufficiently attached to any of those core Democratic positions for them to be a litmus test, so I'm not sure how much it matters once you get out of the primary season. The key is to get a viable candidate who can survive the primary season and then appeal to those centrist Democratic voters.

2003-08-26T11:13:00.000-04:00

Oops. The BBC has egg on its screen. (Via Instapundit)

2003-08-15T15:15:00.000-04:00

The reason for the sudden urge to post was the flurry of conservatives complementing liberal blogs and liberals returning the favor. In this age of demonizing people who think differently than you do, such efforts are refreshing. Here are some of my favorite such lists:

Kevin Drum/Calpundit's Favorite Conservative Blogs

James Joyner/Outside the Beltway's Favorite Liberal Blogs

Dan Drezner's Favorite Liberal Blogs

Read all of these folks, and you might even have a "fair and balanced" (<- eat me, Fox) view of the world.

2003-08-15T15:05:00.000-04:00

Wow, you check back in after two-plus months of dormancy, and Blogger has a whole new look. Cool!

2003-06-12T15:31:00.000-04:00

I'm still out here! But I'm buying a house. And getting married. Hopefully posting will resume in July, though I'm going to look seriously at TypePad.

2003-04-30T12:39:00.000-04:00

Dan Drezner is feeling optimistic about the Middle East. While that feeling will no doubt pass, I do agree that there is a positive trend this month. That US troops are leaving Saudi Arabia and that Saudi Arabia's medieval political structure is beginning what will no doubt be a tumultuous reform process are as important to the long run success of the war on terrorism as any battles that have been or will be fought. From an American perspective, I've always thought that the strongest rationale for going to war with Iraq was simply to eliminate Saddam Hussein, the reason that our troops are in Saudi Arabia and for the sanctions on Iraq. That's not something the international community cares about, hence the increasingly dubious WMD pretext the war was fought under, but I suspect it's the real reason we went to war.

It's interesting that significant movement is taking place on all three of Osama bin Laden's major gripes with the US -- US troops will be out of the Muslim holy land, sanctions against Iraq will end, and the US will be a major mover in efforts to improve the lot of the Palestinians, who themselves may have a Prime Minister the Israelis can make a deal with. While I don't care about bin Laden's opinion or that of any other terrorist -- we should continue to hunt them down until we find their bodies -- there are many otherwise decent people in the Arab world who are sympathetic to these views, even if they don't support terrorism.

It bothers me that bin Laden might somehow be happy about some of these developments, but given that he's been driven deep into hiding and that his sharia state is but a dim and unpleasant memory for the Afghanis, I doubt he's breaking out the sparkling cider in his cave. (For the record, I think he's dead, but metaphorically speaking...)

2003-04-29T09:15:00.000-04:00

The BBC has assembled a useful who's who in postwar Iraq.

2003-04-18T22:17:00.000-04:00

Economics Weblogs Worth Checking on a Regular Basis

Jane Galt's Asymmetrical Information

Kevin Broncato's Truck and Barter

Arnold Kling

John Irons' ArgMax

Stephen Kirchner's Institutional Economics

Zimran Ahmed's WinterSpeak

Stephen Karlson's Coldspring Shops

Lynne Kiesling's Knowledge Problem

Don Luskin's Poor and Stupid

Brink Lindsey

James Picerno's Capital Spectator

2003-04-18T21:23:00.000-04:00

Brad DeLong cites an Economic Policy Institute study that notes that this recession is the worst of the postwar era in at least one respect: the amount jobs are below their peak two years after the recession. (Via ArgMax)

2003-04-18T20:52:00.000-04:00

New Democrats Online has an interesting article about how a lot of states are moving away from primaries and toward caucuses. Any move toward giving more power to the party insiders would be a disaster for the Democrats. As an independent who'll generally align with the Democrats if they put up a reasonably moderate candidate -- someone who is progressive but fiscally responsible -- I'm already discouraged by most of the party hacks who inhabit Congress. Put up one of those, and me and a lot of people like will end up sitting on our votes next year.

2003-04-10T00:21:00.000-04:00

On a day like today, where do you start?

With this...

Or this...

Or this...

Or just about any of these...

This is all well and good. The battle will soon be won. There's only one way to turn victory into defeat -- we are a nation with a notoriously short attention span. Let's follow through with whatever help is needed to turn Iraq into the great democracy it can be. Iraq can be the shining light of the Arab world, the city on a hill that part of the world sorely needs -- if we only get them started.

2003-04-03T19:48:00.000-05:00

Where do we find men like this? (Via everyone)

...Probably the same place that the Iraq gets men like this this. (Via The Command Post)

2003-03-31T13:14:00.000-05:00

One of the primary reasons for supporting the war is that the human cost of the economic sanctions far outweighs that of the war. As of right now, it's not even close -- official Iraqi claims seem to indicate several hundred civilians dead so far. Prior to the war, the Iraqis were claiming 1.5 million deaths from the sanctions -- that's 2500 or so dead every week. Three profs from the University of Chicago make the case more scientifically. (Via Winds of Change and also Dan Drezner and Instapundit)

2003-03-31T13:07:00.000-05:00

Several of the human shields have changed their tunes since reaching out and talking to the Iraqi people. Here's one's story. (Via Winds of Change)

2003-03-30T23:31:00.000-05:00

As of right now, I'm trying out NetNewsWire, an RSS reader and blog editor for Mac OS X. First impression: it's sweet.

2003-03-30T23:30:00.000-05:00

Bill Whittle doesn't write often, but often when he does it's an instant classic. Economists think in terms of opportunity costs, and sci-fi writers think in terms of what ifs -- In this clip-and-save essay, Whittle does a better job of putting those ideas in a historical context than anyone I've ever read. (Via GeekPress)

2003-03-27T20:07:00.000-05:00

The New York Times has an expansive obituary for Daniel Patrick Moynihan, an American original whose death has been unfairly eclipsed by the war. (Via Mickey Kaus)

2003-03-24T23:29:00.000-05:00

More chemical evidence -- not quite a smoking gun, but getting closer... (Via Command Post.)

2003-03-24T21:45:00.000-05:00

A little perspective. Think about where we were a week ago. (Via just about everyone.)

2003-03-24T21:39:00.000-05:00

This article by an Egyptian journalist is fascinating. (Via Command Post.)

2003-03-24T21:27:00.000-05:00

While it is somewhat dispiriting that our troops have not been welcomed more warmly, this suggests to me that the populace is not exactly rooting against them either. (Via Instapundit by way of Watch@Winds of Change)

2003-03-24T21:23:00.000-05:00

Here's yet another good news site (perhaps the best so far): The Command Post. And Winds of Change has added a useful Watch section.

2003-03-21T16:09:00.000-05:00

Anyone who has read this blog thus far may think I'm just another closet Republican. While I do believe that the world will be better after this war than it was before it, this is one of the reasons I am extremely distrustful of the Bush administration. This is economic mismanagement of a scale that is truly mind-boggling.

2003-03-21T11:12:00.000-05:00

Tacitus is worried, too. He's also doing a good job of war news coverage for those of us stranded in offices.

2003-03-21T11:07:00.001-05:00

I'm getting worried that this is a trap. There hasn't been much resistance, but not many surrenders either.

2003-03-21T11:07:00.000-05:00

More news: The Agonist

2003-03-21T06:47:00.000-05:00

More news sites: Jeff Jarvis is tracking war news (via Ken Layne).

2003-03-21T06:40:00.000-05:00

Comment I made at Matt Welch's blog which I want in my own archives:

I think one point which has not often been discussed is this: while the Al Qaeda-Saddam ties are tenous at best, Iraq absolutely, indisputably had something to do with 9/11 -- Iraq-related gripes formed almost all of the casus belli for action by the Islamofascist terrorists. Combine that with Saddam's many violations of the cease fire he signed with us, and you have a very strong justification for intervening as we are. Saddam may not have planned 9/11, but he was a large part of the reason it happened.

As I recall, there were three causes of Arab anger at the US that were cited post 9/11 -- US troops in Saudi Arabia, the effects of sanctions on the Iraqi people, and our role in Israel-Palestine. The first two are directly attributable to Iraq -- we wouldn't have troops in Saudi Arabia were it not for the need to defend it from Saddam, and the sanctions are the primary alternative to the current military action in terms of containing Saddam. (Aside: given that sanctions have apparently killed several hundred thousand people, the current approach doesn't look so bad for the Iraqis, at least not as I write this.) Of these two causes, we all know that the Saudi troop presence is what really put the bug up bin Laden's butt. Our efforts to contain Saddam have cost us dearly, and it's time that he go. Containing him was a complete, abject, disastrous failure. That won't make the terrorist threat disappear, of course, but it may at least hurt their recruiting.

2003-03-20T15:43:00.000-05:00

News coverage. Slate has a pretty comprehensive summary of the better news sites covering the war (Via Paul Boutin). Blogs of War is another frequently updated blog that generally keeps you up to date with the TV news.

2003-03-19T20:01:00.000-05:00

Time's up.

2003-03-19T19:56:00.000-05:00

As far as I'm concerned, this support is as meaningful as anything we'll get. Thanks, Kosovo. (Via Matt Yglesias)

2003-03-19T19:47:00.000-05:00

Woo-hoo! The inventor of the Internet just joined Apple! (Seriously, I'm a Mac user, and I voted for Gore in 2000, but what the hell...?)

2003-03-19T19:42:00.000-05:00

I was just listening to BBC, and they said that the false report on Tariq Aziz defecting was likely caused by a false report on Debka.com. Interesting how a blog can throw all of the media universe into turmoil...

2003-03-19T16:28:00.000-05:00

Here's what seems to be a fairly up-to-the-minute warblog from InsideVC.

2003-03-19T12:46:00.000-05:00

This Edward W. Lempinen piece is a great summary of leftist reasons for supporting the war, and for making sure that we win the peace as well. (Via Instapundit.)

2003-03-18T23:31:00.000-05:00

And this Arab case for war is out of left field, but interesting, and could be trouble for the despots and fatcat sultans ruling much of the Middle East. Maybe al-Jazeera has decided it needs a better horse than bin Laden. (Via Nick Denton)

2003-03-18T23:23:00.000-05:00

Here is yet another great summation of the reasons this war is necessary. (Via Instapundit.)

2003-03-18T17:36:00.000-05:00

Who really armed Iraq?

2003-03-18T13:21:00.000-05:00

No wonder we can't get any support -- I thought the war had started. When you see the headline "US Bombards Iraqi Front Units", is this what you think?

2003-03-18T11:10:00.000-05:00

Right on time...

2003-03-18T09:52:00.001-05:00

Saddam Horror Story O' The Day
What France is supporting...

2003-03-18T09:52:00.000-05:00

Powell is a towering figure who even a Democrat might be proud to call President. This quote sums up what I believe American foreign policy has to be in the world we live in today:

We have gone forth from our shores repeatedly over the last hundred years and we've done this as recently as the last year in Afghanistan and put wonderful young men and women at risk, many of whom have lost their lives, and we have asked for nothing except enough ground to bury them in, and otherwise we have returned home to seek our own, you know, to seek our own lives in peace, to live our own lives in peace. But there comes a time when soft power or talking with evil will not work where, unfortunately, hard power is the only thing that works.

Why can't Democrats talk like that anymore? They used to...

2003-03-18T09:50:00.000-05:00

Tony Blair is Clinton without the moral failings.