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November 28, 2004
Some thoughts on the EU...
The Treaty of Westphalia (roughly as important as Newton’s laws of motion, so it wouldn’t be bad to know something about it) formalized the concept of sovereignty. Basically, whatever a prince or principality did inside his borders was fair: none would gainsay it...
This thought still survives to the modern day, though the Second World War began its demise, it is rapidly becoming an obsolete concept--We send observes to elections all the time; we went into Iraq recently in part because Saddam had slaughtered “his own” people. Kosovo, Bosnia, East Timor: all these interventions took place in direct contravention of the principal of sovereignty. The world applauded...
Many of our friends on the right decry the European Constitution as destructive to sovereignty. This argument has always struck me as odd: the whole point of the thing was to destroy the sovereignty that was, and create something new, just like our own constitution did...
The thing is: within Europe, I see the model for a united earth-- in a way I don’t see within the US. Not that there is anything wrong with the US government, or constitution (far from!), but America Added territory by moving people into it and fencing things off. Not by working with pre-existing peoples and finding the common ground under which to form a new government...
If the Europeans, who have spent the last 1500+ years fighting each other can decide that they gain more as part of a collective government, then perhaps there is hope for India and Pakistan, China and Japan, certainly for South America. The end I see, if the European vision works, is similar movements around the world. Certainly not now! But soon in human terms. I’d love to be around 500 years from now to find out what we are like as a species, as a planet. We will probably have the Europeans to thank if humanity is more peaceful...
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November 24, 2004
Spider man! Spider man! No one does it like...
Yahoo! News - Israeli scientists spin first artificial spider's web
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November 23, 2004
Parking Trailers
slacktivist: Trailer Park Heroes
Posted by Andrew at 09:21 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
November 21, 2004
You’ve probably been wondering
where I’ve been these last few days. Elections, baby. I just can’t get enough. I had to do something between the US Presidential elections and the Iraqi elections, and what could be more fun than School Elections?
So, I signed on with This Group for the duration. The Forces of Darkness (Student FOCUS and LEAD) were arrayed against us. The Davis College Republicans had a phone bank operation to get one of their own in. A phone bank for a college election for gods’ sake! (By the way: never ask a college republican if they’ve been inside Karl Rove’s Secret Volcano Lair. Republicans have no sense of humor about these things.) Student Focus illegally campaigned in the dorms. LEAD, well LEAD wanted to give away wireless broadband to the entire city-- regardless of the fact that we are about to be audited by the IRS...
The bad guys out organized us, out cheated us, and out stupided us. We learned an important lesson: it’s harder to mobilize a base of Stoners, slackers, and hippies than it is to get the frosh and Jocks out to vote. But if Grad students could vote, we woulda won...
Anyway, next time, we are thinking of running candidates on a new slate: Citizens Helping Energize Aggie Thought
Posted by Andrew at 11:16 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
November 19, 2004
Brand: Democrat
Brand Democrat | Oliver Willis
I really dig the "equal pay..." one...
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November 17, 2004
When nuclear nations withdraw troops...
India pulls 1,000 troops from Kashmir - (United Press International)
It’s almost always a good thing. When that nation has been going head to head over the region it is now withdrawing troops from with another nuclear nation, it is ever better. I wish India all the luck in the world...
though, if India and Pakistan make each other glow, it might reduce the world’s future need for fossil fuels. So, you know, down side...
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November 13, 2004
Perfect
E Pluribus Unum: The Life of Joe Republican
Posted by Andrew at 06:10 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
November 12, 2004
Segregation still part of Alabama Heritage.
WSFA TV Montgomery, AL - Amendment Two recount likely for Nov. 29
With an amendment to delete segregation-era language from Alabama's Constitution headed toward defeat by a narrow margin, state officials say an automatic recount would likely be set for November 29th.
But talking about the Republican “southern strategy” is insulting, somehow. And of course, the Republican Party is not the home of the racists...
(BTW: bush won Alabama by 62%)
Posted by Andrew at 12:24 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
November 11, 2004
Interesting concept
10x10 / 100 Words and Pictures that Define the Time / by Jonathan J. Harris
I wonder how useful it will turn out to be? Basically, it performs hourly skims of the RSS feeds of the world’s new organizations, then culls out the most important 100 words. From there, you can click on a picture representing the word, and find out why it is important...
Posted by Andrew at 04:32 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
November 10, 2004
Ding dong Arafat’s gone!
BBC NEWS | Middle East | Veteran leader Yasser Arafat dies
I thought we’d have to drop a house on the bastard first. I wonder who will get his ruby slippers?
Posted by Andrew at 08:59 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
This is a nightmare.
Top News Article | Reuters.com
Seriously, this is exactly what I was afraid of. The man should have been fired for his “torture? Eh, not so bad” memo. Bush should have been fired for not firing him for it. Instead, well, we’re stuck in a country that condones torture. Democratic theory must be flawed somewhere: we can’t really be wicked enough to deserve this...
Posted by Andrew at 09:30 AM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
November 07, 2004
Funky
Ok, I’ve cleaned my kitchen, my living room has nothing non-sanitary in it, the garbage is tossed, there are no flowers in my apartment: what is that funky odor in my living room? I don’t want to cover it up, I want it gone. Thoughts?
Posted by Andrew at 09:02 PM | Comments (7) | TrackBack
Red Iraq
Reach out and sneer: Dem radicals speak to the Red States | The Register
After reading this article, it occurs to me that Blue America sees Red America the same way Red America sees Iraq:
A basically backward place full of nice people unable to destroy their own tyrants without our enlightened help. Also, the fact that they are unable to do this imperils our safety as much as it imperils their own. Perhaps this is why we are making no headway in either place...
Also, both places are dusty and full of oil. Weird, that...
Posted by Andrew at 07:54 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack
November 06, 2004
And so it begins.
U.S. Warplanes Target Fallujah (washingtonpost.com)
Remember: this is the battle that we’ve been ready to fight for weeks. But Bush wanted to wait until after the election. Scumbag plays domestic political games with soldier’s lives. And gets rewarded for it...
Good luck, guys. Make the islamo-fascists pay...
Posted by Andrew at 01:58 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
November 03, 2004
Things that make you think
Last night, I seriously considered pushing California into secession. I dismissed the notion-- Californian’s won’t die for Californian sovereignty. This idea, however, has merit...
Posted by Andrew at 08:48 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
Well, that sucked.
All right, 24hrs 46 minutes ago, I registered for classes, then headed on over to the Orwellian party. I was hoping it would be a victory for Kerry. Instead, well, we had a party party...
All right, 24hrs 46 minutes ago, I registered for classes, then headed on over to the Orwellian party. I was hoping it would be a victory party for Kerry. Instead, well, we had a party party...
It has been 10 years since we won an Election. Yeah, Clinton won a couple, but those were not based on the ideals of the Democratic Party, but rather on Clinton’s own Charisma. Part of the problem is that America doesn’t know who we are. This is our fault...
So, what do we stand for? I know what we stand for, if you voted for Kerry, you know what we stand for. But 51.6% of America doesn't know what we stand for. And no one but us is going to bother telling them...
So, this is an open thread. Tell me what the Democratic Party stands for. Give me a vision, and an example of a plan which furthers that vision. I’ll even start:
We stand for Fiscal sanity. We understand that government has certain obligations towards the citizens--
Schools, roads, and defense, to name a trio-- and those obligations must be paid for. Towards this end, we will try and roll back George Bush’s Tax cut. During flush times it might have made sense. Today, we are at war, and our people must make sacrifices so that our soldiers on the front can win-- and then have something worth coming home to...
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November 02, 2004
Public Service Announcement
To my Darling Sister: Happy birthday
What? Is there something _else_ happening today?
Please leave her a birthday wish Below...
Posted by Andrew at 11:17 AM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
November 01, 2004
Last Gasp
President Bush received a memo from one of his lawyers. That memo said that he could order torture-- despite US and international law-- because he was the commander in chief, and was thus above such things. President Bush then did not ask that lawyer to resign and never be seen again. Instead, he implemented the logic of that memo and decided that torture was ok. And so, I will be doing my bit to toss President Bush out on his ear...
President Bush used bad intelligence to decide to go to war in Iraq-- a war which I supported. Despite very good evidence that would have indicated otherwise, there were no Nuclear, Biological, or Chemical Weapons in Iraq. These things happen. Unfortunately, what also happened was that President Bush didn’t properly plan for the post-war period. As my Foreign Policy Prof put it today:
"What people want is:
-Electricity
-Running Water
-Jobs
They don’t understand how anyone who could so easily have taken the entire country can fail to provide these things”. My Professor (Who, in his grad-school days apparently had none other than Paul Wolfowitz as an advisor), declined to comment on why the Iraqis are by and large out of these things, but it’s probably the whole "they didn’t do any planning for the post-war period" thing. Such lack of foresight is indicative of massive incompetence, so I vote against him...
To me, this war is not so much about should we prosecute the war on Terror-- I am firmly in favor of it. The question is how do we prosecute this war. Senator Kerry has a proven record of drying up terrorist funding. He Wrote the book on stopping international crime-- many of the same techniques can be used to stop international terrorism...
President Bush, for all his good intentions, has helped Osama bin Laden look attractive to potential terrorists. Why on Earth would we stick with a proven record of failure, when we can have a proven record of success. On Tuesday 2 November, make the only choice that will stop terrorism, Vote for John Kerry.
Posted by Andrew at 05:43 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack