And neither is Japan.

Somebody wrote:

"Germany and Japan are clear counterexamples, although they only occurred in the aftermath of horrible, full-scale wars (necessary in the German case) that we should hope not to replicate."

Neither Germany nor Japan are good parallels to Iraq. Both were (relatively speaking, in the case of Germany) homogenous cultures with a fair track record of democracy and Western political values. Iraq is composed of opposed ethnic groups and others who would probably prefer a theocracy. It's impossible to build a democracy from the outside unless you have something to work with on the inside.

Regarding the article, thanks to Glenn once again.

"Hordes of people who believe in their heart of hearts that the administration is led by such a nice, just and likable man that it couldn't possibly be guilty of anything worse than a little benign political calculation (just as the evangelical, Texas-swaggering Bush did for Red State loyalists, the urbane, charming and highly intelligent Obama possesses all the cultural markers of a good and decent person for Blue State loyalists, and thus simply can't be capable of anything malicious or destructive -- there's a reason Bill Maher tried to remind liberals: "He's your president, not your boyfriend"); "

--GG

"So about mid-day on Friday I abandoned my head-shaking, and instead held my head high."

-- Joan Walsh

And once again, thank you Glenn, for cutting through the BS.

Write a new book of scripture deifying Milton Friedman and Ayn Rand - it would be easier and more intellectually honest.

"In the long run we're all dead"

What Keynes meant: Sure, all markets will eventually self-correct in the long run (a position of neo-classicists) but "in the long run we're all dead."

Meaning: waiting for an economy to self correct is stupid, because it can be corrected a lot more quickly with government intervention.

"Can you imagine how fucked we'd all be if police departments, fire departments, courts, schools, water supplies, sewers, roads, bridges, etc were all operated in the same way and by the same people that today provide private health care insurance? It's a pretty chilling thought."

Excellent point. Would the libertarians and conservatives PLEASE move somewhere and enact their ideal utopia? We'll give you Arkansas and Louisiana as a test case + Texas if'n' yer nice about it.

poor on substance.

still has not abandoned "bipartisan negotiation" according to an update at Huffpo.

So much for Obama growing a pair.

Their legacy is papered over and they are given the honorary halo.

Novak did have some integrity especially re: Iraq (at least at first) But he is the granddaddy of the Bill O'Reilly breed of TV pundits.

I do hope you are correct. . . that the Obama-as-Chessmaster legend really holds. I am not counting on it.

If he passes a good bill, he won't lose.

Without mentioning John Gardner's Grendel?

Screw the chords.

Play melodies that you can hum. One note at a time. Have fun with it. Make nice sounds.

Drones are nice. Play an open string and whatever note sounds good to you. Have fun!

"It's a sad fact that that a lot of white supremists have co-opted celtic imagery and music as an example of a purely "white " culture, not unlike the cooption of Germanic mytholgy and symbolism by the nazis of the mid-20th century. Speaking as a descendant of Irish grandparents and a serious celtophile, I was seriously shocked anddisheartened to learn about the neonazi presence at local Scottish festivals and te like"

Funny. One of the best guitarists I've played Irish music with (in a band setting, not just messing around) was quite thoroughly Jewish.

Also an entertaining tidbit. One of the best up-and-coming Irish trad musicians of our generation, a guy named Josh Dukes, is black. He's also in the army. I dunno what that means, but it is an interesting data point.

Scottish pipe bands *do* have that faux military theme going on. . . .

Should have been "whom did I vote for."

Bigoted against gays? --> Check.

Unwilling to enact real health care reform? --> Check.

Unwilling to denounce abuses of civil rights in the name "security." --> Check.

Who did I vote for again??

Make more money (profits) by providing less product. Thus, healthcare does not fit into an Econ - 101 ideal world paradise envisioned by the Randroids. Since laissez-faire Randroidism is a religion, cognitive dissonance is happily not a problem for them.

But insurance companies are THE problem out here in the real world.

At least the administration of Notre Dame stuck to its guns and welcomed Obama to speak at graduation. They apparently understand that one of the purposes of higher education is to foster debate and critical thinking.

Bob Jones is reeducation camp, not a university.

tonight I'm having a burger with brown mustard

however it also has blue cheese on it

This has "win" written all over it. Bleu cheese is amazing on a good hunk of red meat.

No Michelle Bachman or Virginia Foxx gaffes today?

For roast beef sandwiches, horseradish cream spread blows any mustard out of the water.

For cooking, grey poupon.

For burgers, spicy anything is good.

Let Libertarians put anything within 100 miles of an ocean. Can anyone imagine the resultant pollution?

"I'm curious if anyone here is familiar with the work of ken Wilber and how atheists."

. . . Not sure where you were going with that, but anyway. . .

I've read a lot of Ken Wilber. IMO, he's an egotistical jackass masquerading as a spiritual authority. The following is an *independent* site hosting a lot of good criticism of Wilber and his ideas.

http://www.integralworld.net/

Cue wingnuts bitching about taxes, fruitflys, and the evils of science.