Posts from — March 2006

From Pensacola Beach Blogger I learned that my state senator, Charley Clary, thinks landlords need two months rent for nothing.

A lot of the people in my area are in the military and they are subject to being deployed on minimum notice. Because there isn’t enough housing on the bases, they have to rent and the housing allowance has not kept pace with the increases caused by hurricanes.

Right now, to move in you need around $300 for utility deposits plus first and last months’ rent and a security deposit. To move into the duplex at the end of my street, that amounts to almost $5,000.

This is getting obscene, and the troops are already getting screwed over locally because of the tight rental market.

Charley, your Momma brought you up better than that.

Via Avedon the anthem for progressives from the Dixie Chicks.

They were right. They spoke their minds. They were attacked.

The chickenhawks have not apologized for being wrong, so they don’t deserve forgiveness.

Last night Gideon Rose, the editor of The Foreign Affair Journal, was on the BBC talking about an article in the magazine that outlines what was occurring in Iraq during the run-up and invasion of the country.

Saddam’s Delusions: The View from the Inside

Summary: A special, double-length article from the upcoming May/June issue of Foreign Affairs, presenting key excerpts from the recently declassified book-length report of the USJFCOM Iraqi Perspectives Project.

Kevin Woods is a defense analyst in Washington, D.C. James Lacey is a military analyst for the U.S. Joint Forces Command. Williamson Murray is Class of 1957 Distinguished Visiting Professor of History at the U.S. Naval Academy. Along with Mark Stout and Michael Pease, they were the principal participants in the USJFCOM Iraqi Perspectives Project.

The short version is that Iraq under Saddam had a lot in common with the Soviet Union under Stalin. The leader was considered a “super-hero” who could do no wrong, and who lived in a bubble created by sycophants.

For some reason I’m reminded of someone else. I see a lot of leaves in the memory. Hmmm…

When I upgraded to Firefox’s latest version I lost my favorite plug-in, the Spellbound spelling checker for comments and forms.

Thus, I am thrilled that Rook discovered the Spellbound development version which works with the latest version.

Be advised that it is a “beta” version, so there’s no guarantee of stability, but no problems so far.

Eta, the current iteration of Basque separatists, have announced a permanent ceasefire in their decades old war against the Spanish government.

If it holds this is excellent news for the people in Spain.

Having acquired a certain level of expertise with rugs from hanging around the Med and other places, the carpets in the picture accompanying the article look to be in the new car range, i.e. they are individually worth a new car.

Of course, I’d have to inspect them to be sure, but if you are out on the West Coast and looking for something for your spare bedroom, expect five-figure winning bids.

The cost estimates are now up to over a billion dollars, as more of the damage is accessed. Banana and sugar cane plantations as well as rain forests were flattened by the winds.

NPR is waking up in its coverage as witnessed by the remarks about the Shrubbery in Ohio. One of the people in the audience asked about the claims that were used to justify the invasion of Iraq and the NPR reporter points out how the Shrubbery avoids actually answering the question, and reframes the question in his response.

Culture Ghost has been running a parade of posters that’s a hoot.

In her Spring article Collective Sigh makes a great find: Archaeoastronomy.

In the Northern Hemisphere Belobog, the white god, has defeated Chernobog, the black god, and the sun waxes stronger.

Down here it’s time to get serious about raking live oak leaves, as they shed last year’s leaves when this years sprout.

There are approximately 400 people from New Orleans still missing, as well as hundreds from the Mississippi Gulf Coast. The remains of those washed out into the Gulf will probably never be found.

Public relations!? Is that the most we can expect from the executive branch of the world’s last superpower?

I just mentioned his attempt to actually get Congress to spend some money on homeland security and hurricane preparedness.

He is from a solid Democratic district, but we need people of experience in government to show the new people how things should be done, and how they once worked.

Other than living there, speaking the language, reading the local newspapers, and having friends and relatives in the country, how could he know more than the Shrubbery’s incompetent circle of cronies?

Cronies like Donald Rumsfield who wrote in the Washington Post that the US leaving Iraq was the equivalent of giving Germany back to the Nazis after World War II.

Henry Kissinger, who served with U.S. forces in Germany at the end of World War II and who served as secretary of state under Republican Presidents Nixon and Ford, said the situations are not analogous.

“In Germany, the opposition was completely crushed; there was no significant resistance movement,” the German-born diplomat told CNN’s “Late Edition.”

Zbigniew Brzezinski, who served as national security adviser under President Carter, a Democrat, was less charitable.

“That is really absolutely crazy to anyone who knows history,” he said. “There was no alternative to our presence. The Germans were totally crushed. For Secretary Rumsfeld to be talking this way suggests either he doesn’t know history or he’s simply demagoguing.”

With respect Mr. Brzezinski have you considered the possibility that Rumsfeld is crazy, ignorant of history, and playing demagogue?