sdolloff's Xanga

bye by xanga

Sun, 14 Oct 2007 18:27:02 GMT

saying goodbye to xanga, using wordpress instead.

moved to: http://spencerd.wordpress.com/

CFR

Thu, 09 Aug 2007 01:10:01 GMT

reading an interesting book right now: The Shadows of Power : The Council on Foreign Relations and the American Decline.

I'm only about halfway through it right now. It's interesting to read, since it was published in 1988. I'm not a conspiracy nut, but i do believe that if you want the truth, follow the money. Another thing I believe: wars make a lot of money for some people.

Like Deadly Feasts,this is probably one of those books that, in some ways, I wish I hadn't read. Ignorance truly is bliss.

here's the link for it on Amazon

Is it worth it?

Wed, 01 Aug 2007 02:58:19 GMT

"The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office provided an analysis for long-term war costs. It estimated that if troops in Iraq and Afghanistan were reduced to 75,000 over the next five years and stayed at that level through 2017, it would cost the U.S. Treasury $845 billion over the 10-year period."

How comforting. I guess we have that kind of money to blow. Too bad we don't seem to have that kind of money for anything for OUR country anymore.

Wow.

Read the whole article here.

Fox Nutwork

Thu, 26 Jul 2007 01:39:46 GMT

had to share this:

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2007/7/24/184250/101

Just wondering

Mon, 23 Jul 2007 01:51:41 GMT

If a dem presidential candidate had their picture taken with a person holding a poster that lumped a terrorist together with repub candidates, what would be the reaction? I'm guessing that there would be total outrage, the media would pick up on it, and the candidate (who was also shown HOLDING the sign) would be pretty disgraced.

hmmm................

courtesy of http://www.tmz.com/2007/07/21/mitt-catches-s-t-over-hillary-bashing-sign/

Great Question......

Sat, 07 Jul 2007 17:31:21 GMT

Will the Press Keep Pressing for Answers?

Among the questions that Bush, Cheney and others should be facing:

* Does the president approve of Libby's conduct?

* On whose behalf did Libby act?

* Did the White House make any sort of a deal with Libby or his defense team?

* What did Bush know and when did he know it?

* When did he find out that Karl Rove and Libby had both leaked Plame's identity? Before or after he vowed that any leakers would be fired? Did anyone lie to him about their role? Why didn't he fire them?

* How does the conduct of his aides comport with Bush's vow to restore ethics to the White House? How does the commutation?

* What factors did the president take into account in deciding to commute the sentence?

* What does the president consider an appropriate punishment for perjury and obstruction of justice?

* What was Cheney's role in the commutation?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2007/07/03/BL2007070301366_pf.html

Update:

this article was so good, i had to add it

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/08/opinion/08sun1.html?_r=2&hp=&pagewanted=all&oref=slogin

big surprise

Wed, 04 Jul 2007 02:46:45 GMT

not really. I think most people who followed the case figured bush would pardon libby. The only surprise was how soon he did it. I believe this is good, as it gives a simple and clear view of the bush presidency.

For example, most people don't even know what watergate was about, they just know that nixon was crooked. The same thing will be true of bush.

The "FREE Market"

Fri, 29 Jun 2007 22:18:10 GMT

I've been thinking about the rightwing and their fixation on the "free market." I am all for capitalism, but I believe it must be tempered by laws and governing, or the robber baron situation, among others, will rear it's ugly head in a massive way. But when you take the right's argument to TV and radio, for instance, it shows the stupidity of their Lasse' Fair(sp?) attitude. For example, if you believe in the "free market", then you believe that television stations should be able to show whatever they want at whatever time they want. If the public shows up to watch pornagraphy on a public channel, then so be it, right? Howard Stern is a great example. Since Stern attracted such a big audience by salicious sexual content, and other gross items, shouldn't that be OK with the "free market" guys?

are the righties upset with fact that the FCC was after stern? After all, wasn't his show a great example of the "free market?"

Another example of rightwing hypocrisy.

Interesting piece

Sat, 16 Jun 2007 01:27:37 GMT

on Iraq from Christopher J. Fettweis, an assistant professor of national-security affairs at the U.S. Naval War College, who wrote this article for the Los Angeles Times.

"The endgame in Iraq is now clear, and it appears that the heavily favored United States will be upset. Once support for a war is lost, it is gone for good; there is no example of a modern democracy having changed its mind once it turned against a war. So we ought to start coming to grips with the meaning of losing in Iraq.

The consequences are likely to be profound, throwing American politics into a downward spiral of bitter recriminations the likes of which it has not seen in a generation. It will be a wedge that politicians will exploit for their benefit. The Vietnam syndrome divided this country for decades; the Iraq syndrome will be no different."

read the whole article: http://www.startribune.com/562/story/1244295.html

Friday, June 08, 2007

Fri, 08 Jun 2007 12:15:45 GMT

I've been noticing a peculiar phenomenom lately......many die-hard bush supporters are now jumping ship. No, they're not admitting what a mess his admin is, and all the various scandals and failures. No, the "official" line now is that he's not conservative "enough." LOL

This fits a pattern that I have noticed over the years about republicans in general, especially the hard-core rightwing:

If you mess up, it's someone else's fault. It simply could not be a fault in your policy, it's just that the policy wasn't extreme enought, hence the failure.

Yes, the rightwing is a pretty scary bunch. More so than ever, even with the failure of the bush presidency. They just get more extreme.