while shiites and sunni representatives working on iraq's draft constitution may be able to agree on much, it appears both groups are on the same page on at least one issue. they both wanna dump the requirement by which women are guaranteed 25% of the seats in iraq's national assembly. they've obviously learned more than we might have realized from american politics cuz these guys got the whole majority vs minority anti-quota schtick down pat. check this out: "Since men and women are...

it's not often i'm able to applaud the words and/or actions of republican party officials (sad, cuz i can remember a time when it happened much more frequently).   as of thursday, i found myself doin it for the second time in two days on 7/14/2005 (thursday  in other words), in a speech delivered to this year's annual naacp convention in milwaukee, republican national committee chief ken mehlman came clean bout one of the party's dirty lil not-so-secrets.    ...

consider this part 3 of an ongoing lewis carroll-inspired peek at events and policies through the looking glass (parts 1  Link   and 2 Link .) if karl rove did nothing illegal or innapropriate as regards novak's announcement that valerie plame worked for the cia and was married to ambassador joe wilson, wouldn't it have been easier on everyone if he'd stepped up to a microphone 2 years ago and let us know that was the case?  as one of gwbush's closest associates (if no...

this is the second of what may easily become a series of observations predicated on the possibility the 'real life' we're living is actually the product of lewis carroll's imagination as he pens a new work entitled 'washington through the looking glass'.    new york times reporter, judy miller, is spending her first night as an involuntary guest of the federal detention center in alexandria, va., after being held in contempt of court by us federal district justice thomas hogan ...

although that headline might seem to be a clash between plural and singular, the subject of that title isn't plural (like more than one liberal) but the singular word 'liberals'.     how does it disengage brains?   i dunno.  it has something to do with its use as the subject of a simple sentence.  as in 'liberals _________________________  a normal brain will then make the effort to fill in the blank with a predicate and pos...

this is over a week old but it blew me away--especially after seeing gwb last night explaining how iraq (which the cia reportedly has now designated as the main global location for training and motivating islamic terrorists) is so crucial to the war on terror. apparently the opinions of the rest of the world (or parts of it anyway) and international law really do matter--much more that previously acknowledged--to  this administration and its new cia director.   time ...

a suggestion which occured to me while perusing current article titles.

i'm guessing most of yall have read 'alice in wonderland' or seen the disney translation and will remember the croquet game in which the rules were constantly being redefined according to royal whim? the progression that led to our current quandry in guantanamo proves that life imitates art. first of all, let's consider how it is we have a base in guantanamo...and how it became a prison.  after 'liberating' cuba from its spanish colonial masters, the us forced (as in there ...

the argument that we invaded iraq in order to take advantage of its oil resource cannot meet the results test.  nobody is benefitting much from iraqi oil because it iraq is only producing slightly more than half the oil it did prior to the invasion.  even if seen as a consequence of (or even more evidence for) an abysmal lack of planning by the administration, the fact is we're being hurt rather than helped. we?  well not all of us. to keep us from goin...

the united states senate showed its true pitiful self yesterday when it permitted a democratic minority to prevail in a symbolic gesture and pass a resolution that effectively ended senate tolerance of a tradition dating back to precolonial times.  in so doing, they slammed the door shut,  effectively denying  millions of deserving ameicans any chance of achieving parity with a grossly over-represented--and dismaying ungrateful--ethnic minority group. 42 of the 44 democrats in the senate (in ...

in a thread of another article by  the very astute Sean Conners, a.k.a. SConn1   Link    there's been an ongoing sidebar discussion turning on the question of what constitutes a bonafide plan.  i found an article that seems germane to that conversation located here:  Link   rather than dump what's turned into a lotta text onto mr. conners excellent post, i'll overload my own blog.  the article in question was published on 9/12/0...

how horrible is this:  little physically and mentally abused two-year-old conjoined iraqi quadruplets forced by demonic mullahs to rip pelts off cute lil live bunnies every 2 seconds for 14 hours a day using only their teeth. if that ain't bad enuff, if even just one american won't publicly praise every homosexual whenever passing them in the halls, a new law will permit howard dean to double taxes of the 1000 richest americans ...

to: all supporters of our  president's counter-revolutionary determination to assume to his office and himself monarchist powers against which--and from which to free us forever--this nation's founders fought and died. re:  the absurd incongruity of officially abrogating all relations with terrorist state syria while simultaneously utilizing syria as a backchannel instrument with which to perpetrate our own brand of s...

talk about irony.  since assuming office as 'determinator of even the most crypto anti-semiticism' and being granted the power to view into all mens' hearts and see the moral rot therein,  moderateman has been unrelenting in sniffing out and denouncing as 'jew haters' anyone who dares criticize policy implemented by the civil government of israel. so it is that his most recent screed (featuring introductory actual anti-semitic quotes attributed to h...

altho i can't recall ever feeling anything but creeped out by george hw bush,  his wife, barbara, always seemed to me a pleasant, down-to-earth very likeable woman.  i could never imagine what she could have seen in her husband nor how much alcohol she musta had to imbibe in order to mother his children.  speaking of which, i never...ever...thought badly of her for bringing them into the world.  after all, that was something she's hadda live with for over  half century.&...