Category: US Politics

The former head of counterterrorism at the National Security Council Richard A. Clarke, believe that the September 11 report is somewhat lacking. He proposes how the war on terrorism should really be fought: We need to expose the Islamic world to values that are more attractive than those of the jihadists. This means aiding economic…

Gerald Posner of the NYT asks the question, also posed by Unger and Moore. The report makes no mention that one of the Saudis on the flight that left Kentucky for Saudi Arabia was Prince Ahmed bin Salman. The nephew to King Fahd, Prince Ahmed was later mentioned to American interrogators in March 2002 by…

Amid all the criticism of Dublin’s new LUAS system, it turns out that a US city built a light rail system of about the same size, for about the same price. But was it worth it? The economist seems to think it might be. In Minneapolis a light rail was opened on June 26th, it…

Kevin Drum is hearing some buzz in Republican circles in Washington, but pretty much discounts Rice, saying that Bush-Cheney is much more likely. On another note, is Condi Rice a lesbian? A quick browse around reveals this popular story. I had an interesting chat about the idea with an editor from a big magazine and…

It appears that Best Buy might think that customers are no longer always right. I feel the same, in fact so would anyone that has worked in a service industry. Anyway, Slashdot links to the story that Best Buy is not happy with some of its customers – they rightly note that this may be…

Drum also mentions this interesting article from the editor of the Washington Monthly, written last year. This kind of insight into Washington politics is fascinating. Lobbying is a curious industry.

Update October 2005: This interview was done last year, but has recently come to light again. More details here. Carole Coleman, RTE Washington correspondent, has caused a mini-controversy after her interview with George Bush. You can watch the full interview with Real Player. John feels she was not up to the job. I am going…

Kevin Drum points to a funny story concerning Dick Cheney. According to congressional aides, [Sen. Patrick] Leahy said hello to Cheney following the taking of the Senate group photo on the floor of the chamber. Cheney, who is president of the Senate, then ripped into Leahy for the Democratic senator’s criticism this week of alleged…

The Boston Globe had a good editorial piece on the Star Wars project, worth a look. Instead of directing finite resources toward protecting America against likely threats, he is lavishing billions of dollars on a system that has not been tested under the realistic conditions that would obtain in the unlikely event America came under…

From Slashdot, looks like the US Navy has been busy, they plan to implement rail gun technology by 2011. DD(X) is in development by the Navy, Northrop Grumman Ship Systems, General Dynamics Bath Iron Works, Raytheon, Lockheed Martin and other firms. When the new ship arrives in service it will be armed with very advanced,…