Awesome pieces on CBS Sunday morning. My favorite was the one on Music’s Ending Power.
Discuss.
by John Cole| 25 Comments
This post is in: Previous Site Maintenance
Awesome pieces on CBS Sunday morning. My favorite was the one on Music’s Ending Power.
Discuss.
by Tim F| 15 Comments
This post is in: Excellent Links, War
If you don’t know about it, the annual TED talks program has a vaguely creepy Ayn Rand/Mensa club-of-supergeniuses vibe to it, but I have to admit that the eclectic speakers list includes some truly excellent talks. For example, this 2005 presentation by military strategist Thomas Barnett covers the same ground that us blogs have hashed over for years, yet somehow he packs in three four major ideas that hadn’t occurred to me before, or at least not as clearly. And it’s funny. Give it a listen and see whether you agree.
Also – Al Gore speaking in 2006. Guess the topic!
by Tim F| 6 Comments
This post is in: Science & Technology
Via Andrew Sullivan, new research shows that sparrows prefer classical music. This struck me as especially cool since my very first research experiment involved testing more or less the same question on goldfish. I still feel some pride recalling that middle school me figured out triplication and independent metrics (I measured the # of times they changed direction per minute and its response when you tap the bowl. panic meant that the fish was unhappy) without too much supervision.
Has anybody hashed out yet whether publishing a blog post counts as publishing per se? Sure, why not. So without further ado, published for the first time! The music preferences of domestic carp: Classical (Beethoven’s 9th) > 80’s pop (Once in a Lifetime, Talking Heads) > classic rock (Start Me Up, Stones) > hard rock (Mr. Brownstone, GnR) > rap (Nightmare on my street, DJ Jazzy Jeff and Will Smith). The fish really didn’t like rap. Loudness was controlled by taping down the volume knob. You’ll have to imagine my pre-Excel bar graph.
The CV has already been updated.
Classical Music Surprisingly Popular With AnimalsPost + Comments (6)
by Tim F| 43 Comments
This post is in: War
Captain Ed is right, Lt. Gen. Sanchez delivered a blistering broadside that covered more than just executive branch Republicans. Congress and the press, whose rocky relationship with Lt. Gen. Sanchez clearly left a bitter taste in his mouth, also get their share of abuse. Read the entire speech here.
When you’re done, browse the extensive list of retired generals who have already put their opinions on record (via).
***Update***
Useful context from Iraq vet John Bruhns.
***Update 2***
Vis email, video of the Sanchez speech.
by John Cole| 78 Comments
Someone else needs to be condemned:
In a sweeping indictment of the four-year effort in Iraq, the former top American commander called the Bush administration’s handling of the war incompetent and warned that the United States was “living a nightmare with no end in sight.”
In one of his first major public speeches since leaving the Army in late 2006, retired Lt. Gen. Ricardo S. Sanchez blamed the administration for a “catastrophically flawed, unrealistically optimistic war plan” and denounced the current “surge” strategy as a “desperate” move that will not achieve long-term stability.
“After more than fours years of fighting, America continues its desperate struggle in Iraq without any concerted effort to devise a strategy that will achieve victory in that war-torn country or in the greater conflict against extremism,” Mr. Sanchez said, at a gathering here of military reporters and editors.
General Sanchez is the most senior in a string of retired generals to harshly criticize the administration’s conduct of the war. Asked following his remarks why he waited nearly a year after his retirement to outline his views, he responded that that it was not the place of active duty officers to challenge lawful orders from civilian authorities. General Sanchez, who is said to be considering a book, promised further public statements criticizing officials by name.
“There was been a glaring and unfortunate display of incompetent strategic leadership within our national leaders,” he said, adding later in his remarks that civilian officials have been “derelict in their duties” and guilty of a “lust for power.”
The White House had no initial comment.
I blame the Democrats.
by John Cole| 84 Comments
This post is in: Cat Blogging
Not sure how much I am going to be blogging this weekend, so I thought I would leave you with this, which was mailed in from one of our readers:
I think it is time to resurrect Friday catblogging here.
by John Cole| 99 Comments
This post is in: Blogospheric Navel-Gazing
Via the Great Orange Satan, this:
Ad Campaign Criticizes Pro-Life Members of Congress for Voting against Children’s Health Insurance
Washington, DC- Catholics United will launch a radio advertising campaign targeting ten members of Congress whose opposition to the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) have compromised their pro-life voting records.
The ads, which feature a mother urging her Congressional Representative to support SCHIP, will primarily air on Christian and talk radio stations from Monday Oct. 15 to Wednesday, Oct. 17 as Congress approaches a critical Oct. 18 vote to override President Bush’s veto of bipartisan SCHIP legislation.
“Building a true culture of life requires public policies that promote the welfare of the most vulnerable,” said Chris Korzen, executive director of Catholics United. “At the heart of the Christian faith is a deep and abiding concern for the need of others. Pro-life Christians who serve in Congress should honor this commitment by supporting health care for poor children.”
***The script for the radio commercial reads: “I’m the mother of three children, and I’m pro-life. I believe that protecting the lives our children must be our nation’s number one moral priority. That’s why I’m concerned that Congressman X says he’s pro-life but votes against health care for poor children. That’s not pro-life. That’s not pro-family. Tell Congressman X to vote for health care for children. Call him today at XXXX, that’s XXXXX.”
ATTN: Dan Riehl, Michelle Malkin, NRO, you have your marching orders. When the ad airs, it is your job to find out what you can about the woman reading the message. Some possible questions for you citizen journalists:
Is she really a woman?
What is her address and where can I find her house so I can drive by it?
Does she really have three kids?
Are they her kids?
Did she swap one in the hospital?
Is it possible she swapped one at the hospital?
Is she a good mother?
Is she really Catholic?
Does she go to church?
What was her last confession about?
Is she really pro-life?
Has she ever had an abortion?
Have her neighbors ever had an abortion?
Does she use birth control?
Has she ever done anything that could technically make her not Catholic? Not a good mother? Not pro-life?
And most important of all, what do her kitchen counters look like?
Have at it, you sick SOB’s.