Thursday, June 30, 2005

Ward Churchill is a nitwit

Something most people know but he seems to keep on proving it. In his latest foray into idiocy, he, at a forum in Portland Oregon said,

"For those of you who do, as a matter of principle, oppose war in any form, the idea of supporting a conscientious objector who's already been inducted in his combat service in Iraq might have a certain appeal. But let me ask you this: Would you render the same level of support to someone who hadn't conscientiously objected, but rather instead rolled a grenade under their line officer in order to neutralize the combat capacity of their unit?"

For more information including a transcript of his entire speech go here.

I am a first amendment advocate without exception. Justice Holmes said that yelling fire in a theater was beyond the protection. Churchill is advocating murder. While it is true that most military personnel would probably rather frag Churchill there are always a few.

Saturday, June 25, 2005

Awful Movie

I went and spent money to see Bewitched. I should have known better. Anything with Will Ferrell in it had to be awful but I looked past him to the rest of the cast and thought how bad could it be. It was worse. One of the worst movies I have seen in recent years, and I have seen some stinkers. It was said seeing Nicole Kidman stand around and watch Ferrell act like an idiot. It was embarassing.

So note to all readers. Skip this one.

Tuesday, June 21, 2005

Another Book

Another book that I finished recently was Bill Bryson's A Short History of Almost Everything. This was a very interesting examination of how the universe works but in layman's terms, i.e. no math. He also spends a good deal of time discussing the lives of some of the seminal scientists who lived before the 20th Century, and many of them were down right odd.

Saturday, June 04, 2005

Great Books

There are a couple of books that I have read recently that have really clarified my view of the world. The first is The Pentagon's New Map by Thomas P. M. Barnett. He is a long time security policy wonk who has developed a view of international security concerns that makes sense to me. He states that the world has divided itself into an "Integrated Core" and the "Gap." The intigrated core are those parts of the world that have joined the global economy and have become in effect a part of a larger economic system that requires peace and the rule of law to function. The gap is what's left and has been largely left out of the process and is the source most international security concerns. Today the main visible arena for this is the middle-east but it could be any where in the gap. The only way to solve these problems are in the end to integrate these areas into the Core.

Barnett's book really made sense to me in regard to international relations and security. I am just finishing Thomas Friedman's The World is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-First Century. This book dovetails almost perfectly with Barnett's, though I am not sure that either of them would think so. What Friedman does is explain how the core integrates and how it works on a micro as well as a macro level. As I read the book I kept saying (to myself to avoid being considered a nutcase by my fellow Delta passengers) "So this is how the core works!"

You should all read both books right now. If you think I'm nuts say so and we can discuss it.