I didn’t think it was a great idea to invade Iraq, but choosing between Bush and Kerry and how they view America’s place in the word, the answer is that I unequiviably choose Bush. According to John Kerry, dying for the UN’s interests is supperior than dying for the United States’. From the Washington Post:

Kerry’s belief in working with allies runs so deep that he has maintained that the loss of American life can be better justified if it occurs in the course of a mission with international support. In 1994, discussing the possibility of U.S. troops being killed in Bosnia, he said, “If you mean dying in the course of the United Nations effort, yes, it is worth that. If you mean dying American troops unilaterally going in with some false presumption that we can affect the outcome, the answer is unequivocally no.”

I’m sorry, but usually I’m no as blunt as this, but I think this ad is complete bullshit. It is an obvious lie. If you are telling the truth, why not include a little specificity about the source of the pollution or the regulations that were changed, or anything.

And this ad is bullshit as well. How has Bush been dishonest? Please give me concrete examples, because I’m calling bullshit.

And here’s more bullshit. Tell us one issue please. Give us some examples, because right now I think you are an actress.

Now this ad isn’t bullshit, it is just insane. “We’re living in an era where to dissent is considered unpatriotic.” Are you nuts? Where are you living?

The Omaha Channel has some comments from Peter Jennings about media bias:

Jennings said the media is now under the hot lights.

“I’m a little concerned about this notion everybody wants us to be objective,” Jennings said.

Jennings said that everyone — even journalists — have points of view through which they filter their perception of the news. It could be race, sex or income. But, he said, reporters are ideally trained to be as objective as possible.

“And when we don’t think we can be fully objective, to be fair,” the anchorman said.

I’m glad that Jennings admits that everyone has biases. I just wish they would be more forthcoming with their biases. And they probably ought to hire more conservative and libertarians or their coverage will continue to be consistently slanted to the left.

In an earlier life with the same name, apparently I was Chief Yowlachie.

From MIT’s Enterprise Technology Review:

Gas turbines powered much of 20th-century technology, from commercial and military aircraft to the large gas-fired plants that helped supply U.S. electricity. But these days it isn

Is Osama bin Laden dead or alive. Check out the evidence from The Belgravia Dispatch.

If you were wondering if Jimmy Carter was sane, here’s evidence to the contrary from a recent appearance on Hardball with Chris Matthews:

MATTHEWS: Let me ask you the question about

The evidence is continuing to mount that Barry Bonds has used steroids. The San Francisco Chronicle explains:

Barry Bonds was using an “undetectable” performance-enhancing drug during the 2003 baseball season, his weight trainer claimed in a conversation that was secretly recorded last year and provided to The Chronicle.

Trainer Greg Anderson, 38, who is Bonds’ longtime friend and a defendant in the BALCO steroids conspiracy case, also said on the recording that he expected to receive advance warning before the San Francisco Giants superstar had to submit to a drug test under what was then baseball’s new steroids-testing program.

The recording is the most direct evidence yet that Bonds used performance-enhancing drugs during his drive to break the storied record for career home runs. Major League Baseball banned the use of steroids beginning with the 2003 season. It has long been illegal to use them without a doctor’s prescription.

“The whole thing is, everything that I’ve been doing at this point, it’s all undetectable,” Anderson said on the recording of the drug he was providing Bonds. “See the stuff I have, we created it, and you can’t buy it anywhere else, can’t get it anywhere else, but you can take it the day of (the test), pee, and it comes up perfect.”

I’m glad that this information is getting out. Barry Bonds will hit more home runs than The Babe, but it doesn’t matter because Bonds cheated. Barry Bonds is a great hitter, but he’s also a cheater.

Check out these books reviews by Henry Raddick. They are marvelous. Here’s his review of “Sudden Strangers: The Story of a Gay Son and His Father”:

A well-written book with a movingly told story which I initially bought just to leave lying around the house. My son Jonathan (who’s straight) may think he’s won the pierced nose battle, but I will win the mind-games war on the issue.

Or these’s this one for “Die anorectalen Fisteln”

Sublime grandiloquence, February 6, 2002
Nothing expresses the brutal grandeur of rectal polyps and anal fistulae quite like the mother-tongue of Goethe.

Or this review of “Reuse of Sewage Effluent: Proceedings of a Symposium by Institute of Civil Enigneers Staff”

The groundbreaking proceedings of the Institute of Civil Engineers’ Reuse of Sewage Effluent Symposium are well set-out in this handy volume. The major breakthroughs in the field are perhaps best illustrated by the book’s bindings. If you think that’s sumptuous bonded Moroccan calf leather, think again.

Or there’s this review to “The Humanure Handbook: A Guide to Composting Human Manure”

Marjorie and I have been composting for 3 years now, but recently we have started to use the term “manure” and we now have a few more takers for our homegrown vegetables among our dinner-guests.

From the AP:

WASHINGTON (AP) – The government agency in charge of airport security spent nearly a half-million dollars on an awards ceremony at a lavish hotel, including $81,000 for plaques and $500 for cheese displays, according to an internal report obtained by The Associated Press.

Awards were presented to 543 Transportation Security Administration employees and 30 organizations, including a “lifetime achievement award” for one worker with the 2-year-old agency. Almost $200,000 was spent on travel and lodging for attendees.

The investigation by the Homeland Security Department’s inspector general, Clark Kent Ervin, also found the TSA gave its senior executives bonuses averaging $16,000, higher than at any other federal government agency, and failed to provide adequate justification in more than a third of the 88 cases examined.