Albany, NY -- Will Bush Use Nukes on Iran?
I'm exhausted, but I'd like to share what's probably the most important piece of journalism to emerge in the last year. Surprise -- it's from Seymour Hersh of the New Yorker (no, not really a surprise)... Sy asserts that the
Bush administration is insistent that its contingency plan for Iran include dropping tactical nukes:
One former defense official, who still deals with sensitive issues for the Bush Administration, told me that the military planning was premised on a belief that “a sustained bombing campaign in Iran will humiliate the religious leadership and lead the public to rise up and overthrow the government.” He added, “I was shocked when I heard it, and asked myself, ‘What are they smoking?’
Albany, NY -- Sports Meets History
Chuck Klosterman, who writes both about pop culture and sports, has written about
Barry Bonds's chase of Babe Ruth's record in his latest column for ESPN.com. It's a good piece in general, but what's especially notable is his brief encapsulation of the last five years of American history:
In November 2000, the United States held a presidential election, and nobody knew who won, so we just kind of made up an outcome and tried to act like that was normal. Less than a year later, airplanes flew into office buildings, and everybody cried for two months. And then Enron went bankrupt, and the U.S. started acting like a rogue state, and "The Simple Life" premiered, and gasoline became unaffordable, and our Olympic basketball team lost to Puerto Rico, and we reelected the same president we never really elected in the first place. Later, there would be some especially devastating hurricanes and three Oscars for an especially bad movie called "Crash."
Things, as they say, have been better.
I'm only 33 years old, so I'll concede that my life experience is limited. But the past five years have been an especially depressing stretch to be an American, and I don't think many people of any age would disagree with that sentiment (except for maybe Kelly Clarkson ... things seem to be working out OK for her). If it's the era of anything, it's the Era of Predictable Disillusionment: a half-decade in which many long-standing fears about how America works (and what America has come to represent) were gradually -- and then suddenly -- hammered into the collective consciousness of just about everyone, including all the people who hadn't been paying attention to begin with.
Albany, NY -- Ultra-Orthodox Jews Want YOU...
...
to give up porn (yes, that means you, Ari):
A group of ultra-orthodox hackers, shocked by the obscenity of some porn sites, has launched an internet campaign in a bid to cause such sites to crash. The hackers, already named at some internet forums the "ultra-orthodox sex commando," or the "ultra-orthodox electronic underground," focus their efforts at this point on Hebrew sites.
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Those who tried logging in to the site found instead a photo of the Lubavitch Rabbi with the text: "We, the religious-net group, hacked into this site and erased all obscenities. The other sites we plan on bringing down are listed below."I wonder if they'll take this site down... after all, some might find the photos of the two buggers to the left rather titillating...
(Thanks, Jeff)
The Economic Costs of War
Recently a study came out by
Joseph Stiglitz (Nobel Laureate Economist from Columbia) and Linda Bilmes (professor of economics at Harvard), in which they claim the true cost of the Iraq war will approach $2.24 trillion by 2015. That figure is about four times as high as the next closest figure of $670 billion from two other economists Wallsten and Kosec, and about 40 times as high as Rummy's figures of $50-$60 billion.
So how did they get to that number?
Economically speaking, there are two types of costs: direct monetary costs and indirect costs that involve (1) spillovers into other goods, commodities, etc along with (2) opportunity costs reflecting forgone alternatives. The direct monetary costs reflect the prices of military hardware, reconstruction projects in Iraq, and the costs of rehabilitating and healing soldiers after the war. These values are forecasted using the measured costs of the war (and its predecessor -- containment) over the past decade. The result is an astonishing $840B as the low estimate to $1190B as the high. The other trillion dollars comes from the portion of oil prices that can be attributed to responses to US policy; interest costs from year to year; and lost opportunites for domestic policy with the war money including full-scale health care, education, and job creation packages (but who needs those, right?).
Albany, NY -- Denver Photos
I arrived back in Albany on Friday after 30 hours of driving in less than 60 hours. Great drive. Seriously. I would've stopped a couple more places, but I was just enjoying the drive!
I'll be rolling out photos of my time in Colorado during the course of the week. Here are my three albums from Denver:
Denver Photo Album 1Denver Photo Album 2Denver Photo Album 3South Park will be next, and then Boulder.
Albany, NY -- West Wing Writers Change Horses in Midstream?
So says Drudge (thanks
The Town Crier):
At the time of Spencer's death, the plot for Sunday night's episode had been set: The election was to be won by Alan Alda's Arnold Vinick, a maverick Republican (modeled a bit on Sen. John McCain), whom many Democrats (including the Democrats who write the show) could learn to love.
But after Spencer died, O'Donnell said in a recent interview, he and his colleagues began to confront a creative dilemma: Would viewers be saddened to see Smits' character lose both his running mate and the election? The writers decided that such an outcome would prove too lopsided, in terms of taxing viewers' emotions, NYT reporter Jacques Steinberg will claim on Monday.Tags:
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Albany, NY -- Thanks, Boss...
What a classy way to wrap up the episode -- Josh thanking Leo.
Another episode demonstrating that despite popular opinion, the West Wing is going out at its height. I wish we could see a Santos presidency through. Heck, I wouldn't mind a Vinick presidency... just save the West Wing!
Albany, NY -- And the Next President of the United States Is....
MATT FRIGGIN' SANTOS!
(Pending challenges, that is...)
Albany, NY -- ...and Cali Goes Red
Comes down to two states, Oregon and Nevada. If Vinick wins either, he wins the election... pins and needles!
Albany, NY -- Texas Goes Blue
...Only on TV, my friends... only on TV.
Albany, NY -- Who's Leo's Replacement?
We don't know yet, but the Foos are back on playing "Miracle" and are about to find out about Leo. If they break into "DOA," I'll spit out my Bud Light...
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Albany, NY -- RIP Leo McGarry
The life of one of TV's best characters of all time has come to an end... We'll miss you, Leo. We'll miss you, John Spencer.
Albany, NY -- An Awful Lotta Red on the Map...
Ohio went Vinick? Could Santos be on the ropes? In a normal election year, he would be, but because Santos is from Houston, he could win Texas. Stay tuned!
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West Wing
Albany, NY -- Leo...
Unconscious, not breathing, on his way to the hospital... We knew it was going to happen, but boy was it dramatic coming from Donna. Janel Moloney really has to get another gig after this one's done.
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Albany, NY -- Who Will Win?
The drumbeat at the beginning of West Wing always gets my blood going... it's a real shame that we won't be hearing it much longer.
This is it... part two of the election and we still have no idea who wins (unless we read
West Wing News Blog).
Two episodes in a row where we get the Foo Fighters playing "Resolve". Kickass.
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