Nathan

Iraq War Ends Silently for One American Soldier - New York Times: "'A Greek philosopher said that only the dead have seen the end of war,' the colonel said. 'Only Terry Lisk has seen the end of this war.'
The soldiers turned and walked back to their barracks in the darkness. No one said a word."

Another must read from the SG. I have to agree with a number of his emailers who give him credit for calling out the refs. They really ruined a great playoff run at the end of the day.

By the same token you cannot have your best player, Nowitzzzzki, not show up for 3 games. So there you have it: I have no idea what my point is.

I definitely do not agree with all of his points. I will tell you though that I agree generally with his pacifist stand and hold in especially high regard those who were able to practice this type of stand under the most adverse of circumstances (e.g. MLK, Gandhi). I think he too is practicing this stand under adverse circumstances.

Now in regards to your points I definitely agree when it comes to, for instance, a basketball game or an Olympic match: fight till you have nothing left. What I find especially sad is that as generally smart beings and ideally stewards of the earth we cannot turn this competitive, 'crush the bully' instinct off when it comes to matters of life and death. With September 11th we had so many lives lost here on this soil and it was so terribly sad however my sadness has only grown with the realization that we are about to approach that same number of lives lost in Iraq, not to mention all those who are injured or affected now for life (my friend who works in the VA says that it is incredibly busy and sad in there these days). My heart also goes out to those well meaning Iraqis whose life has either been snuffed out or altered forever because of this heinous, illegal war and cycle of violence.

Like with the problems facing our environment, one country has to be the one to stand up and say, 'Enough with the violence.' I wish it were my country.

Behold, All My Dirty Secrets / Is your home computer a treasure trove of scandalous, wicked material? Great. So is mine: "But through it all, there seems to exist this one general rule: If you have that much to hide, if you are living some sort of secret and embarrassing and family-endangering double life, if you are constantly burying images and hiding data or altering your persona to the point of endangering your work, if you cannot let someone, say, cruise through your personal sex-toy box without massive blushing and fainting and humiliation, perhaps you're living the wrong kind of life. You think? "

American Prospect Online - Father Knows Best: "These are human beings and we've done everything we can to dehumanize them. "

What a lifeless win last night. Even Wade has to feel a little empty winning the championship like that. After a great playoffs it was sad to see the refs win.

Andrew Sullivan The Daily Dish: A Question of Trust

ESPN.com: Page 2 : State of the NBA Finals: "As a basketball fan, I think this would be terrible. A tragedy, even. Nothing against Wade -- after all, it isn't his fault his team sucks and he has to play this way -- but seeing an individual triumph over a team YET AGAIN would erase every positive outcome from the 2005-06 season. Basically, the team with LeBron or Wade will win the next 10-12 titles, and it will come down to which guy made more 20-footers with two guys on him and which guy got the most cheap calls from the most spineless referees. That's not basketball, it's a star system. When my wife was asking why I was so ticked off after Game 5, it wasn't because I had money on the game (I didn't), or because I liked one team more than the other (I don't). If Miami wins, we may as well go back to box haircuts again, because it's going to be 1991 all over again -- the 'New and Improved' NBA will have been defeated, and the Old-School NBA will reign supreme."

Need to read especially for his take on the refs.

ESPN.com: Page 2 : State of the NBA Finals: "As a basketball fan, I think this would be terrible. A tragedy, even. Nothing against Wade -- after all, it isn't his fault his team sucks and he has to play this way -- but seeing an individual triumph over a team YET AGAIN would erase every positive outcome from the 2005-06 season. Basically, the team with LeBron or Wade will win the next 10-12 titles, and it will come down to which guy made more 20-footers with two guys on him and which guy got the most cheap calls from the most spineless referees. That's not basketball, it's a star system. When my wife was asking why I was so ticked off after Game 5, it wasn't because I had money on the game (I didn't), or because I liked one team more than the other (I don't). If Miami wins, we may as well go back to box haircuts again, because it's going to be 1991 all over again -- the 'New and Improved' NBA will have been defeated, and the Old-School NBA will reign supreme."

He said it. Again.

Houston flooded by heavy rain - Weather - MSNBC.com: "As much as 10.5 inches of rain was reported in the Houston area by the height of the morning rush hour, said Rusty Cornelius, administrative coordinator for Harris County Emergency Management. Almost 6 inches of rain fell in just 75 minutes near Hobby Airport, the National Weather Service reported."

Mother nature to humans: your foolishness shall flood you. Get your galoshes. Then take action to change - you have neglected me and taken advantage of me long enough.

Clift: Rove Sets Trap for the Dems - Newsweek Eleanor Clift - MSNBC.com: "It's appalling that an administration led by chicken hawks dares to build an election strategy based on lecturing combat veterans, but it is devilishly clever, and it might work. The Swift Boat veterans destroyed Kerry in 2004; and in 2002, losing three limbs in Vietnam didn't save Georgia Sen. Max Cleland from attacks on his patriotism. Rove told the GOP faithful that if the Democrats were in charge, Iraq would fall to the terrorists and Zarqawi would not be dead. As offensive as those words are, Rove is doing his job, which is sliming the Democrats so Republicans can cling to power on Capitol Hill. He is politicizing the war for partisan political gain, a strategy that could backfire if events on the ground in Iraq deteriorate."

Zakaria: How Long Will America Lead the World? - Leadership and Innovation - MSNBC.com: "How Long Will America Lead the World?"

A great read and very very well researched. Fareed always seems to be able to cut right through to the very heart of the matter. I was shocked with some of the numbers offered here, but also somewhat wonder how losing our manufacturing base may play into the whole trend.

2006 Commencement Address: "Unfortunately for you job seekers, corporations searching for a better bottom line have moved many of their operations overseas, whether it's a customer service operator, a power factory foreman, or an American flag manufacturer. They're just as likely to be found in Shanghai as Omaha. In fact, outsourcing is so easy that I had this speech today written by a young man named Panjeeb from Bangalore.

If you don't like the jokes, I assure you they were much funnier in Urdu..."

The Raw Story Democratic leader enumerates issues gay marriage vote won't solve

The democratic rejoinder.

After Enron, Corporate Wrongdoing Still Thrives: How Not to Ruin Your Life - Yahoo! Finance: "What I kept thinking was, 'Mr. Lay and Mr. Skilling, the people you were looting were men and women at your company who had their life savings in Enron stock. They were men and women who you passed by in the hall every day. They were the people who made your coffee and brought you your mail and parked your car. They were people who were proud to work at Enron and thought they were at a heads-up deal. They trusted you with -- quite literally -- their lives. They never did a bad thing to you, and yet you ruined their lives and their hopes. You sold Enron stock while telling them to buy it. You knew the company was a shell game, and yet you urged totally innocent people to buy still more of it for their retirement accounts. How could you look yourself in the mirror every morning?'"

Via TCR.

'I hold no brief in this fight, being neither Democrat nor Republican. But here is a message to those few Democrats who retain their self-confidence and sanity (I’m not sure who you are, but there must be some): Come back from the shadows. If you can look past your fears, America’s entire national-security apparatus is out there making your case for you.
Talk to any responsible official or officer in the military, intelligence or diplomatic community. Most will tell you that Bush got most of the war on terror wrong (at least after the Taliban fell), that he invented a war of choice in Iraq and failed to finish the war of necessity against Al Qaeda. The toughest hombres in the country—not least some recently retired generals—are saying the “war president” has no clothes, that he has been, in effect, a disastrous war president.'

An interesting article. The first page made me hate it - the second made me love it. Will be interested to check out page 3.

I suppose my thoughts on this delicate subject are to look at the place where things often come down to: finances. Why are dem's not speaking out for those folks drowning in NO still? Why are dem's not forcefully pushing the environmental issues? It all comes back to money and how our electoral system is set up today. It is not a coincidence that Hillary has moved so quickly to the right - that is where the money is.

Southeast Texas is reeling from a storm that dropped up to 16-inches of rain in some areas. Authorities had to rescue several people from boats, including a four-year-old boy. The rain forced the cancellation of some Memorial Day events, stalled cars and caused water to rise three inches in a few homes.




Hello again, M.N.