Nation building and the war on terror: not contradictory

The New Neo Posted on by

In an Ann Althouse thread about how she was turned off by Obama’s saying “you’re not listening” to critics accusing him of changing his Iraq stand, my attention was caught by a pro-Obama statement in the comments section:

And he’ll refocus the war on terror on fighting terrorists instead of nation building.

This idea that the nation-building involved in the aftermath of the Iraq War and the fight against terrorists are mutually exclusive doesn’t make a whole lot of sense. It’s not either/or; they are linked. Continue reading →

Iran’s missile-rattling

The New Neo Posted on by

Amidst all the brouhaha involved in our interminable election campaign, Iran not-so-quietly continues on its course to obtain nuclear weapons. It’s also recently fired off a few demo long-range missiles with enough reach to target Israel, and although that’s gotten more press, it’s the nuclear program that’s particularly worrisome.

What’s the solution? Continue reading →

The case of the flying thong buckle: I can relate

The New Neo Posted on by

A 52-year old woman has sued underwear giant Victoria’s Secret for an eye injury caused when a metal clip securing a rhinestone heart to a thong flew off and injured her cornea. This is another example of just how readily litigious our society has become—not to mention how dangerous it is to wear thong underwear.

Monica Lewinsky proved the latter point quite some time ago. Maybe that’s the reason fashion seemed to at least attempt to go the other way for a while, with boxer shorts for women becoming popular in recent years—complete, in some cases, with vestigial flyfront but no rhinestone hearts. The shorts look good on the models—but then again, so would gunny sacks. That doesn’t mean everyone should go for them; not very flattering to most.

But back to Macrida Patterson, the plaintiff in this case; no boxer-short-wearer she. Continue reading →

On bringing a pen to a gunfight

The New Neo Posted on by

Ralph Peters knows that in any battle between a mere pen and a ruthless sword, the sword will win, despite the proverb to the contrary:

Billions of words have been hurled at Sudan’s government. The misery in Darfur not only continues but deepens. While intellectuals wrestled with compound sentences, Darfur degenerated from selective oppression to savage anarchy.

Yes, despite all those fine words that make writers feel good about themselves, the carnage will continue when the offenders don’t give a hoot about public opinion. Continue reading →

The continuing joys of cantaloupe

The New Neo Posted on by

I wrote recently about my inordinate love of cantaloupe, and how wonderfully tasty they’ve been this particular year.

I just wanted to say that the joys continue unabated. Every single cantaloupe I’ve eaten since I wrote that piece on June 28—and believe me, I’ve eaten a lot of them—has been better than all the cantaloupes of yesteryear.

What’s going on? Have they injected them all with some sort of flavor enhancer, the MSG of the melon world? Have they developed a new and sweeter variety, like they did with corn back in the early 90s? Anyone have a theory?

Arguing politics

The New Neo Posted on by

Since I became a blogger I don’t enter into political arguments too often in the real (as opposed to the virtual) world.

One reason is that I’ve found such talks only rarely to be fruitful and civil, even though I try mightily to preserve both attributes. Another is that most of my friends know my general point of view already, and most are not all that politically oriented—after all, a decade ago I was a person who rarely discussed politics at all. A third reason is that this blog focuses my political energy and takes care of much of my personal motivation to be part of such exchanges.

But that’s not to say that the subject never comes up in what’s known as real life. Continue reading →

Obama roleplays at commander-in-chief

The New Neo Posted on by

When I read this news about Obama’s Iraq reversal—and then his reversal of his reversal—one sentence struck me as strange, but I wasn’t exactly sure why (it’s the second one in this quote):

I am absolutely committed to ending the war. I will call my joint chiefs of staff in and give them a new assignment and that is to end the war.

It seemed to me to have an odd tone, something like a child play-acting at being commander-in-chief. Continue reading →

Therapists to the rich and famous

The New Neo Posted on by

This reads like an Onion article, or Tom Lehrer patter.

But, unless the NY Times has taken on a new identity and become a purposeful parody rather than an unintentional one, the piece is actually a totally serious exploration of the travails of the very very very rich, and the therapists who specialize in treating them to the tune of $600 measly bucks an hour. Continue reading →

Why Obama’s flips don’t matter

The New Neo Posted on by

Obama’s figured something out. Or maybe he figured it out a long time ago.

That’s this: if you are so obscure that the public doesn’t know much about you, then changing your mind and then spinning on almost every issue on a daily basis—including issues that you’ve said are core values you hold, such as campaign reform—won’t register. Continue reading →

Giving McCain a Vietnam history lesson

The New Neo Posted on by

Joe Conason thinks McCain doesn’t know much about history, in particular the Vietnam War and the lessons he should have learned from it.

Conason, as the possessor of a 1975 degree in history from Brandeis where they no doubt taught an unbiased version of the entire Vietnam conflict, knows better than McCain. And his subsequent stints at The Real Paper, the Village Voice, Details, and the New York Observer have undoubtedly objectively filled in whatever knowledge gaps might remain.

So what does Conason think McCain should have learned about Vietnam and didn’t? Continue reading →

Hostage rescue: another reason to celebrate this Fourth

The New Neo Posted on by

Hearing the wonderful news of the rescue of the Colombian hostages, I immediately thought of Entebbe. I guess I’m not the only one.

And, since the Entebbe resue occurred on July 4, 1976 and concerns liberty, it’s a fitting event to ponder this Fourth of July.

[ADDENDUM: One of the underhyped successes of the Bush administration seems to have been against FARC, which wasn’t doing so well even before the hostage rescue. Bush and the US have been supporting the battle against FARC for quite some time.]