Thursday, July 13, 2006

The return of 'Crib Notes'

Two years ago during the infancy of this blog, I used to post a collection of my daily thoughts which I called 'Crib Notes'. I gave up on Crib Notes because most of the material was full post worthy. I haven't had much time today to think through full posts, and I'm going to be tied up for most of the evening, so here is a special edition of Crib Notes.

*The arc of Demcratic thought on budget deficits has been interesting over the past 11 years. In 1995, they claimed that the Gingrich led Republicans were going to achieve a balance budget with smoke and mirrors, and that it would vanish by 2002 or 2003. Then, once accomplished, they claimed it as a Clinton/Democrat victory. Then when it did disappear right around the time they had predicted, they could not toss those old grenades without fragging themselves. They have effectively framed Republicans as just as big of tax and spenders as themselves since 2002, though.

*The above point was inspired by a Mickey Kaus column in the May 22, 1995 issue of The New Republic.

*I haven't commented on Israel/Hamas/Hezbollah/Palestine/Lebanon/Syria/Iran because I haven't ironed out my opinion yet. Instead, I'm content to watch events unfold and take things from there. I will say this, the Middle East has been a gas tanker waiting for a spark since at least 1979, probably longer. The sparks just keep falling closer to the gas every year.

*Am I the only one who was pleased to see that Cheney has gotten under Putin's skin? Can anyone say good cop-bad cop?

*I read this on Kevin Barrett and academic freedom, and while I don't completely disagree with it, I will say this much. There is only one way to send a message to UW that parents are more concerned with quality of education than vague, nebulous threats to academic freedom, and that is by sending your kids to the University of Minnesota.

*This one is gross, so be warned. With the news that Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro might not make it, how much of his sperm do you think has been harvested since his injury? One would think Barbaro would have some very valuable genetic material to his owners.

*Back to politics. I don't think liberals could win the war on terror. Here's my reasoning. For liberals, the world is a wonderful array of various shades of gray. To our Islamist enemies, it is quite black or white. To them, the war is about conquering or dying.

*Here's a thought on prisoner exchanges for kidnapped Israeli soldiers. If Hamas or Hezbollah kill 8 Israeli soldiers to kidnap 2, and then demand 1000 prisoners in exchange for the two, then Israel should treat it as a quid pro quo. Israel gets its two soldiers back, and Hamas/Hezbolah get 200 live prisoners back and 800 dead ones. But I doubt Hamas/Hezbollah would be too fond of a quid pro quo exchange.

*The politicking between groups that are pro-abstinence and groups that are pro-safe sex is tragically comic. Both work off of the faith that people can be trusted to make the right decision in a sexual situation (Say no or wearing a condom), and neither can accomplish their goals without the other. Yet they fight each other.

No comments: