The Terror

I must admit that my memory of the history of the French Revolution has gotten a bit vague. A lot of my specific memories of studies that I used to be able to call up instantly have gone that way. I shall indeed have to go back and refresh my memory - I had never made the link in my head between today and the Reign of Terror:

Bush's Dangerous Liaisons - NYTimes

I do though, have to wonder if the author made that title, or was it by an editor whose only knowledge of French history is the movie with John Malkovic? It makes no sense to me in the context of the article.

The origin of the word terrorist is indeed interesting...

Ah...(good) beer...

Nothing better than cask-conditioned ale!

“Bush lies” doesn’t cut it anymore.

Why does no one seem to care?

The "Good Germans" Among Us - Frank Rich, NYTimes

If you're surprised, you haven't been paying attention

I find it hard to believe that anyone is surprised by this. Maybe they're surprised that she actually came out and said it publicly, but everyone should know that this is what fundamentalists think of Jews...

Coulter: Christians as ‘Perfected Jews’ - NYTimes

Should I rejoice or weep?

After Years of Being Out, the Necktie Is In - NYTimes

Now I understand the airlines...

Just like the airlines, I try to pack as much into as little time as possible. They produce efficiency with their hub networks and their down to the minute scheduling. When it works, it's amazingly efficient. Of course the problem is, when one problem arises, it creates a series of cascading effects that propagates delays through the system.

Similarly, I try to pack so much into a day, that if one little thing goes wrong with the schedule...

Do you want half, or nothing?

It's the eternal risk/reward question: Do you go for the lesser prize which is the sure thing, or the ultimate prize which is a lot less certain? In this case, it seems a no brainer - the ultimate prize has no chance of happening:

Liberal Base Proves Trying to Democrats - NYTimes


An that brings up another topic - why is it so much easier for me to talk to people with whom I agree on nothing, than with people with whom I agree on much? I think it's because the people on "my" side, expect me to agree with them 100% of the time, which ain't going to happen, and the people on the "other" side know that we've got to talk about our disagreements civilly? I've given up talking to certain liberal friends of mine, because my nuanced disagreement on some issues infuriates them...