![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Apr. 17th, 2004 04:57 amSecretary was. . . amazing.
Apr. 17th, 2004
The Palm Beach Playbook
It was painful to watch Bush rummage through his store of pat comments as reporters pressed him to acknowledge mistakes he made in a war that seems close to spinning out of control. Maybe if he’d gotten the question in advance, he suggested at one point, pleading for mercy since nothing was popping into his head with all the pressure of the press conference. He dodged a question about why he had to appear with his vice president when he testifies before the 9/11 commission, but his performance spoke for itself. The man is limited in his ability to express himself and, sadly, in his grasp of the situation unfolding around him.
( Read more... )
What few friends Bush had in the Middle East he lost this week when without warning he overturned decades of U.S. policy to unequivocally side with Israel. Bush admires the bold stroke and he rewarded Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s willingness to withdraw from the Gaza Strip by unilaterally endorsing Sharon’s plan to retain key Israeli settlements in the West Bank. The timing is terrible. As U.S. troops struggle to put down the insurgency in Iraq, bin Laden can point to the alliance between the U.S. and Israel, and recruit more radical Islamists for the holy war.
Bush wanted to bolster Sharon, who faces a plebiscite on his Gaza plan later this month along with a possible indictment on corruption charges. Sharon, a gruff, bullying figure, persuaded Bush that without his public endorsement, he might not survive. Is it worth the backlash in the Arab world to send a lifeline to Sharon? The answer is no from a geopolitical standpoint, but yes when Karl Rove’s November playbook is taken into account. If Bush can get his share of the Jewish vote up from one quarter to one third, that could mean the election. Bush may not be much of a conceptual thinker, but he knows how to count.
It was painful to watch Bush rummage through his store of pat comments as reporters pressed him to acknowledge mistakes he made in a war that seems close to spinning out of control. Maybe if he’d gotten the question in advance, he suggested at one point, pleading for mercy since nothing was popping into his head with all the pressure of the press conference. He dodged a question about why he had to appear with his vice president when he testifies before the 9/11 commission, but his performance spoke for itself. The man is limited in his ability to express himself and, sadly, in his grasp of the situation unfolding around him.
( Read more... )
What few friends Bush had in the Middle East he lost this week when without warning he overturned decades of U.S. policy to unequivocally side with Israel. Bush admires the bold stroke and he rewarded Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s willingness to withdraw from the Gaza Strip by unilaterally endorsing Sharon’s plan to retain key Israeli settlements in the West Bank. The timing is terrible. As U.S. troops struggle to put down the insurgency in Iraq, bin Laden can point to the alliance between the U.S. and Israel, and recruit more radical Islamists for the holy war.
Bush wanted to bolster Sharon, who faces a plebiscite on his Gaza plan later this month along with a possible indictment on corruption charges. Sharon, a gruff, bullying figure, persuaded Bush that without his public endorsement, he might not survive. Is it worth the backlash in the Arab world to send a lifeline to Sharon? The answer is no from a geopolitical standpoint, but yes when Karl Rove’s November playbook is taken into account. If Bush can get his share of the Jewish vote up from one quarter to one third, that could mean the election. Bush may not be much of a conceptual thinker, but he knows how to count.
another 3-page article at NYT
Apr. 17th, 2004 05:29 amAfter 45 Years (and $700 Million), a Gravity Experiment Takes Flight
The experiment is organized to test one of the most esoteric predictions of Einstein's theory of gravity, the general theory of relativity, which predicted the expansion of the universe and the existence of light-swallowing black holes. The probe contains four gyroscopes to measure whether and how the spinning Earth twists space-time around itself like leaves in a tornado.
The answers, say Dr. Everitt, his colleagues and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, will give physicists precise measurements on ways that matter warps space-time to produce the effect called gravity, allow them to calibrate the black hole dynamos that produce the monstrous energies of quasars, and perhaps find evidence of new forces in the universe.
"If it performs as well as we think, it will end up testing Einstein's theory 10 to 100 times better than any previous test," Dr. Everitt said.
The experiment is organized to test one of the most esoteric predictions of Einstein's theory of gravity, the general theory of relativity, which predicted the expansion of the universe and the existence of light-swallowing black holes. The probe contains four gyroscopes to measure whether and how the spinning Earth twists space-time around itself like leaves in a tornado.
The answers, say Dr. Everitt, his colleagues and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, will give physicists precise measurements on ways that matter warps space-time to produce the effect called gravity, allow them to calibrate the black hole dynamos that produce the monstrous energies of quasars, and perhaps find evidence of new forces in the universe.
"If it performs as well as we think, it will end up testing Einstein's theory 10 to 100 times better than any previous test," Dr. Everitt said.
Plan of Attack: next on my to-buy list
Apr. 17th, 2004 05:42 amMr. Woodward's account quickly provoked speculation in Washington that Mr. Powell might have cooperated with Mr. Woodward as the book was being prepared in an effort to distance himself from the Iraq war.
A spokesman for Mr. Powell said Friday night that he could not determine whether the secretary had spoken with Mr. Woodward.
Mr. Powell has made no secret in the past that he has helped Mr. Woodward with other books. Only Mr. Bush and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld are identified by the author as having given on-the-record interviews for the book. But conversations between Mr. Powell and Mr. Bush are quoted verbatim in the book, and in the account of the January 2003 conversation, Mr. Bush is identified only as a corroborating source.
Richard A. Boucher, Mr. Powell's spokesman, declined to comment on the book, saying he had not read it and adding: `We won't do book reviews. I promise." Asked if it were true that Mr. Powell and Mr. Cheney were barely on speaking terms, Mr. Boucher said, "I think that's not true."
An official in Mr. Cheney's office said Friday that the vice president and his spokesman were flying back to the United States from a weeklong trip to Asia and would not be available for comment on Friday evening.
Powell Said to Have Warned Bush Before the War, a New Book Says
A spokesman for Mr. Powell said Friday night that he could not determine whether the secretary had spoken with Mr. Woodward.
Mr. Powell has made no secret in the past that he has helped Mr. Woodward with other books. Only Mr. Bush and Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld are identified by the author as having given on-the-record interviews for the book. But conversations between Mr. Powell and Mr. Bush are quoted verbatim in the book, and in the account of the January 2003 conversation, Mr. Bush is identified only as a corroborating source.
Richard A. Boucher, Mr. Powell's spokesman, declined to comment on the book, saying he had not read it and adding: `We won't do book reviews. I promise." Asked if it were true that Mr. Powell and Mr. Cheney were barely on speaking terms, Mr. Boucher said, "I think that's not true."
An official in Mr. Cheney's office said Friday that the vice president and his spokesman were flying back to the United States from a weeklong trip to Asia and would not be available for comment on Friday evening.
Powell Said to Have Warned Bush Before the War, a New Book Says
This is my kind of article.
Apr. 17th, 2004 01:06 pm"Incurious George"--has president a new title?
"Incurious," a rarely used word, is making a curious comeback as pundits dust it off to describe President George W. Bush's alleged lack of curiosity about intelligence reports prior to September 11, 2001, according to a California language expert.
Paul JJ Payack, founder of the Global Language Monitor, which tracks word usage on the Web and elsewhere, said that since he first spotted it used in a March Time Magazine report, it had appeared some 5,000 times, jumping about 1,000 uses after the New York Times lead editorial on Thursday was headlined "The Price of Incuriosity."
[...] Other newspapers and several columnists have also used "incurious," a word Payack says made its first appearance in the 16th century, to describe the president.
[...] Payack said the term "incuriosity' has rocketed to the top of the Global Language Monitor's PQ (Political-sensitivity Quotient) Index, which is an algorithm that tracks politically sensitive words and phrases in the media and on the Internet.
"Incuriosity" is followed by "Quagmire," "Two Americas," "Global Outsourcing" and 'War for Oil" on the Global Monitor list of most popular current political phrases, he said.
"Incurious," a rarely used word, is making a curious comeback as pundits dust it off to describe President George W. Bush's alleged lack of curiosity about intelligence reports prior to September 11, 2001, according to a California language expert.
Paul JJ Payack, founder of the Global Language Monitor, which tracks word usage on the Web and elsewhere, said that since he first spotted it used in a March Time Magazine report, it had appeared some 5,000 times, jumping about 1,000 uses after the New York Times lead editorial on Thursday was headlined "The Price of Incuriosity."
[...] Other newspapers and several columnists have also used "incurious," a word Payack says made its first appearance in the 16th century, to describe the president.
[...] Payack said the term "incuriosity' has rocketed to the top of the Global Language Monitor's PQ (Political-sensitivity Quotient) Index, which is an algorithm that tracks politically sensitive words and phrases in the media and on the Internet.
"Incuriosity" is followed by "Quagmire," "Two Americas," "Global Outsourcing" and 'War for Oil" on the Global Monitor list of most popular current political phrases, he said.