Sunday, May 27, 2007
Surprising No One...
Lindsay Lohan has been arrested for drunken driving. Didn't Bill Maher predict this a year ago? He must be psychic!
Saturday, May 19, 2007
Link
Sorry, the link did not come up last time. Just type (or copy and paste) this address into your browser, and you'll get a link to the video.
http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2007/05/let_the_debate_.html
http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2007/05/let_the_debate_.html
Friday, May 18, 2007
A Republican New Hope
Is it possible that the Republicans have actually produced a presidential candidate worth supporting? He for real fiscal conservatism, he opposes the Patriot Act, and he wants us out of Iraq. His name's Ron Paul. Here's a clip on youtube, posted on Andrew Sullivan's blog, that covers his debate with Rudy Giuliani:
Saturday, May 12, 2007
Thought for the Day-5/12/07
Am I the only one who thinks that our culture has degenerated beyond redemption when Paris Hilton going to jail is a front page story and Kurt Vonnegut dying is virtually ignored?
Friday, May 11, 2007
Jalal Talabani
Today, at the Cambridge Union, Jalal Talabani, the president of Iraq, gave a speech and held a question and answer session. I was lucky enough to get a ticket to this event, and watched the whole affair from a balcony seat.
The security at the event was tight, for obvious reasons. (No suicide bombers allowed.) There were hordes of police officers outside the Union building. Supposedly, many of them were from the Special Branch, which specialises in combatting terrorism. There were metal detectors specially installed outside of the Union which all attendees had to pass through. There were also bag searches by police officers. I saw armed police officers inside the Union, an odd sight in Great Britain outside of airports. Furthermore, I saw at least one person whom I think was one of Talabani's bodyguards, an extremely rough looking Arab man standing outside a room where a luncheon was being held.
Talabani himself was a rather disappointing speaker. He gave the impression of a rather doddering old man, albeit a nice one. His talk was not particularly interesting, as it focused on his political career and was actually difficult to follow for someone who was not already deeply familiar with the history of Iraq, especially Kurdistan. However, it was interesting to learn that this major ally of the United States and the Bush administration cut his political teeth largely in Communist and Marxist organizations. He described visiting places such as the People's Republic of China to gather solidarity for the Kurdish people.
The question and answer session was somewhat more interesting. Some of the questions were rather revealing. For instance, when asked about current American tensions with Iran, President Talabani subtly indicated that Iraq was not eager for the two countries to come to blows, and boasted of Iraq's role in bringing them together at the negotiating table. Other questions, however, just elicited political spiel, as in the claim that Iraq would be able to take over its own security within a year or two, a claim that we started hearing a year or two ago.
The security at the event was tight, for obvious reasons. (No suicide bombers allowed.) There were hordes of police officers outside the Union building. Supposedly, many of them were from the Special Branch, which specialises in combatting terrorism. There were metal detectors specially installed outside of the Union which all attendees had to pass through. There were also bag searches by police officers. I saw armed police officers inside the Union, an odd sight in Great Britain outside of airports. Furthermore, I saw at least one person whom I think was one of Talabani's bodyguards, an extremely rough looking Arab man standing outside a room where a luncheon was being held.
Talabani himself was a rather disappointing speaker. He gave the impression of a rather doddering old man, albeit a nice one. His talk was not particularly interesting, as it focused on his political career and was actually difficult to follow for someone who was not already deeply familiar with the history of Iraq, especially Kurdistan. However, it was interesting to learn that this major ally of the United States and the Bush administration cut his political teeth largely in Communist and Marxist organizations. He described visiting places such as the People's Republic of China to gather solidarity for the Kurdish people.
The question and answer session was somewhat more interesting. Some of the questions were rather revealing. For instance, when asked about current American tensions with Iran, President Talabani subtly indicated that Iraq was not eager for the two countries to come to blows, and boasted of Iraq's role in bringing them together at the negotiating table. Other questions, however, just elicited political spiel, as in the claim that Iraq would be able to take over its own security within a year or two, a claim that we started hearing a year or two ago.
Monday, May 07, 2007
A.M. Rabbits
This morning around 9 A.M., as I was walking to some classes at the Seeley Building via the St. John's Paddock (a wooded area within the college) I saw some rabbits grazing in the grass. I have never seen any rabbits here before. My guess would be they only come out early in the morning when there aren't any people around, as they hopped away the minute they noticed me. Indeed, the only reason I suspect they were even out that late was that it was a bank holiday today, and consequently the St. John's ground crew had the day off. Consequently, there were not lawn mowers, wagons, or other implements to scare the rabbits back into their holes.
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