An Apology

No, it’s not what you think.
Think, instead, about a defense.
I was reading one of my favorite blogs, Billmon. He mentioned that he had read an article by Dr. David Hilfiker, of the Christian Peacemaker Team (CPT). So why is this interesting, and why am I telling you about it?
Because Dr. Hilfiker visited my unit [...]

Sweepstakes

Well, here’s my first stab at predictions for the entire month. I’ll update this as time and events move on. No percentages yet, only finishes.
February 3
Arizona: Kerry, Clark, Edwards
Delaware: Lieberman, Clark, Edwards
Missouri: Kerry, Edwards, Clark
New Mexico: Kerry, Edwards, Clark
North Dakota: Kerry, Clark, Edwards
South Carolina: Edwards, Sharpton, Kerry
Oklahoma: Clark, Edwards, Kerry
February 7
Michigan: Dean, Kerry, [...]

More primary goodness

Well, I wasn’t too far off with my New Hampshire call. Had I switched Dean and Edwards around, I would have been closer, but oh well.
Given how the campaign has been going so far, I’m not going to hazard a guess just yet. Later, perhaps. But I have a few thoughts on the race [...]

Granite State Pick ‘Em

Here’s my New Hampshire prediction. I was pretty off on my Iowa take (well, most of us were), but I think I can have a better shot here in New Hampshire. Let’s see….okay:
Kerry 36%
Dean 23%
Edwards 20%
Clark 12%
Lieberman 6%
Other 3%
We’ll see in about 24 hours…

Why I Don’t Back W.

I posted the following on one of my member sites, ACRNAlumni.com. It’s a response to one of my friends, JJ, who was stating that criticism of the Democrats (by board members) was taboo, but criticism of the President (again, by board members) was all right. This was my off-the-cuff response:
The reason I’m not a fan [...]

And so it all begins…

A few thoughts here, on Iowa, the prospects of a brokered convention, and another possible scenario
Iowa
The Iowa caucuses will be taking place tonight, from 8 PM to 11PM. Several places will have live coverage, most notably the Prospect’s TAPPED.
Here’s my prediction for the final results:
Dean 26%
Kerry 24%
Edwards 17%
Gephardt 16%
Kucinich 7%
Undecided/Clark/Lieberman/Sharpton 10%
This is utterly a [...]

Pithy Truths

There are only three types of people who maintain complete consistency on complex subjects in the face of changing evidence: the stupid, the dishonest, and the insane. We require our politicians to be one of the three.
Couldn’t have said it better myself.
Thanks to Mark Kleiman

“…And down the stretch they come!”

Looks like the Democratic Primary Campaign is turnign into a donnybrook, after all.
I’m out here in Balad, Iraq, so I’m not surrounded by the normal amount of wall-to-wall coverage
that I’d ordinarily see. But, luckily, I have the Internet. It’s just a matter of separating the wheat from the chaff.
[A word about comments and [...]

The Integrity Test

I was reading Josh Marshall’s blog when I saw a link on the side for a site called “The Cheating Culture�. Simply put, the site’s premise (there’s a book you can buy at Amazon that goes hand-in-hand with the site) is that Americans are cheating to get ahead more than ever.
What caught my eye [...]

Life and Death in Iraq

Well, I’m back in Balad. We were pacifying Samarra, but with our time in country drawing to a close, we were ordered back to Balad in order to put the finishing touches on our reconstruction.
Our return was precipitated, however, by tragedy. Two days before our scheduled return, our forward base came under mortar attack. [...]