http://www.amconmag.com/blog @TAC Thu, 28 Aug 2008 15:40:35 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Rod Dreher argues that Barack Obama's plan to use Greek columns as a back drop plays into the "messianic" meme, but I honestly can't understand why. Greek columns are more theatrical than messianic, and as one of Dreher's commenters notes, President Bush used them in 2004. I'm not paying close enough ... http://www.amconmag.com/blog/2008/08/27/barry-the-greek/ While the rest of the pack chases the next Obama-Clinton kerfuffle, ABC News has at least put a team on the streets of Denver to chase down real news -- like how wealthy special interests and corporate fat cats are laying down big loot to ensure primo placement at the ... http://www.amconmag.com/blog/2008/08/27/freedom-of-the-press-when-it-suits/ The Pentagon may have given the Sunni "Sons of Iraq" the dough and weapons to fight al Qaeda for the American cause, but according to Wired Magazine, these now-targeted fighters were left with a far more deadlier token for their troubles. Warhawks have embraced -- very matter-of-factly-- the efficiency and ... http://www.amconmag.com/blog/2008/08/27/what-we-will-leave-behind-part-ii/ I just had to say it, after reading the story about the ramshackle province (country?) in the Times today, whose inhabitants wouldn't fill Beijing's Olympic Stadium. Of course there are sound realist reasons for not backing Georgia in this little Caucasus ethnic/boundary spat: our relationship with Russia is important ... http://www.amconmag.com/blog/2008/08/26/we-are-all-south-ossetians/ Just when Americans were getting to know the Sons of Iraq, otherwise known as the "Sunni Awakening" -- if only at the base level of whether they began B.S or A.S.S (Before Surge or After the Senator's Surge) -- they seem to be breaking up. More succinctly, they are ... http://www.amconmag.com/blog/2008/08/26/awakening-to-realities-in-iraq/ I used to be disgusted now I try to be amused --Elvis Costello, The Angels Want to Wear My Red Shoes In Slate's unfortunately named "Big Idea" column, Jacob Weisberg, waving about the latest NY Times/CBS poll (PDF) like Joe McCarthy brandishing his list of names, campaigns for title of this season's most ... http://www.amconmag.com/blog/2008/08/26/and-the-uncle-tim-goes-to/ When a leading book review like The New York Times Book Review (NYTBR) decides to display a review of a certain book on its cover, it usually means that the editors believe that that is a notable book that ought to be read by, or at least draw the attention ... http://www.amconmag.com/blog/2008/08/25/806/ Bill Kristol's "A Joe of His Own?" in today's Times is priceless, particularly as it comes on the heels of an interview with Representative Peter King of New York on Fox News last Friday.  King and Kristol both believe that the best possible Republican Vice Presidential candidate would be lifelong ... http://www.amconmag.com/blog/2008/08/25/a-guy-named-joe/ Compare these words from William Z. Foster, general secretary of the Communist Party USA, as quoted in Ronald Radosh's Prophets on the Right: "Socialist countries will not make war against each other," Foster predicted confidently, "but will live together harmoniously." Only a fascist world would be one beset with imperial war; ... http://www.amconmag.com/blog/2008/08/24/where-neocons-get-their-ideas/ For those who have been following the debate surrounding Ronald Suskind's claim that the CIA forged a phony letter in late 2003 to "prove" al-Qaeda was connected to Saddam Hussein, yesterday's detailed disclaimer by the Agency (posted on the CIA website) does little to reveal who actually might have done ... http://www.amconmag.com/blog/2008/08/23/letters-from-langley/