Thursday, June 02, 2005
Home at last.
Well, Mrs. Dr. D, myself and the blog-pets are back in the States. The pets seemed to have suffered the least in the move- their travel kennels are much more spacious than coach! Every time I have to travel for official reasons I think of the $7.5 billion the USG gave to the airlines after 9/11. Seems to me that we could have bought a whole bunch of business class seats for that price. The USG does provide business class if the travel time is over 14 hours, but if you have 12 hours and 40 minutes ahead of you- tough. Oh well. The perils of the service, etc, etc.
A lot has transpired in the past few days as we frantically prepared to move everything we own to our leave address, then to DC and then to the next post- or in some cases direct to the next assignment or somewhere in between.
Surprising me not at all, the MSM has failed to pick up on the story of an Iranian smuggling ring, via Mexico, that was recently broken up:
A 39-year-old Iranian with permanent legal residency status who is suspected of having smuggled 60 other Iranians into the U.S. was arrested Thursday in Mesa, Ariz., according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.
[snip]
The French lived up to all expectations and surrendered to Germany, er, I mean voted no to the EU constitution, perhaps prompting the Dutch to follow suit. American Future has a few great pieces on the subject, worth the read. Of course, the venerable NY Times sees this only as bad news for the Bush administration:
The United States, as the premier world power and Europe's closest ally, would prefer to deal with one main authority in Europe on trade, political and security matters. The proposed constitution also would smooth the way toward the U.S. goal of an expanded European alliance.
Apart from the benefits of the constitution itself, the momentum to ratify it coincided with an easing of trans-Atlantic tensions over the unpopular U.S.-led war in Iraq. President Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice reached out to Europe this winter and asked for broad European cooperation on such shared goals as peace between Israel and the Palestinians.
[snip]
The constitution is meant to give a simplified framework for even greater integration among the members of the existing European Union and make the alliance easier to run after a historic expansion last year.
It would give the 25-nation bloc a common president and foreign minister, even as individual countries retain their elected governments. It would also provide greater coordination among national police and security forces, a potential boon to U.S. anti-terrorism and other security goals.
Only an organization as deluded as the Times could see the monstrosity that is the EU Constitution as a tool which would bring about simplicity. I've seen the EU at work up close and personal- it ain't pretty. Kind of like the U.N., but less efficient. Newsflash for the Times: we have worked with a Europe of independent nations from the birth of our nation. It may not have always been easy, but it beats the heck out of the mess in Brussels. Case in point: last month's EU vote to impose a limited work week on all member nations- enforced socialism and the death knell of European entrepreneurship.
The mysterious "Deep Throat" has finally been identified- and it was not George H. Bush (every liberals ultimate fantasy scenario). No, it was Mark Felt, as everyone now knows. Once one of the most closely held secrets in the country, the name of Deep Throat is now synonymous with the new American Dream:
According to several literary agents quoted in The Washington Post, Mr Felt could get an advance of more than a million dollars on a book deal and there were reports the Felt family was offering to sell family photographs to newspapers and magazines.
and, that my friends, is the end of the long, strange story story. Is Felt a hero, or a villain? Depends on who you ask and how you define the terms. Watergate was indeed a terrible moment in American political history- but the peaceful transition of power and the continuation of the Republic is fact of which we can all be proud. Many nations would not have survived the events that brought down a Presidency.
Anyway, I am glad to be home and plan to take it as easy as possible for the next month- I'll be posting still, maybe at a slower pace, but keep us bookmarked! The call for guest pieces is still open, too, so if you have something to contribute please fell free to send it along to us.
6/02/2005 06:35:00 AM posted by Dr. Demarche
A lot has transpired in the past few days as we frantically prepared to move everything we own to our leave address, then to DC and then to the next post- or in some cases direct to the next assignment or somewhere in between.
Surprising me not at all, the MSM has failed to pick up on the story of an Iranian smuggling ring, via Mexico, that was recently broken up:
A 39-year-old Iranian with permanent legal residency status who is suspected of having smuggled 60 other Iranians into the U.S. was arrested Thursday in Mesa, Ariz., according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.
[snip]
FBI officials said they had no reason to believe there were any terrorist connections to the case.
This time. When are we going to open our eyes and realize that the borders are NOT secure? I am more than willing to admit that we are addicted, as a nation, to the cheap labor that flows north from Mexico. Like any addict, we fear getting clean- and like any addict we run the risk of one bad dose killing us. Can anyone tell me why we have not brought our troops back from Korea, where they are no longer wanted as evidenced by demonstrations and rioting in Seoul, to protect our border?The French lived up to all expectations and surrendered to Germany, er, I mean voted no to the EU constitution, perhaps prompting the Dutch to follow suit. American Future has a few great pieces on the subject, worth the read. Of course, the venerable NY Times sees this only as bad news for the Bush administration:
The United States, as the premier world power and Europe's closest ally, would prefer to deal with one main authority in Europe on trade, political and security matters. The proposed constitution also would smooth the way toward the U.S. goal of an expanded European alliance.
Apart from the benefits of the constitution itself, the momentum to ratify it coincided with an easing of trans-Atlantic tensions over the unpopular U.S.-led war in Iraq. President Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice reached out to Europe this winter and asked for broad European cooperation on such shared goals as peace between Israel and the Palestinians.
[snip]
The constitution is meant to give a simplified framework for even greater integration among the members of the existing European Union and make the alliance easier to run after a historic expansion last year.
It would give the 25-nation bloc a common president and foreign minister, even as individual countries retain their elected governments. It would also provide greater coordination among national police and security forces, a potential boon to U.S. anti-terrorism and other security goals.
Only an organization as deluded as the Times could see the monstrosity that is the EU Constitution as a tool which would bring about simplicity. I've seen the EU at work up close and personal- it ain't pretty. Kind of like the U.N., but less efficient. Newsflash for the Times: we have worked with a Europe of independent nations from the birth of our nation. It may not have always been easy, but it beats the heck out of the mess in Brussels. Case in point: last month's EU vote to impose a limited work week on all member nations- enforced socialism and the death knell of European entrepreneurship.
The mysterious "Deep Throat" has finally been identified- and it was not George H. Bush (every liberals ultimate fantasy scenario). No, it was Mark Felt, as everyone now knows. Once one of the most closely held secrets in the country, the name of Deep Throat is now synonymous with the new American Dream:
According to several literary agents quoted in The Washington Post, Mr Felt could get an advance of more than a million dollars on a book deal and there were reports the Felt family was offering to sell family photographs to newspapers and magazines.
and, that my friends, is the end of the long, strange story story. Is Felt a hero, or a villain? Depends on who you ask and how you define the terms. Watergate was indeed a terrible moment in American political history- but the peaceful transition of power and the continuation of the Republic is fact of which we can all be proud. Many nations would not have survived the events that brought down a Presidency.
Anyway, I am glad to be home and plan to take it as easy as possible for the next month- I'll be posting still, maybe at a slower pace, but keep us bookmarked! The call for guest pieces is still open, too, so if you have something to contribute please fell free to send it along to us.
