The Rant

  ________________________________________________    The next step in Presidential politics is unfortunately predictable.   If any person has the gall to criticize any policy of Barack Obama, or examine his record, he will be accused of being a racist.  This is just another form of ad hominem attack, like calling your opponent stupid.    From a logical point of view, any argument about policy can be either right or wrong on the merits, regardless of the intelligence, education or moral attributes of the accuser.  Hopefully, if Obama's policy (or lack thereof) is attacked, Barack will choose to respond to the attack on the merits, and not fall back upon the blanket reaction of accusing your opponent of being a racist.   There are plenty of issues to discuss: how America should extricate itself from Iraq,  how best to keep the economy moving, how to educate the young to be ready for the 21st Century,what is a rational and just tax policy?  Does Barack or McCain have the best qualifi

In Canada, the Human Rights Commission has convicted every single person charged with violations.   The current defendant is Mark Steyn . His crime:  writing a book.  Apparently Free Speech is no longer considered a basic human right in Canada.  Pity. 

    I am quite convinced that the reasons given for going to war in Iraq were not accurate.  I think they were honest mistakes,  influenced by the Bush  prejudice to find some (any) good reason to get Hussein.   However, the issue for the present is what is to be done now that we are there.  There does seem to be a little good news coming out of that geographical locale this past month.   One can only hope that some good will come out of it.   We need to exit in a responsible fashion, responsible to our soldiers, but also to the Iraqi people we leave behind.   Millions died when we abandoned Vietnam, we should not forget.  Something similar could happen in Iraq if we are not prudent.  I am currently reading  Odd Thomas by Dean Koontz (re-reading)  Killing Floor by Lee Child   (it is starting out great)  The Singularity is Near by Ray Kurzweil   (recommended)  Uncertainty, Einstein, Heisenberg, Bohr and the Strugle for the Soul of Science by David Lindley   (My book club)  Tool and Die

Christopher Hitchens at Slate contrasts the McClellan and Feith Books and feels the Feith book is far more worth reading.  He says:     "If you want to read a serious book about the origins and consequences of the intervention in Iraq in 2003, you owe it to yourself to get hold of a copy of /douglas Feith's War and Decision....  As undersecretary of defense for policy, Feith was one of those most intimately involved in the argument about whether to and, if so, how to put an end to the regime of Saddam Hussein. His book contains notes made in real time at the National Security Council, a trove of declassified documentation, and a thoroughly well-organized catalog of sources and papers and memos. Feith has also done us the service of establishing a Web site where you can go and follow up all his sources and check them for yourself against his analysis and explanation. There is more of value in any chapter of this archive than in any of the ramblings of McClellan."  Doesn&#