The president was unapologetic, freedom-agenda-embracing, and didn’t shrink from defending the use of force or from appealing to American values and interests. Furthermore, the president seems to understand we have to win in Libya. I think we will.
Expect a larger piece on this in the future. Since I wasn't able to watch it last night, I'm playing catch-up and still trying to get my thoughts in order on it.
I will say that my gut feeling is that the most we can hope for out of all this is a partitioned Libya. And an expensive one at that. As pointed out in this article, the odds of the rebels advancing, or even holding their positions without continued allied air strikes are very, very slim. Ultimately, I don't find the idea of a partitioned Libya being particularly conducive to Middle Eastern stability.
This is the sort of outside intervention that I can support though: Radio Free Libya.
Checking in on Britain's bit of bother, Foreign Policy scolds the London riots as being little more than masturbatory protests:
Nor could mere invocations of history's heroic movements obscure the fact that it is not the size of a crowd alone that confers greatness on a movement but also the forces it must combat. Since disagreements in Britain have been resolved, for at least the last 60 years, by means of fair elections, and the government, for all its ills, is accountable, ultimately, to the public, it was difficult to see anything heroic in Saturday's protest. This was the radicalism of a people who had no experience of tyranny, a self-congratulatory excursion in democratic dissent, a weekend trip to the city.
Because It's Seems So British: It's a pretty rough economy and clearly an awful lot of people are looking for meaningful employment. In the event you're looking for work training, this gentleman can teach you how to be a butler. The London protesters might consider trying out his tips for getting blood stains out of cotton.
Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe is a very old man. Fortunately it seems as though, even at his advanced age, he's still doing his best and keeping at the difficult job of completely ruining his country's economy. It's a pretty heroic effort. Many lesser men might have felt satisfied after destroying the manufacturing and agricultural sectors. But not Mugabe! Now he's dead set on making foreign investments in mining impossible as well! I can only imagine that Hugo Chavez is looking on, green with envy at Mugabe's experiment in massive failure.
Speaking of State Monopolies: For those of you outside of the state, Pennsylvania is a state where the government enjoys a monopoly over the sale of liquor (certainly, there are also a bevvy of strange and curious laws involving the sale of beer as well but that's for another post). The union representing 2,500 employees of the the state owned liquor stores has taken a strong stance against privatization. Clearly these sales clerks of the state are far superior to any run of the mill private sales clerks! And clearly the interests of 2,500 employees far outweigh the inconvenience suffered by millions of tax paying consumers!
Speaking of State Monopolies: I wrote about this massive hike in drug prices some time ago. Again, I maintain that it would be utterly impossible for this sort of price gouging if the company in question had not received a monopoly over the sale and marketing of this drug to prevent pre-term birth. Once again, they didn't invent it. They just patented it.
Yeah, they still can't find that damn cobra.
The Supreme Court has made the wrong decision. That's all that I can say about this case. I appreciate that prosecutors should enjoy some immunity in order to protect them from lawsuits as they do their job. But it must, must, must be limited! The Court has essentially ruled that even in a case where a prosecutor willfully withheld exculpatory evidence from the defense, even in a case where that evidence may have kept a man from being sent to death row, the prosecutors in question cannot be put at risk of any sort of legal action. This lawyers misconduct very nearly killed a man. This is not some sort of paperwork mix up. This is not a question of a prosecutor aggressively pursuing their case. This is an attempted murder. The fact that there will be no penalty whatsoever for this is utterly galling.Archaeology!
More Archaeology: Some intrepid researchers have rediscovered the ancient city that was once known as MySpace.
The Guardian UK reports that six million people are in danger of going hungry in North Korea. In response to this, I would ask you to please direct your attention to Your Daily North Korean Headline.
Wow...Not much I can say about this other than gadzooks!
All hail our airborne, ping-pong robot, overlords!
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