a bit misleading....

"We find that in periods immediately after a spike in anti-resolve
statements, the level of insurgent attacks increases," the study says. In Iraqi
provinces that were broadly comparable in social and economic terms, attacks
increased between 7 percent and 10 percent.
The study also found that attacks increased more in parts of Iraq where
there is greater access to international news media, which its authors say
increases the credibility of their findings.

(site) (actual paper)

I heard about this on the radio this morning, and started to get worked up. Then when I got to work I started researching it a bit, and found this in the same article from above:

"The researchers conclude that the increases in attacks are a necessary cost of the way democratic societies fight wars and say they are concerned that the research may be seized upon by the Iraq war's supporters to try and silence its critics."

We are a little bit worried about that," Jonathan Monten of the Belfer Center at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government told United Press International in an interview. "Our data suggests that there is a small, but measurable cost" to "anything that provides information about attitudes towards the war."

But he added the cost was outweighed by the benefits of vigorous debate about military undertakings."There's a body of research, which we cite … that suggests that public debate about strategy helps the military to fight wars more effectively," he said."

I know the talk radio program is really right wing, but I at least thought they wouldn't turn to blatent misleadings such as this. It's really irritating when people take things out of context and use them as the authors did not intend.

nice.

"I say a lot of things -- millions of words a day -- so if I misspoke, that was just a misstatement,"

~Hillary Clinton, about her exxageration of landing under [the threat of] sniper fire in Bosnia.

New(ish) Job

I started here in December, but haven't updated this thing in a while.

Education Management Corporation

I pretty much reset passwords and unlock accounts.

Racial tension?

Just finished watching Obama's speech on a More Perfect Union. I was pretty impressed, although towards the end of it I started not agreeing so much with his stances on several issues. Thanks to Chris for finding the you tube video of it. It's almost 40 minutes, but it's pretty good. I esp. like starting around the 19:30 mark, going for prob. 5 minutes or so. I don't agree with him about most of the issues, but on this whole issue of race this election year, I do.

"By January 2009, nearly everyone responsible for launching and directing the war in Iraq will have left office. Sorting out who did what will then become a job for historians. In choosing successors, however, Americans should insist on leaders who will foster debate and welcome disciplined dissent. These leaders should be surrounded by advisers chosen primarily for their relevant experience and demonstrated competence, not their ideological purity and partisan loyalty."

Foreign Affairs Magazine, Sept/Oct issue

screen shot from today...

I guess I should be impressed that it at least made it to the front page; right along with the couple who got married at Wal-Mart. At least it was bumped down for something more important - like a painting getting a 10 centimeter tear in it by vandals.

self explanitory

go to PETA's website then to this site...there's some really funny hatemail there.


made me think of this quote from So I Married an Axe Murderer:

Stuart Mackenzie: Well, it's a well known fact, Sonny Jim, that there's a secret society of the five wealthiest people in the world, known as the Pentavirate, who run everything in the world, including the newspapers, and meet tri-annually at a secret country mansion in Colorado, known as The Meadows.

Tony Giardino: So who's in this Pentavirate?

Stuart Mackenzie: The Queen, the Vatican, the Gettys, the Rothschilds, and Colonel Sanders before he went tets-up. Oh, I hated the Colonel with is wee beady eyes! And that smug look on his face, "Oh, you're gonna buy my chicken! Ohhhhh!"

Charlie Mackenzie: Dad, how can you hate the Colonel?

Stuart Mackenzie: Because he puts an addictive chemical in his chicken that makes ya crave it fortnightly, smartarse!

Charlie Mackenzie: Coo-coo.

(taken from Wikiquote)