From our friends at The Onion.

Yes, he’s called for invasion of Syria and Iran. Yes, he’s controversial. Yeah, maybe calling some of his writings outageous (see Syria and Iran) would be an adequate assesment.

In spite of all this, I read columnist Charles Krauthammer consistently because some of his foreign policy writings can be the opposite of what I said above. Occasionally, he’s spot on.

In the link below, he’s not quite spot on - I personally believe he glorifies achievements in Iraq a little too much. But his line on Petraeus is great. And as an initial war critic but someone who now believes we need to stay in Iraq, I say the following: the last few paragraphs are indeed spot on in regards to a major hole in the arguments of current war critics. Whether, you’re for staying or against, I guaruntee the last paragraphs will make you think. Enough chat, if you want to read about Iraq, read this article!

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/22/AR2007112201089.html?wpisrc=newsletter

Whoa.

Even though I was all of 14 months old at the time, today marks the 20 year anniversary of the Max Headroom pirating incident. Apparently, somebody managed to hijack the signal of WGN for a few minutes and broadcast this creepy tape. Whoever did it has not and probably will not be found.

There’s a new high-tech kid on the block. Amazon.com unveiled its new “Kindle” device today, an e-book reader built to actually be usable. It works with Amazon.com - much like the iPod works with iTunes - allowing users to purchase books for $9.99 and download them to the reder, which can hold about 200 tomes.

For monthly subsctiption rates, your Kindle will also provide you the full text of the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, or others every day. These papers will download wirelessly - the Kindle doesn’t plug into your computer, but rather utilizes wifi technology - so all you have to do in the morning is remember to take your Kindle with you. (You can subscribe to magazine the same way.) It also offers blog subscriptions, for $1.99 (or less) per blog per month. I imagine charging for what otherwise is free information will probably not last long; people will complain and it will be a small concession for Amazon to change their blog policy.

As to useability, the 10.3 ounce device weighs less than a standard trade paperback and uses e-ink technology, which means it is read without backlight and puts much less strain on the eye than a standard computer screen. It is only in black and white, but of course grown-up books do not have many color illustrations. (I don’t know if e-ink can handle colors, or if the method is a one-color pony.)

Want one today? Visit Amazon with $400 and one of the first Kindles can be yours.

Happy reading.

Duke, a pro poker player notable for being Howard Lederer’s sister and also for being bats**t crazy, testified before Congress in support of online poker. Her speech was actually well done, a strong call to legalize internet gaming. Guess that Masters degree in Psycholinguistics means she’s not crazy all the time, right?

David Brooks shows why McCain is possibly the best man in the presidential race this year.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/13/opinion/13brooks.html?n=Top/Opinion/Editorials%20and%20Op-Ed/Op-Ed/Columnists/David%20Brooks 

If only everyone else would realize that what Brooks says about him is true. He supported the surge before Bush did because he thought it was the best strategy. Then once Bush adopted it, the media said McCain was following Bush and that McCain was some blind Bush follower. They got it wrong.

After years of calling for more troops, McCain’s voice was finally heard by Bush. Bush belatedly followed McCain and not the other way around. The media really screwed up on that story and hurt a great man’s image. In case you can’t tell, I’m still bitter about this mess-up.

So read Brooks’ column above to learn a little more about the man who, if the race was based on character, should be president. Actually, he should maybe be president if the race was based on policy, too. And if it was based on competance, he’d also have the race won. Heck, maybe this man should be president!! And that’s from a guy born in Arkansas when Clinton was governor - and yes that means I’m a Clintonite.

But now I’m a McCainiac, thank you very much.

I know it’s my third post today, but this article is unbelievable:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/12/opinion/12rubin.html?_r=1&th&emc=th&oref=slogin

It’s shocking, but this article says there is only one World War I vet left. It’s kinda sad that people probably won’t take any more notice of Frank Buckles until he dies. Then the headlines will scream: Last WWI vet died today. Too bad we can’t give him more honor now while he’s alive to recieve it.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/12/us/politics/12clinton.html?_r=2&n=Top/Reference/Times%20Topics/People/H/Healy&loc=interstitialskip&oref=slogin

Shows Hillary in danger of appearing calculating (as if she doesn’t already), and it also shows tensions between candidates heating up a bit.

 But right now, to me anyway, it seems like all the candidates are trying to get the most attacks on each other without really attacking each other. Whenever policy differences do appear, neither candidates’ policies are fully fleshed out anyway.

The only two candidates with thourough and nuanced policies across the board are the old timers of Republican John McCain and Democrat Joe Biden. We’ll see if that changes in the last couple of months before the primaries.

I’m a moderate who has criticised Obama in some of my past columns, but his recent speech and the following article piqued my interest in his candidacy again. It’s a rather supportive column by conservative columnist Andrew Sullivan. Here it is:

http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200712/obama

It’s long. Enjoy.

I saw a flier about relationship abuse alleging that 85% of people in relationships experience “emotional abuse.” This is just another example of obviously fraudulent numbers being paraded as the truth. As anybody who has ever been in a relationship knows, the actual number is 100%.

It’s just the cost of business when you’re dating somebody. Remember: The emotional abuse of a relationship is almost always easier to take than the the self-inflicted emotional abuse of being single.