My Tuesday take: Iran and talk of war

From the New York Times, February 24, 2012: Recent assessments by American spy agencies are broadly consistent with a 2007 intelligence finding that concluded that Iran had abandoned its nuclear weapons program years earlier, according to current and former American officials. The officials said that assessment was largely reaffirmed in a 2010 National Intelligence Estimate, and that it remains the consensus view of America’s 16 intelligence agencies. Sixteen!  Not one, not ten, but SIXTEEN … [Read more...]

Random Friday: procrastination, Linsanity, and The Gettysburg Address

I know for a fact that I am not the world’s best procrastinator because I saw a Christmas tree this morning out on the curb.  I could write endlessly about procrastination but I don’t want to.  Maybe tomorrow. How many times do you have to tell your children that the jeans they wore this afternoon for an hour DO NOT GO IN THE HAMPER? Do you still say ‘hamper’? I don’t want to see any more “Shit People Say” videos.  Some of them were funny so thanks, but let’s move on. I’m still sad about … [Read more...]

Today’s cup: Los Alamos, Blagojevich, a Palestinian state, Wimbledon, and the Dodgers

It’s certainly not the first time New Mexico has faced a fire near its Los Alamos nuclear facility, but still.  Any fire near a structure that contains radioactive material is going to make people nervous.  Yesterday’s news was that the workers at the plant had been sent home.  Later on Monday, a mandatory evacuation was put into effect for thousands living in and around the nuclear laboratory.  From The Washington Post: “…environmental specialists from the lab were mobilized and monitoring air … [Read more...]

Today’s cup: more uprising in the Middle East, Silvio Berlusconi, Watson on “Jeopardy!” and carbs in the afternoon are swell

Bahrain continues to explode as thousands gathered in Pearl Square again Wednesday to protest their oppressive government.  Graham E. Fuller, a former CIA man, wrote the most helpful piece I’ve found yet on the tiny Middle Eastern island’s situation, in an op-ed for the New York Times. The wave of unrest in the region has now reached Moamar Ghadafi’s Libya where hundreds of activists took to the streets to demand the release of a human rights activist. In Iran, clashes broke out Wednesday … [Read more...]

Today’s cup: Iran, Yemen and Bahrain want change, too; Obama’s budget for fiscal 2012; the Grammy Awards and the Dog Show

For Valentine’s Day, President Obama gave the country his federal budget proposal for fiscal 2012.  Plenty of folks had an early look and everyone has an opinion.  It’s a $3.7 trillion budget plan that would reduce the current deficit by more than $1.1 trillion over the next ten years.  Including steep cuts in programs pretty much across the board, including defense and domestic safety nets, the budget also consolidates areas in education and transportation that are redundant.  The Republicans … [Read more...]

My Tuesday take: stand behind the yellow line

Sarah Shourd was released today from an Iranian prison after being held for 14 months on suspected espionage charges.  Her fiancé, Shane Bauer, and their friend Josh Fattal, who were hiking together with Shourd in the mountains of Iraqi Kurdistan when Iranian officials arrested them in July 2009, remain incarcerated.  Shourd suspects a breast lump she discovered while in jail may be cancerous.  Iran wants to have us all believe that her release was a humanitarian gesture.  Shourd’s family … [Read more...]