From InstaPundit.Com: "WHAT CAN PRESIDENT BUSH DO IN BAGHDAD THAT SADDAM HUSSEIN CAN'T? Appear in public. If that doesn't send a message to the Ba'athists and their would-be allies, I don't know what does."

The Habitant's Home Page looks interesting for those of a French Canadian genealogical bent.

An AP photographer seems to have caught on film the attitude that many in the military have towards the objective members of the press. Here it is before the AP, which is trying to pull the photo, gets it off of the Yahoo site from which I obtained it:

Sullivan on Bush in a column written to those in Britain working themselves into a mass hysteria in preparation for the President's visit with PM Blair.

Innocents Abroad plans to run a series of commentaries on how French "thinkers" of the day view their society. Should be interesting.

FOXNews.com - Top Stories - Weekly Standard: Intel Report Links Saddam, Usama. As if there were really any doubts. Anyway, this may just be the tip of the iceberg. It's a lengthy one, but, in this case, quantity does = quality.

Yahoo! News - Nader Blasts Democrats As 'Whiners':

"A media-sponsored review of more than 175,000 disputed ballots found that Gore would have won by a small margin if there had been a complete statewide recount. President Bush (news - web sites) won Florida, and thus the White House, by 537 votes out of more than 6 million cast. "

I don't remember that being the finding, anyone else?

Victor Davis Hanson on War on National Review Online has a good piece commenting on each of the now familiar arguments. With all of this mind, I wonder if the other shoe will drop, as Hansen seems to desire (as do I), when Bush gets reelected.

Found this in OpinionJournal - Best of the Web Today:

"'It's not difficult to understand why somebody might pick up an AK-47 against us. Maybe we killed his father in the first Gulf War, maybe in this Gulf War, maybe he's just a dick.'--Sgt. Reginald Abram, with the Third Armored Cavalry Regiment in western Iraq, quoted in the Asia Times, Oct. 24"

Bush on Democracy in the Middle East from Washingtonpost.com:

"The establishment of a free Iraq at the heart of the Middle East will be a watershed event in the global democratic revolution.

Sixty years of Western nations excusing and accommodating the lack of freedom in the Middle East did nothing to make us safe, because in the long run stability cannot be purchased at the expense of liberty.
As long as the Middle East remains a place where freedom does not flourish, it will remain a place of stagnation, resentment and violence ready for export.
And with the spread of weapons that can bring catastrophic harm to our country and to our friends, it would be reckless to accept the status quo.

Therefore the United States has adopted a new policy: a forward strategy of freedom in the Middle East. This strategy requires the same persistence and energy and idealism we have shown before and it will yield the same results.
As in Europe, as in Asia, as in every region of the world, the advance of freedom leads to peace. "

This could be a seminal speech in history...

Theory and History by Ludwig von Mises, just another thing to pass the time.

Got some time? Want to do some heavy reading? Are you sure? Try reading Bertrand Russell's Theory of Knowledge. Have fun!

Tom Curran's latest Patriots column has the following:

"The Patriots are closers. They're 21-0 since 2001 when leading after three quarters. They are 3-13 when trailing, which shows they come back once in a while. They are an astounding 6-0 when tied after four quarters, including the Snow Bowl win. They are 11-6 when the final margin is seven points or less. And they're 6-1 when the margin in three points or less. Lastly, they're 18-1 since '01 when leading at halftime, 5-10 when trailing, 3-3 when tied."

The above stats could dramatically alter the way I watch Pats games now. Knowing all of this, if they are leading a game at the half, I have to feel REALLY good, right?

David Frum's Diary on National Review Online has more on Virginia Postrel's book as well as a bit on Charles (The Bell Curve)Murray's new book Human Accomplishment.

George F. Will does a book review of Virginia Postrel's "The Substance of Style: How the Rise of Aesthetic Value is Remaking Commerce, Culture, and Consciousness." There is something in here that may help in doing History, perhaps even Psychohistory. When I get time, I may have to check it out.

Amazon.com: Books / Search Inside the Book. Sounds cool.

OpinionJournal - Best of the Web Today: "Cheers to blogger 'Frank J.' for this delightful bon mot (ellipsis in original):
There is now a Centrist Coalition blog. I hate moderates . . . much more than even liberals. I bet Satan is a moderate; the best way to get evil accepted is to package it with some good. That's what moderates do; they're always like, 'Oh! I'm so special because I don't take a firm stance on issues, and I see value in everyone's viewpoints.' I bet right now a moderate is reading this and partially agreeing with it. Damn you!"

www.AndrewSullivan.com - Daily Dish: "THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: 'For some reason or another, a series of enormously important issues — the future of the Middle East, the credibility of the United States as both a strong and a moral power, the war against the Islamic fundamentalists, the future of the U.N. and NATO, our own politics here at home — now hinge on America's efforts at creating a democracy out of chaos in Iraq. That is why so many politicians — in the U.N., the EU, Germany, France, the corrupt Middle East governments, and a host of others — are so strident in their criticism, so terrified that in a postmodern world the United States can still recognize evil, express moral outrage, and then sacrifice money and lives to eliminate something like Saddam Hussein and leave things far better after the fire and smoke clear. People, much less states, are not supposed to do that anymore in a world where good is a relative construct, force is a thing of the past, and the easy life is too precious to be even momentarily interrupted. We may expect that, a year from now, the last desperate card in the hands of the anti-Americanists will be not that Iraq is democratic, but that it is democratic solely through the agency of the United States — a fate worse than remaining indigenously murderous and totalitarian.' - Victor Davis Hanson, on a roll."

Just some random thoughts....

I've listened to most of the latest KISS with Symphony thing and I have to say, as a lifelong KISS fan, ahhhh, not gettin' it done guys. Some music just doesn't lend itself to full orchestral treatment. Yours is an example. Hope this means you haven't hit ROCK BOTTOM.

The Grady Little debate has officially exceeded its time allotment. Move on everyone. He's gone. Let's....*sigh*....wait 'til next year.

PC is going to have a good basketball team. Wonder if any of the players will be in my Grad. History classes ;)

I saw that TV execs are in distress and confounded because their ratings are down. They tried to blame Nielsen, the ratings service. One of the Nielsen people stated what seemed to me to be the obvious. Maybe it's the quality of the shows.

A guy in my office is worried that too many people are jumping on the Patriots bandwagon. He's apparently afraid that this means doom. We'll see. Ain't it great being a superstitious sports fan. Too bad there aren't that many here in New England...

I pay attention to politics, but even I'm not really paying too much attention to the Democrat Primaries. Political junkies beware, you are talking to yourselves, no one else cares right now.

In an odd irony, I'm enjoying my course in Historical Methodology more than the one covering the Civil War. I think I'm a geek, or at least a scientific method nerd. Must be my engineering background showing through. Though I have to admit I do enjoy research and Methodology is about good research techniques. I'm also just plain intrinsically interested in the Philosophy of History, (regular Philosophy too) which is something I never studied before, except on my own.

I am doing a research paper on the impact of the Civil War on French Canadian immigration (or would it be emigration) to New England. I have lots of sources, and am 1/3 of the way through the rough draft. A long way to go. And when I'm done, I'll be tackling a comparative book review on two works about Joshua L. Chamberlain. Fun.

That's it for now. Hope I didn't bore.

I can dream, can't I?