Having spent time online with a number of Americans, I know that there are three kinds of writing about anti-Americanism: the kind mostly by Americans, which I have little time to listen to because it’s usually rather decontextualized and whiney; the kind which is simply foreigners justifying anti-Americanism, which is boring as hell; and, finally, the kind that’s usually (though not always) by non-Americans, which is often interesting because it’s often a criticism of blind anti-Americanism which nonetheless still manages not to completely embrace pro-Americanism, or which celebrates non-American culture as well. As a Canadian, that being a person from …

This is old news, but I never heard it. Listen to a piece from NPR : All Things Considered for Thursday, June 19, 2003. Here’s the blurb for that show: ‘N.Y. Times’ : EPA Report Omitted Global Warming Data The New York Times reports that the Bush administration edited out information on the effects of global warming from an upcoming Environmental Protection Agency study. The tone of the edited document puts more emphasis on uncertainties about climate change. Hear New York Times environmental reporter Andrew Revkin. Yeah, that’s what we need. Bush editing our science reports. And we trust this …

A depressing look at the mechanics of things inside the White House… I don’t know what to say or think about this for now, but the angry Rove described in that article sounds like someone who would have leaked info like what happened in the Wilson/Plame scandal. Rather sad.

Should I be so shocked to see something as sensible as this in, no kidding, a Moby Tour Diary entry? ok, so some ne’er-do-wells in the bush administation might have broken a very serious law and revealed the name of an undercover cia operative as a way of getting revenge on the cia operative’s husband. the cia operative’s husband had issued a report that said that saddam hussein wasn’t actively pursuing enriched plutonium for the making of nuclear weapons. so apparently some people in the white house called some journalists to reveal this man’s wife’s name, as she’s an undercover …

I’ve longed to find something in the American debate that isn’t ideologically crippled by being “Left” or “Right”… and while I don’t know how easily its demands could come about, I think that this article, The wages of luck, by Matthew Miller, is at least something that doesn’t try to be left or right, but calls for some kind of consensus between the parties for sorting out America’s problems. Now if only I knew what to suggest for Canada.

Of course, if you’re reading this site you probably already know that. But in case you needed a refresher, look at this article of September 18th: Ann Coulter: Here’s a traitor! She’s taking advantage of all the possible aspects of the column that she can. For example: She takes full advantage of the ignorance of her readers. Most people, it’s sad to say, are not only ignorant, but also ignorant of their ignorance. They’d rather act all self-righteous than pause to Google Pinochet and see why Coulter calls him “the great Agusto Pinochet” (which is unbelievably offensive) . Most people …

It seems to me that the only result of all those ostensible investigations into the Anthrax scare a couple of years ago was to wreck the life of one bioweapons expert named Hatfill. While all of America has been staring at Iraq, either swelled with idiotic patriotic pride, burning with hatred, or staring in frustration, nobody’s been paying attention to the fact nobody knows what’s happened with the Anthrax mailers. Or bin Laden, who is alive and probably hiding out in the mountains between Afghanistan and Pakistan. The War on Terrorism seems to be more of a War on Memory, …

Here are some interesting thoughts on the rebuilding of Iraq. I can’t say I disagree with the idea it’d be better to let native engineers get into the works, especially if they can do the work just as well for far less. And it would halt the anticipated profiteering both in America and Iraq (as well as elsewhere… South Korea wants in on the act, too, for example)… and if we could put stop to that, maybe here’d be less motivation for spurious warfare. Update: If you don’t think that this is a great wickedness, then take a look at …

Check out this article on agriculture and free trade. All I can say is, you are either for Free Trade or not. You can’t demand it of other countries and not apply it to your own. Again, I say, governments everywhere in the industrialized world are simply too comfortably in bed with business. It’s gonna have to be torn apart before anything like a really representative, or responsible, government will be seen anywhere at all. Because after all, a government sometimes needs to tell its citizens that, no, this or that thing simply violates the fundamental principles that make the …

Another link courtesy of Adam’s A violently executed plan. How can the Republicans actually argue that demanding freedom from a theocracy is religious bigotry? It’s beyond me. But apparently it’s beyond those of faith to imagine that not having another’s religious beliefs and practices imposed on one is crucial to living in a free society… and crucial to their own right to practice the religion of their choice. I wonder how they’d deal with living in an America run by Scientologist or New Age fundamentalists. I almost wish I could see that happen for the amusement pattern.