Clancy's View

Moore?

Blackfive pointed out this little gem and I just had to go read it for myself.

09/19/01 ...

When we decide to help improve these billions of people’s lives, we will pull the rug out from under the terrorists who need those they send to their deaths to be poor and exploited and angry at us. The multi-millionaire bin Laden isn’t going to give up HIS life!

When all the people in the Middle East have food on the table, a decent home, a good job, and democratic control over their own lives, who among them is going to be convinced to sacrifice his life by crashing himself into a tall office building?

Sure, there will always be those who go insane and kill without reason. The British saw that in a Dunblane schoolyard, we saw it in Oklahoma City. There will always be religious fanatics willing to kill and be killed because they believe God has so ordered them. Ask the families of the assassinated women’s clinics’ doctors in Buffalo and Florida about those willing to commit evil in the name of religion in America.

Emphasis added - mine. Sounds sensible, right? Kinda sounds like our current Iraqi policy, right? Right? You'd never guess who wrote that.

Moore Lies

Frank pretty much nails it.

Those Records Ain't Broken... They're Not Even Scratched

Some are saying that Fahrenheit 9/11 set records for a documentary, being the first ever to debut in the number one spot and already having the highest gross for a documentary with $21.8 million over the weekend. I looked it up, though, and it is total bunk. If marginally staged events filmed for entertainment value is what makes a documentary, then Jackass the Movie actually set those records. It debuted at number one with a gross of $22.8 million. It also had less erroneous assertions than a Michael Moore documentary.

Indeed.

There is NO Connection!

The blogfather points out some interesting articles…

From CNN dated February 13, 1999

Iraqi President Saddam Hussein has offered asylum to bin Laden, who openly supports Iraq against the Western powers.

Despite repeated demands from Washington, the Taliban refused to hand over bin Laden after the August 7 bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, demanding proof of his involvement in terrorist activities.

Don’t trust CNN? Me either. How about the Guardian?

By Julian Borger in Washington
Saturday February 6, 1999
The Guardian

Saddam Hussein's regime has opened talks with Osama bin Laden, bringing closer the threat of a terrorist attack using chemical, biological or nuclear weapons, according to US intelligence sources and Iraqi opposition officials.

The key meeting took place in the Afghan mountains near Kandahar in late December. The Iraqi delegation was led by Farouk Hijazi, Baghdad's ambassador in Turkey and one of Saddam's most powerful secret policemen, who is thought to have offered Bin Laden asylum in Iraq.

The Saudi-born fundamentalist's response is unknown. He is thought to have rejected earlier Iraqi advances, disapproving of the Saddam Hussein's secular Baathist regime. But analysts believe that Bin Laden's bolthole in Afghanistan, where he has lived for the past three years, is now in doubt as a result of increasing US and Saudi government pressure.

News of the negotiations emerged in a week when the US attorney general, Janet Reno, warned the Senate that a terrorist attack involving weapons of mass destruction was a growing concern. "There's a threat, and it's real," Ms Reno said, adding that such weapons "are being considered for use."

And yet the 9/11 commission finds no connection. And the major media outlets are screaming that this has all be a fabrication of the Bush Administration. Janet "Waco" Reno even throws in a bonus WMD reference in the second article.

Lying Liars and the Lies They Tell.

Christopher Hitchens over at Slate takes apart Michael “I really need a shower” Moore’s latest piece of cinemagraphic excrement. It’s worth a full read, but here are some highlights:

To describe this film as dishonest and demagogic would almost be to promote those terms to the level of respectability. To describe this film as a piece of crap would be to run the risk of a discourse that would never again rise above the excremental. To describe it as an exercise in facile crowd-pleasing would be too obvious. Fahrenheit 9/11 is a sinister exercise in moral frivolity, crudely disguised as an exercise in seriousness. It is also a spectacle of abject political cowardice masking itself as a demonstration of "dissenting" bravery.

The sad part is that a large majority of people will watch this movie and be too stupid to pick up the contradictions that Mr. Hitchens points out so well. You know who these people are – they’re the ones on the street with their “No Blood For Oil” signs…

Moore has announced that he won't even appear on TV shows where he might face hostile questioning. I notice from the New York Times of June 20 that he has pompously established a rapid response team, and a fact-checking staff, and some tough lawyers, to bulwark himself against attack. He'll sue, Moore says, if anyone insults him or his pet.

To which Hitchens responds;

I think we can agree that the film is so flat-out phony that "fact-checking" is beside the point. And as for the scary lawyers—get a life, or maybe see me in court. But I offer this, to Moore and to his rapid response rabble. Any time, Michael my boy. Let's redo Telluride. Any show. Any place. Any platform. Let's see what you're made of.

Will Mikey respond? Yeah, right. I’m confident that the pompous windbag doesn’t have the courage and he clearly doesn’t have any facts…

Pictures

I guess I should temporarily rename this blog Clancy's House since it seems to be monopolizing the recent posts. But then again, it is called Clancy's View and the house is pretty much all I'm seeing lately so maybe it's not so incorrect.

Anyway, in the extended section are some pictures of the inside.

This room highlights the previous owners decorating style. Notice how the wallpaper, carpet and windows treatment works together. This wallpaper (and the jet-fighter layer underneath) is gone now. The carpet will be gone soon; right now it's acting as a convenient form fitted drop cloth.

This is what walls that have been stripped look like. The previous owners' son started to remove the wallpaper in this room before we saw the house. I credit this room with saving us about $50,000. I'm sure the seller thought he could remove the wallpaper and paint the house and make a tidy sum in the process. However, seeing as this is the only room he started, I believe it quickly sapped his enthusiasm and he decided to sell it to the first rube that came along. Enter Clancy and GF.

By the end of this process we will be experts at removing wallpaper and refinishing the walls underneath. I thought perhaps I'd write a book about the process but last night resolved the process can be boiled down to two simple instructions I'll share with you for free.

If you have a room or two in your house now that have wallpaper, and you would like to remove that wallpaper and paint the walls here's what you do.

1. Hire someone else (or)
2. Sell your home and buy one that does not have wallpaper on any of the walls.

Finally, if you ever thought you might like to put wallpaper on an un-wallpapered wall, please contact me via email and I will give you directions to our home. After several hours of scrapping old wallpaper off the wall you should be cured.

This is one of the great features of the house I just had to share. Check out that Mountain View!

This is a close-up of the "Mountain View." You can clearly see that the paneling effect is merely wallpaper of the wallpaper mural of the mountain scene. And you thought it was a real window... :)

The upstairs bath. In a few weeks there will be stud walls where you see all the blue. (The new bathroom will feature white fixtures, but it will have some color and new neutral tile.)

This is some of the loot I mentioned in an earlier post. This was found in the attic over the garage. I wonder what these old Irons will bring on eBay.

This sign is also in the attic over the garage. Note the prices.

Here's a quick peek at the modern conveniences. Have you ever seen a stove that big? (The big drawer on the left is just a pot & pan drawer - not an extra mini-oven.) And the cabinets - they were probably state-of-the-art 35 years ago. To the left of the stove you can see a built in cutting board and below that a bread drawer complete with a tin liner and sliding lid.

And more - this is the original Kitchen Aid built in dishwasher. Serial number 0001. OK, I kid. I think this was before serial numbers! (And it works too!)

Finally, the necessities required for work on the house. The Gatorade is just for cuts and scrapes - it's an excellent antiseptic. :)

Update...

Well, we're still alive. Despite Jim's advice in the comment of the post below, we took a vacation day Friday to work on the house (and will again this Friday too)! The last 3 days have seen a flurry of activity and we have made incredible progress at this stage – well beyond where I expected we’d be by now. I just realized that we still have 3 full weekends before we have to be out of the apartment so we have more time than I had allowed myself to believe we would.

More pictures are coming soon. We should have “before” pretty well documented. We need some “during” shots now too… With any luck, we’ll be putting real paint on the walls upstairs this weekend. Sanding and refinishing the floors upstairs the following weekend. Rebuilding the upstairs bath somewhere in there too… Oh, and moving as well. We’ll have to move in on July 15th.

I think we’ve been watching too many HGTV, TLC & Discovery shows on Home repair. We’ve been working like there’s a big clock over our heads…

My mother was lurking on this site this morning waiting to hear about our progress and she finally gave up just called me instead. She helped us out Saturday and we had to practically kick her out so she’d stop working. This morning she ASKED if she could come up this weekend to help too. Like she had to ask… Mom, you are always welcome. Even if you don’t want to do any work. Oh, and Mom, I have something else for you in the extended section below.

Remember this post? The following weekend, my mother had come up to visit and see the house when we signed the sales agreement. Afterward we went on a little car trip and I took her to see this ship now docked in Philly. (On Pier 82 now I think.) This was the boat...

Pressure

GF picked me up from work at noon and we went to the house and did our walk through with the seller. Afterward we went and had a fabulous sushi lunch complete with the 22 oz Sapparo to calm my nerves. Then off to the lawyer’s office for the closing. One hour and a flurry of signatures later and we were official homeowners.

We took 3 rolls of pictures of the interior. We want to fully document the “before” condition of our home. We did all of this while we were still delusional with joy of being homeowners. Unfortunately, that didn’t last long. Around 6:30 I had to sit down and question my sanity. For the first time since we decided to buy this house, I’m suddenly feeling the crushing pressure of the work that lies before us. It’s absolutely crushing.

I manage to get the garage cleaned out. The seller left us all kind of “loot” – some of it will be quite useful (lawn mover, weed-wacker, snow blower & various other implements of destruction). [side note: this is the second time this week I have used Arlo Guthrie lyrics in the bodies of my posts. I wonder what that means.] Others things are interesting in an antique sense and finally the rest is just a bunch of junk. By Saturday morning I expect to have I’ll have a whole pick-up load of crap to go to the landfill.

Tonight I’ll start scraping wallpaper. Baby steps. One project at a time. In a year or so we’ll look back on our work with pride. (Assuming we haven’t killed each other and/or ourselves by then.) And they call this the American Dream.

All kidding aside, we are very happy. This is a new adventure for both of us and we’re looking forward to it.

Today is the Day!!!

The day GF and I sell our souls to the devil for a slice of the American Pie. OK, Well, maybe not the devil, just a bank. And maybe not our souls either. Just all our future earnings. OK, I'm still exaggerating. But not by much.

Anyway, I present with with a picture of our slice of the American pie (in the extended section)…

It doesn't really look like the train wreck I described in this post, but that’s cause you’re only seeing the outside. I’ll post more pictures of the inside when I have them…

Fugitive!

I am a fugitive from the law. Remember this post? Yeah, well it was only just last Friday...

Anyway, it seems that the story is not quite over yet. On my way out of the building last night, one of the security guards motioned for me. “Me?” I asked and he just nodded.

“Did you have a problem with a young lady Friday afternoon?”

“Um, I don’t know. Maybe. Was she driving a green chevy lumina?”

“Yeah that was her…”

“I never saw the driver.”

“…she said you kicked her car.”

“Punched it, actually”

“Why did you do that?”

“Well, I was in the crosswalk, crossing the street, and she practically ran me down. I had to stutter step and stop to keep from getting my toes run over and since I had just played several games of racquetball, I just kinda’ crouched and backhanded her car with my hand. It was pretty much a reaction”

“She said she thought you kicked it.”

“Nope, didn’t kick it. But I whacked it pretty good. But I don’t think I dented it. Either way, exactly how close does she have to be to me when I’m in the crosswalk for me to be able to touch her car?”

“Well, she was pretty upset. She came in here and filled out a police report.”

“A police report!? Really? Was she trying to turn herself in for failure to yield?

“Yeah, we wondered how you were close enough to kick her car.”

“How’d you know it was me anyway?”

“We ran the tapes back.” (Then he showed me pictures of me entering the building – based on the time stamp, they knew it was me. There is no camera on the crosswalk – no reason for it – so there is no video record of my assault on a car. Shucks.)

“So, is there a problem?”

“Well, she was supposed to come back in today. She hasn’t showed.” (Here, I have to assume that they had identified me and are/were going to give her my identity if she wanted to press charges.)

“Hmmmm, whatever”

“Your extension is xxxx, right?”

“Yeah, that’s it. Call me if there are any more problems.”

And I went home. But it started me thinking. Technically, did assault her car. What could they get me for? Assault? Vandalism? Hell, I don’t know. But I can already see myself sitting there with all the other mother rapers, father stabbers and father rapers on the group “W” bench. I’ll be the only one in for assaulting a car. That should scare them all pretty good and establish my place in the hierarchy. :-)

Anyway, this morning when I came in I stopped by the security office again. I asked if they’d heard anything. They haven’t. But the entire incident has turned into a joke “Here’s our car puncher!” They exclaimed. Seriously, I think I’m their hero now.

Clancy the Car Puncher.

I’ve tried to google this kind of incident and I can’t find anything. The closest story I found was a man who kicked a taxi-cab when it cut him off in the crosswalk, and when the driver stopped and got out the pedestrian proceeded to kick his ass and was ultimately charged with assault. This is why precisely why I didn’t pause to confront the driver. I knew my head wasn’t cool enough not too punch the driver too. And as it turns out, it was “a young lady.” A young woman perhaps, but a lady she was not.

Comment Spammers

It seems every time I log on to movable type to submit a post, I have some sort of comment spam to delete. It’s annoying for sure, but I wonder how annoying it would really be without my mt-blacklist. Have I even mentioned how much I love my mt-blacklist? Yeah, I did. Anyway, I have 1474 entries so far. At least 40 of them have been entered by hand (well, pasted by hand). I just updated my banned list from the master list so it should be quieter for a while…

I’ve never banned an IP since they are so transient and I’m more worried about denying someone else access – and I just don’t see where that would help. Using DSL at home, my IP is different every time I log on. With cable it was more stable, but it still changed once a month or so. Alas, Jay links to a post that says the same thing, for those of you still just banning IP’s…

Government Issue

As if you couldn't tell from my last post - this quiz (from Rob) proves it...

You're GI Joe with the Kung Fu Grip!! You're
strong, tough, and know how to kick some ass.
Don't forget though, no matter how manly you
think you are, you're still just a doll. God
Bless America.

What childhood toy from the 80s are you?
brought to you by Quizilla

Attention Drivers!

When driving in a city, or anywhere else for that matter, if there is a pedestrian in the crosswalk – that pedestrian has the right of way. If you think you have enough room to cut in front of said pedestrian, and by doing so get so close to the pedestrian that he (or she) is able to stoop slightly and hit the side of you car with the bottom of his (or her) closed fist as you drive, by then you were too close.

I can’t count how many times I have been walking thought a crosswalk, with a walk light, and had a car turning onto the street cut in front of me so close that I’ve had to stop or stutter step to keep from walking into the car. I resolved the last time that happened I would do something about it the next time. That time was today on my way back from the gym at lunch...

Clancy - 1, Dark Green Lumina Sedan - 0

Rant Writing 101

Wow... Here’s a rant – a very good, level-headed, and powerful rant.

Why do you cheer for monsters? What are you, sick? You think this is fun? You think I'm happy that this country is at war? You think that Bush made all of this up by himself and that Presidents Hoover, Roosevelt, Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush, and Clinton has nothing to do with it? You think this is all because of that Jooooo Wolfowitz? What, Dulles and Kissinger and Albright et.al. aren't culpable as well that we got to a point where war was the only option and a culture that respects strength thought our country hollow and weak? Are you that screamingly ignorant? Are you that disgustingly lazy that you won't pick up some books and read some history? You think I will be convinced just because you foam at the mouth about how eeevil Bush is and do nothing - absolutely, insultingly nothing - to compose a rational argument as to why I should vote one way or the other?

This rant pretty much lays the smackdown on the moonbats who think we live under a tyranny (and other dumb-ass claims). It’s worth reading all of it – trust me… Now, Go read!

Let's Make Fun of France

OK, it's really so easy that's it's not really fun anymore, but when I saw this article I just cracked up.

PARIS, France -- Bulky, gas-guzzling sports utility vehicles (SUVs) could be banned from the chic but traffic-clogged streets of Paris within 18 months following a resolution passed by the city council.

...

Deputy Mayor Baupin said Wednesday that the resolution could lead to a ban on the increasingly popular vehicles in about 18 months if it is included in an overall project to improve traffic flow in the city.

Of course, the REAL reason for the ban is noted much later in the article...

...France caught on late to the vogue for SUVs, mainly because Renault, Peugeot and Citroen have not so far offered them.

Can you imagine a renault suv? Perhaps they could revive their last American flop and call it the Le Suv. Baw ha ha ha!!!

It Must Be Summer...

...'cause I'm sitting here at work with my headphones on listening too:

Well I was eating lunch at the D. L. G.
When this little girl came and she sat next to me
I never seen nobody move the way she did
Well she did and she does and she'll do it again

When you move like a jellyfish
Rhythm don't mean nothing
You go with the flow
You don't stop

And all I wanna do is go to the beach, drown some beers and relax...

(If I offered points, I'd award 5 to anyone who can name the song and artist.)

Stop Killing People!

It's all so clear to me now!!!

I just listened to a message Matt got from Mr. Green over at his site and, well, it makes so much sense! Go listen!

Thanks Mr. Green for clearing this all up.

The Customer is Always Stupid

I’m sorry – it appears that this site is becoming a place for me to vent my spleen. I’ve had two customer service encounters in the last 24 hours that just plain suck.

The first is with UPS. UPS has incredible systems for moving millions of packages all over the world, it’s their human systems that suck. I bought something on eBay 2 weeks ago. Before I placed the bid, I emailed the seller and asked if they would have any problem shipping USPS to a P.O. Box. I use a PO Box for several reasons – I am never home when the UPS guy comes and if I have to sign, he leaves a note and I have to go pick it up anyway. Picking it up sucks as the delivery center is across town and requires fighting rush-hour traffic, blah, blah, blah – if I wanted that headache I’d just go to the store. Besides, my PayPal account is tied to my P.O. Box and the Post office is 3 blocks away from work and I go there 3-4 times a week. Anyway, the seller replied that they would have no trouble shipping to a P.O. Box.

And they didn’t. They had a new guy working in their shipping department and he shipped to my P.O. Box using UPS. So, OK, he screwed up. But, don’t you think that UPS should confirm that the package is not going to an undeliverable address? (such as PO, APO, etc?) NooOOOoo. The package made it all the way to my local delivery center before someone realized that they couldn’t deliver it. UPS called and wanted a physical address. I explained that I wouldn’t be there, the delivery guy would leave a note, and I’d we’d be back in the same situation we were currently in. So, they offered to hold it for a week (normal practice). I told them that I was unwilling to drive cross town in rush-hour traffic and that I instead wanted them to return it to the sender. I had already spoken with the seller and they agreed to re-send the product USPS – they admitted their mistake and apologized and promised to make it right.

So, I’ve been checking my PO box wondering when I’ll get my package. It’s been 10 days since I told UPS to return the package so it reasons that I should be getting it soon. Alas, yesterday, there still was nothing. Fortunately, I still had a notepad with the shipping number so I called UPS yesterday to confirm my suspicions. Yes, the package is still in the system – It’ll be delivered today! To. The. Seller. It didn’t leave my local deliver center until last Friday (1 week from when the got it – as per their normal hold rules.) Those stupid, fricking, morons did not return it to the sender when I asked them too.

With all the time I have invested emailing the seller and talking to morons at UPS, this thing has cost me more than if I’d just gone to sears and bought it outright. And while the seller has some responsibility in this mess – they get to pay shipping to and from, plus USPS now too. They lost money on this deal. UPS hasn’t lost anything. Well, except perhaps me as a customer. From now on, I will go out of my way to avoid using them even if it costs me more money. I’m stubborn and stupid like that.

My second fun experience has to do with the new house. Closing is a week away and we’re setting up utilities – electric, phone, cable, trash, etc. So yesterday I called the cable company to setup cable (including my broadband – Yeah!! back to cable after 8 months of slow-ass dsl!) We’re taking some vacation days between closing and moving to work on the house so I scheduled the install for one of those vacation days.

Then I started thinking. The house has an antenna on the roof. The former owners were old and they traveled a lot and for some reason I began to doubt that they actually had cable. So, last night, on the way home we stopped by the house so I could walk around it and look for an outside cable connection. I didn’t find one. Fortunately, there is a line pole on the property line between our house and our neighbor’s house. Casual observation reveals three lines going to the neighbors house, and just two lines going to ours. Power – check, check; Phone – check, check; Cable – check, uh oh. Hmmm… A few minutes later our new neighbor came home. I asked him if he knew where his cable line came in – he pointed to the pole and described the same line I had just figured out. He agreed that the previous owner was likely to have responded, “Cable? Bah! Channels 3, 6 and 10 are free – who need cable?” if were able to ask him about cable.

So this morning I called the cable company back. I explained that we weren’t in the house yet, but I was pretty sure that the house does not have a line from the street. I described the pole and told her she just might want to make sure that the technician brings a bucket truck in case he needs to run a line to the house (actually, a tall ladder would do).

The phone rep tried to be helpful and told me not to worry, the technician would check that out when he got there. She went on to explain that since the address is in their system, then the house must be wired. The part she wouldn't acknowledge or realize is that perhaps the house was wired at one time and may not be any more. (How hard would it be to take down an unused line hanging 12 feet over your head in the privacy of your own back yard? – No very.)

I said that I didn't want the technician to show up on Friday the 25th and say he can't do anything because there is no line from the street. She said that could still happen. If there is no line, then the technician may have to call a survey crew, etc, yada, yada, yada… I’m sorry – why did I call back in the first place?

Whatever. I'll wait until we close and search the house myself. If I don't come up with a hidden underground feed that comes up inside the house (possible, though very unlikely), I'll call back and ask for someone with a brain. I can be a customer service reps worst nightmare when I want to be…

Anyway, I guess the moral of these stories are - no matter what - the customer is always stupid.

Quote of the Day

This morning at breakfast, GF asked: “I wonder what color wedding dress a Brooklyn gutter slut ho wears to her third wedding…” Yeah, I wonder. Ben Affleck is probably just coming off the celebratory bender for having dodged that bullet…

Vision

Who would have ever believed that John Kerry would say something like this?:

In the terrorists' vision of the world, the Middle East must fall under the rule of radical governments, moderate Arab states must be overthrown, nonbelievers must be expelled from Muslim lands, and the harshest practice of extremist rule must be universally enforced. In this vision, books are burned, terrorists are sheltered, women are whipped, and children are schooled in hatred and murder and suicide.

Our vision is completely different. We believe that every person has a right to think and pray and live in obedience to God and conscience, not in frightened submission to despots. (Applause.) We believe that societies find their greatness by encouraging the creative gifts of their people, not in controlling their lives and feeding their resentments. And we have confidence that people share this vision of dignity and freedom in every culture because liberty is not the invention of Western culture, liberty is the deepest need and hope of all humanity. The vast majority of men and women in Muslim societies reject the domination of extremists like Osama bin Laden. They're looking to the world's free nations to support them in their struggle against the violent minority who want to impose a future of darkness across the Middle East. We will not abandon them to the designs of evil men. We will stand with the people of that region as they seek their future in freedom. (Applause.)

No one – Kerry didn’t say that. The above is a snippet from the speech our Prez gave today at the Air Force Academy graduation.

Things That Make You Go Hmmmmm...

I normally wouldn't give an ounce of consideration for anything Don King would say or do, but you just have to wonder when you read something like this:

During a stop in Philadelphia today, King told black business leaders that "George Walker Bush is the man with the plan to make America better."

Hmmmmm...

Real Hero

There is a great post over at Chrenkoff containing the transcript of an interview between your average dopey reporter and Marek Edelman. Marek Edelman is one of the last surviving military leaders from Poland at the time of the Warsaw uprising. Mr. Edelman is a true hero in ever sense of the word and his perspective on Iraq is quite fascinating. Below is a snippet of the interview:

Interviewer: … What to say to Polish people after the death of several more of our soldiers?

Edelman: : But they died fighting for their freedom. How many thousands of people died in the Warsaw Uprising [in 1944]?

Interviewer: But those people then were fighting for their country.

Edelman: They were fighting for their world. Free and democratic. Just like those who died during the martial law [in Poland in 1981-3]. Did they die only for Poland? No. They died for the freedom of the whole Europe, for the freedom of all those enslaved behind the Iron Curtain.

Interviewer: But the Spanish withdrew their troops from Iraq after the terrorist attack in Madrid.

Edelman: Please don't tell me what the Spanish did. So what? Do you seriously think that it will save them from further attacks? No. The weak just get punched in the head. Pacifism lost a long time ago.

Interviewer: There are more and more voices saying that Poland shouldn't work so close with the Americans and that instead we should get closer to France and Germany.

Edelman: France used to be a great power, culturally and intellectually. And what happened to them? They didn't want to fight for their own democracy, they thought it wasn't really their war [in 1939]. And they lost everything, because when you bend over and take it - even once - then you're finished. And what's that whole talk about the difference between American politics and European politics? There is no other politics but international democratic politics. If we withdraw from Iraq now, what do we have left? Cosying up to Iran and Saudi Arabia? ...

Interviewer: Is it possible to introduce democracy by force?

Edelman: Yugoslavia showed that it's possible...

Read it all.