News from the deep south just gets worse and worse. The good news is that the Federal Government is mobilizing its resources, with some possible caveats, along with other groups and organizations throughout the nation. On that note, let us take a moment to praise the advantages of economies of scale and remember why the balance of political power has, for good reason, tipped towards the federal government (and away from the states) over the...

Sally Jenkins, sports columnist for the Washington Post, weighs in with a rather silly opinion piece about "intelligent design" as it might relate to athletics. "Athletes do things that seem transcendental," she opines; "Ever get the feeling that they are in touch with something that we aren't? What is that thing? Could it be their random, mutant talent, or could it be evidence of, gulp, intelligent design?" Her piece reproduces some of the...

I'm back... at least until my DSL service cuts out again. Or I leave for APSA. Whichever comes first.I've been able to get online long enough to read, among other things, Timothy Garton Ashs' essay, "Stagger on, weary Titan" (via Anne-Marie Slaughter).In the American case, it's a result of the unexpectedly protracted, bloody and costly Iraq war, in which a small group of foreign insurgents defies the mightiest military the world has seen;...

George W. Bush is a graduate of the Harvard Business School (MBA, 1975). I wonder if they taught him about sunk costs? Sunk costs are unrecoverable past expenditures. These should not normally be taken into account when determining whether to continue a project or abandon it, because they cannot be recovered either way. It is a common instinct to count them, however.There's certainly good evidence to believe that Bush does not understand the...

Soon, the cost of the Iraq war in dollars is going to exceed 200 billion.With debate about the future of Iraq heating up, this might be a good time to point out that this cost to America is directly attributable to the Bush administration's unilateralism. Moreover, though it is difficult to know with certainty, much greater global backing might have facilitated the difficult jobs of rebuilding post-war and post-occupation Iraq.The first Persian...

My university started classes Monday and I teach two classes on Tuesday.As I've mentioned before, I'm teaching American Foreign Policy and International Security this term. Note: those course descriptions pre-date my arrival (1991).I don't have any links to the syllabi (yet), but they should eventually appear here. Then again, my university uses Blackboard, which is easy to use and requires a password; thus, I may not bother to post the syllabi...

Iraq is not Vietnam. However, the political debate about Vietnam presents a number of valuable lessons that war opponents should be learning. Fast, as in before the 2008 presidential election process starts in earnest. Since candidates are already coming forward to fill what will almost certainly be an open seat (unless Dick Cheney has filled it for some reason), this means war opponents need to act now. Anti-war activists have great difficulty...

Last night, I viewed the disturbing documentary about Fox News, "Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism." If you haven't seen it, I recommend that you do. Indeed, watch it as part of a double feature with "Control Room," the documentary about Arabic network, al-Jazeera. Frankly, after seeing both films, I'd rather my cable company carry al-Jazeera than Fox News Channel.This week, I'm hard at work on my syllabi for this fall's classes,...

Jim Hu of blogs for industry is putting together a "virtual faculty club" that includes a useful "Virtual College of Liberal Arts." He apparently only includes regular faculty members who use their real names, so grad students like Bill Petti are not included.The Political Science faculty, however, includes the other Duck of Minerva bloggers. And many more.Filed as: Virtual Faculty Club

Cross-posted on my blog.Much of blogtopia has been talking about the sobering article by Robin Wright and Ellen Knickmeyer in Sunday's Washington Post. I don't have time to comment right now -- the kids actually start school Tuesday (!) -- but the piece is definitely worth a complete read. The title accurately sums up the story: "U.S. Lowers Sights On What Can Be Achieved in Iraq." Here are the first few paragraphs:The Bush administration is...