All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye so to them; for this is the law and the prophets. -Matthew 7:12What is hateful to you, do not do to your fellowman. This is the entire Law; all the rest is commentary. - Talmud, Shabbat 3idI have little to add to the cogent analysis of those who still believe in the bedrock principles of the United States. The bill that passed the Senate, by definition, establishes tyranny. Not the kind of tyranny that settles like a haze over our daily lives or leaves us, like subjects in a totalitarian state, afraid to speak our minds. This is...

This looks like an amazing major. Check out the Department and the course offerings.Note the disclaimer. And take a look at the markup.Thanks to Alex M. for bringing this to our attention.Filed as: miscellany

There are about 5 things I want to write about, maybe I'll have the time to get to some of them this weekend-- Iraq, the NIE (though Dan has a nice post on it), what in the world was Musharaf doing on the Daily Show....But, I can't resist yet another Defense Spending post....This one from the F-22 files (and yes, its also an excuse to post a cool picture).Congress just voted to buy way more planes than the Administration wants, adding Billions of dollars of defense expenditures to the budget when the Military already has heavy demands on its budget for weapons, personnel, and ongoing...

Steven Taylor approving quotes James Joyner's dismissal of the ruckus over the NIE:One would be remiss for failing to note that these are the same intelligence agencies who failed to predict the Iranian Revolution, the collapse of the Soviet Union, the war in the Balkans, Pakistan’s acquisition of nuclear weapons, North Korea’s acquisition of nuclear weapons, the 9/11 attacks, London bombings, Madrid bombings, and other major events. Or that they opposed the Iraq War to begin with and that this finding vindicates their position.But did the intelligence agencies fail to predict everything on...

President Bush, September 15, 2006: THE PRESIDENT: This debate is occurring because of the Supreme Court's ruling that said that we must conduct ourselves under the Common Article III of the Geneva Convention. And that Common Article III says that there will be no outrages upon human dignity. It's very vague. What does that mean, "outrages upon human dignity"? That's a statement that is wide open to interpretation.U.S. National Security Strategy, March 2006, Section II A: The United States must defend liberty and justice because these principles are right and true for all people everywhere....

I would be remiss if I failed to link to Rob Farley's interesting post on Chinese military procurement strategy. The Chinese, according to Defense News, have been testing a ground-based laser designed to temporary "bind" US satellites. Rob argues that this fits the Chinese strategy of developing capabilities designed to fight an asymmetric war against the United States.China's defense procurement, by and large, does not seem driven by this logic. Instead, China seems to be actively thinking about and planning for a war with the United States over Taiwan, a project which, among other things,...

Shorter Victor Davis Hanson: "Iraq and Afghanistan are both in terrible shape. This clearly vindicates the Republican position on unilateralism and, in consequence, undermines Democratic complaints about Bush foreign policy."As we reflect on this particular rhetorical gem, let me stress that I don't think there is anything wrong with criticizing the lack of clear Democratic policies on Iraq and Afghanistan. But our current administration just isn't serious about finding solutions to the mess they've made. "Stay the course" means punting the hard choices to the next President.Filed as: Bush,...

"Basques," according to Stephen Oppenheimer in the October issue of Prospect.Yet there is no agreement among historians or archaeologists on the meaning of the words "Celtic" or "Anglo-Saxon." What is more, new evidence from genetic analysis (see note below) indicates that the Anglo-Saxons and Celts, to the extent that they can be defined genetically, were both small immigrant minorities. Neither group had much more impact on the British Isles gene pool than the Vikings, the Normans or, indeed, immigrants of the past 50 years.The genetic evidence shows that three quarters of our ancestors...