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I have always contended Bush senior's re-election failure of 1992 was a tragedy for Middle East. Bernard Lewis has wielded too much power over US administration policy over the last 20 years and the following quote from the above article is most revealing:

Scowcroft suggested that the White House was taking the wrong advice, and listening to a severely limited circle. He singled out the Princeton Middle East scholar Bernard Lewis, who was consulted by Vice-President Cheney and others after the terror attacks of September 11, 2001. Lewis, Scowcroft said, fed a feeling in the White House that the United States must assert itself. “It’s that idea that we’ve got to hit somebody hard,” Scowcroft said. “And Bernard Lewis says, ‘I believe that one of the things you’ve got to do to Arabs is hit them between the eyes with a big stick. They respect power.’ ” Cheney, in particular, Scowcroft thinks, accepted Lewis’s view of Middle East politics. “The real anomaly in the Administration is Cheney,” Scowcroft said. “I consider Cheney a good friend—I’ve known him for thirty years. But Dick Cheney I don’t know anymore.”

"I know that standards have slipped over the last few years in Washington but for a lawyer you are remarkably cavalier with any idea of justice."

The most entertaining event of past week was the live coverage of George Galloway's testimony in the senate. In the same chamber from where Joe McCarthy harranged the world, Galloway turned the tables around on the senators and called their documents schoolboy howlers. Check the BBC and Political Affairs for quotes. Video excerpts in Quick time format. And the best from the land of freedom where the official Senate website declines to publish the testimony.


Of course all is not rosy. There must be something if your name appears with Charles Pasqua (notorious corrupt French politician) and a bunch of Russian mafia members. Read Christopher Hitchens profile.

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From The riddle of the sands by Erskine Childers

"The main issue was not seriously in question, for I had signed on in the Dulcibella (read Apple Mac for me) for good or ill; but in doing so I had outrun myself, and still wanted an outlook, a mood suited to the enterprise, proof against petty discouragements."

For more see My log book entry

Lets say I am looking for person with an entry in address book, email, itunes, or a recent web search.

By invoking QuickSilver with space-command and typing in my search criteria, QuickSilver then will give me an option to launch an application to see the address, send an email, play an itunes playlist, or go to the previously searched url.