In last Thursday’s first presidential debate of the 2004 campaign season, there were a number of glaring omissions. Iraq was discussed, of course. And the only real substance of the debate was in the discussion of North Korea. The minimal discussion of Iran made it clear that neither candidate had much in the way of policy towards Iran. Mr. Kerry’s position may be evaporating as we speak.
No mention was made of Mexico. With many millions of her citizens within our borders both legally and illegally aren’t our relations with Mexico a serious issue? Securing our southern border against entry by potential terrorists? [continue reading…]
In the comments sections of several blogs and via email I’ve been trying to get a handle on what would seem to be a simple question: what is a moderate Muslim? What do they look like? Who are they? What do they believe? Apparently I’m not the only one asking this question. Abu Aardvark responds to a commenter’s question with an interesting post, Defining “moderate Islamism”:
…For now, let me put it like this: what signifies a moderate in Islamists, for me, is their position on the value of dialogue. Moderates like Qaradawi embrace dialogue as a core political value, which has a whole range of spinoff implications: a rejection of violence, a rejection of tyranny, a rejection of intolerance; and a commitment to something which can offer important links towards democracy and co-existence. It isn’t specific political positions, but rather a political orientation.
Radicals, for comparison, tend to embrace concepts such as a notion of “jihad” which embraces violence, and a notion of “jahiliyya” which denotes existing society as fundamentally corrupt. They do not see dialogue as important, since they already know the “truth” and see their enemies as impossible to persuade.
I don’t know if I agree with this definition. But I do believe that if in a quest for moderate Muslims, you’re looking for Muslims who are pro-Western, it may not be moderates you’re looking for.
Safe on the ground again SpaceshipOne has won the $10 million Ansari X prize as the first privately-funded spacecraft to complete two journeys into space within a two week period. Pilot Brian Binnie, designer Burt Rutan, and all of the people of Scaled Composites are to be congratulated on making another great step in the journey of human beings into space.
“I strongly feel that, if we are successful, our program will mark the beginning of a renaissance for manned space flight.”
I sincerely hope so. If today’s triumph is merely a prodigy, it will be exciting for a while but will fade in time. Space tourism, too, in my view is merely an oddity, a toy for the wealthy. If it spurs more enthusiasm and support for space travel, well and good.
I still believe that real commercial exploitation of space is the future of space travel.
My wife and I took Qila, Jenny, and Mira out for the first training hike of the season. Qila and Mira wore empty packs, Mira so that she would get the idea of the feel of the pack and Qila so that Mira knew that the whole pack was wearing backpacks. Jenny as grand old lady of the pack was pack-free.
The day was absolutely gorgeous with bright blue, cloud-free skies and temperature in the mid- to high 60’s. We chose a section of Forest Preserve trail not far from home. Cyclists, joggers, and walkers along the route frequently stopped to comment on how beautiful our dogs were. Which was true.
The dogs were ecstatic to be out on the trail with us. Jenny likes to do anything as long as its with us and there was a spring in Qila’s step that I haven’t seen in a while. Mira’s happy as long as she’s doing what the pack is doing.
The hike was brief totalling perhaps three miles all told. We didn’t want to overtire Mira in particular. We wanted to ensure that her first packing experience was a pleasant one. Today’s hike was on a bicycle path through deep woods and some savannah.
I think I’ll start a series of posts on urban pack-hiking with your dog covering equipment, trail selection, care of your dog, and trail manners. Expect the next in the series in a couple of days.
Forty-eight hours after the first presidential debate of the 2004 campaign the Newsweek poll suggests that Bush’s support may be slipping after a lacklustre debate performance.
Clarence Page has an interesting column in this morning’s Chicago Tribune in which, bucking prevailing Democratic partisan opinion, he puts the win for the first debate in the Bush column “by a word or two”. His reasoning: Bush did what he needed to do; Kerry didn’t. [continue reading…]
My wife and I attended the first production in our Chicago Lyric Opera subscription for this season, Wagner’s Das Rheingold. Das Rheingold is the lightest opera in the Ring Cycle if such a word can be applied to any of the operas of the cycle, a tale of teasing Rhinemaidens, lecherous gnomes, deceitful gods, and menacing giants. In what Wagner referred to as the Vorabend to the Ring Cycle we learn how the great curse came to be.
Lyric’s Cirque du Soleil-influenced production has bungeed Rhinemaidens, laser-like lighting effects, puppet giants, projection effects of clouds and mists, and a luminescent shadow-puppet dragon. [continue reading…]
October has begun in earnest now. The chill in the morning air was enough this morning that I wished I were wearing gloves when walking the dogs.
October was the eighth month of the Roman year which is why we call it that from octo, Latin for “eight”. Pretty confusing since it’s the tenth month of our year. According to the Venerable Bede, the first English historian, the Anglo-Saxons called this month Winterfylleth so things could be worse.
One of the great things about blogging is ferreting out new blogs that I find genuinely interesting. I don’t honestly recall how I stumbled across ZenPundit but I’m very glad that I did. ZenPundit is an intellectually-oriented blog with a focus on foreign policy and politics and I’m pleased to add it to my blogroll. Check it out!
This week’s Carnival of the Recipes is being hosted by Trudy of Food Basics. An even score of recipes from some of the best cooks in the blogosphere. Go for the Shrimp Linguine stay for the pie!
Safe on the ground again SpaceshipOne has won the $10 million 
