Link: BillHop.com – Arizona. Hate the Arizona Legislature’s billtracker? I do. It is cludgey, hard to edit, badly designed, and not easy to refer to. Maybe that’s all intentional… Moreover, it is hard for distributed, loosely coordinated groups to collaborate to markup and publicize bills they like and don’t like. Blogs have their place, but … Read more

Russell Lowes will be speaking about nuclear power this weekend. Russell is a Drinking Liberally regular and I encourage you to attend if you want to learn more about why restarting the nuclear industry in America is not a solution to our energy and greenhouse gas emissions problems. Talk:  "Nuclear Power is a Threat to … Read more

I have enormous respect for General Odom. I met him when he was campaigning on behalf of Howard Dean. He’s enormously learned in military, diplomatic, and strategic intelligence matters. I read several of his books, and have followed his work ever since. I was pleased to see him publish the following op-ed in the WaPo this Sunday. The thinking in this op-ed didn’t spring from Odom’s head like Athena: he’s been thinking through the strategic moves that Iraq necessitates for some time now. Some further articles that you might be interested in by General Odom are "How to Cut and Run" and "Know When to Fold ‘Em" written earlier this year and late last year. I think Odom’s writings are so important to re-framing the debate on Iraq, that I reproduce his WaPo op-ed here in its entirety:

Victory Is Not an Option
The Mission Can’t Be Accomplished  —  It’s Time for a New Strategy

By William E. Odom
Sunday, February 11, 2007

The new National Intelligence Estimate (full text pdf) on Iraq starkly delineates the gulf that separates President Bush’s illusions from the realities of the war. Victory, as the president sees it, requires a stable liberal democracy in Iraq that is pro-American. The NIE describes a war that has no chance of producing that result. In this critical respect, the NIE, the consensus judgment of all the U.S. intelligence agencies, is a declaration of defeat.

Its gloomy implications — hedged, as intelligence agencies prefer, in rubbery language that cannot soften its impact — put the intelligence community and the American public on the same page. The public awakened to the reality of failure in Iraq last year and turned the Republicans out of control of Congress to wake it up. But a majority of its members are still asleep, or only half-awake to their new writ to end the war soon.

Perhaps this is not surprising. Americans do not warm to defeat or failure, and our politicians are famously reluctant to admit their own responsibility for anything resembling those un-American outcomes. So they beat around the bush, wringing hands and debating "nonbinding resolutions" that oppose the president’s plan to increase the number of U.S. troops in Iraq.

For the moment, the collision of the public’s clarity of mind, the president’s relentless pursuit of defeat and Congress’s anxiety has paralyzed us. We may be doomed to two more years of chasing the mirage of democracy in Iraq and possibly widening the war to Iran. But this is not inevitable. A Congress, or a president, prepared to quit the game of "who gets the blame" could begin to alter American strategy in ways that will vastly improve the prospects of a more stable Middle East.

A story told to me in a bar (the best place for stories to be told): Some friends and I went to Guadalajara Mexico for a week. I wanted to bring this great shirt I made myself that said "Fuck Bush" in big red letters. It looked like crap and was obviously homemade, and my … Read more

There will be a Democratic party this Saturday with food, fun and Tucson City Council members and candidates for Wards 2, 4 and the Mayorship. I recommend that you attend if you are interested in this year’s city elections. Third Annual I Love Liberty Party When: Saturday, February 10, 2007 Time: 3 p.m. until 5 … Read more