I personally can't think of a better way to die.

Grrrr

The Slate Conspiracy:

Eugene Volokh has written for Slate. It's a highly worthwhile piece on slippery slopes vis-a-vis Iraq.

Crimes against Oil?:

From the text of Bush's speech last night about Iraq:

And all Iraqi military and civilian personnel should listen carefully to this warning. In any conflict your fate will depend on your actions. Do not destroy oil wells, a source of wealth that belongs to the Iraqi people. Do not obey any command to use weapons of mass destruction against anyone, including the Iraqi people. War crimes will be prosecuted. War criminals will be punished.

Supremes:

Which Supreme Court Justice are you?
I am, surprise, O'Connor or Kennedy. My lowest choices are Ginsburg and Stevens.

Clayton Cramer:

So as any of you who regularly read The Volokh Conspiracy will know, Eugene has recently inducted Clayton Cramer, a semi-celebrity in the blogosphere. The latest inductee was Jacob Levy, who has been-- IMHO-- a great addition. Indeed, his blog is the reason I started reading blogs. I'm worried that Mr. Cramer, on the other hand, will spoil what I consider to be the understated and uber-rational tone of the volokh conspiracy. I haven't read enough of his stuff to judge for sure, but the reason I haven't is, well, that I've not been very impressed with what he's written. Hope he proves me wrong.

Duplicity?

Clayton Cramer suggests that France "is not our ally" once this war is over. This seems like a needlessly absolutist position to take. Indeed, the most defensible defense I've seen of Bush's relatively hot-headed approach has been the knowledge that other countries will follow our lead once war becomes inevitable. There's nothing wrong with being against war, so long as it can be prevented, but wanting to win it once it can. Anti-war protestors also hope our troops will make it home safely. If anything, this is proof that one can be anti-war without being anti-American. Wounded patriotism shouldn't sabotage a national coalition, even if it is too little or too late.

Chocolate....

My brother suggests that dogs should be made out of chocolate. But then wouldn't they die when they licked themselves?

Hope from the Guardian:

Just when I was beginning to get sick of the position-without-a-position from the New York Times, the Guardian comes to the rescue (although, not, it's granted, from the editorial page). They have, first of all, this wonderful speech from Tony Blair-- (an excerpt):
To fall back into the lassitude of the last 12 years, to talk, to discuss, to debate but never act; to declare our will but not enforce it; to combine strong language with weak intentions, is a worse outcome than never speaking at all.
Then the Guardian also publishes this Clinton op-ed, which is less fun to read, but might be more persuasive to the British public; I don't know.

Back in Action:

Apologies for the radio silence, but now that my differential equations final is done with . . . here I am.