The Future Green Zone

Orlando, Hawaii, Tahiti, and now... the Green Zone?

A $5bn (£2.5bn) tourism and development scheme for the Green Zone being hatched by the Pentagon and an international investment consortium would give the heavily fortified area on the banks of the Tigris a "dream" makeover that will become a magnet for Iraqis, tourists, business people and investors. About half of the area is now occupied by coalition forces, the US state department or private foreign companies.

So this is why we went to war in Iraq - to create the Tigris Woods Golf and Country Club. Apparently the elites want a little adventure, in the form of dodging bombs and bullets, when they look for R+R. Good thing we had that surge!

Indian Athlete Boycotts Torch Relay

Hard for me not to be proud of this,

India's soccer captain has refused to carry the Olympic torch through the New Delhi later this month to protest China's crackdown on recent demonstrations in Tibet, a sports official said Tuesday.

One has to wonder if the U.S. or any of its athletes will protest in any form also. I imagine that the USOC has made it very clear to athletes that any dissent will not be tolerated, but I feel that there will be at least a few renegade athletes who will stand up for Tibet come this summer.

Coal to Fuel

The Air Force wants in.

A step in the right direction for weaning us off of foreign oil, but a step in the wrong direction for reducing greenhouse emissions.

Sweet Pics

Over at Wired.

My fav:

Superdelegates

Always remember: "The superdelegates weren't created to add fluff to the popular vote, but to make the educated decision that voters sometimes can't."

We are stupid. They are smart. Their vote should count more than ours.

This is democracy at work.

4000

4000 too many.

End the war.

Perfect Timing

Just as we begin talking about border enforcement in my Immigration Law class, I read this article detailing Rudy Giuliani's stance on the matter.

Republican presidential contender Rudy Giuliani pushed the idea of a "virtual" rather than a real fence along much of the U.S.-Mexico border on Monday, an issue that's controversial in the Rio Grande Valley where many people oppose construction of a physical fence to stop illegal immigration.

And what is the best part of his approach?

Giuliani said his approach could end illegal immigration within three years.

Laughable to say the least. No fence will ever do the trick. Sure it will make things harder for people to come over from Mexico, but then again, if there is a continued economic imbalance between the US and Central America, then the inevitability of illegal immigration is overwhelming. Of course, what people often forget is that around 25-40% of the current undocumented population is actually made up of people who came here legally, through a visa of some sort. How exactly would a border fence of any type address those millions?

Increasingly though, it seems as if the Republicans are in a freefall on how best to one up one another on illegal immigration, just as they were doing on Guantanamo a short while ago. Similarly, the Democrats are trying to outdo each other with withdrawal from Iraq. One wonders how all of this will play out in a general election. Can the two party nominees race to the center in November with such records of pushing further and further outwards? It seems like the extremeness of the positions is unlike previous elections, but only time will tell how far to the right and to the left the candidates can go. Luckily there is only a few weeks for this to continue. Anymore and a viable third party candidate could emerge.

Probably Why I'll Support Obama

It has been between Obama and Edwards for me for quite a while. I think that substantively, Edwards seems to across as a bit more policy oriented, but Obama seems to have the ability to unite all kinds of people. Now it is even clearer that Obama is right for all of America.

In his new memoir, "No Excuses: Concessions of a Serial Campaigner," Shrum recalls asking Edwards at the outset of that campaign, "What is your position, Mr. Edwards, on gay rights?"

"I'm not comfortable around those people," Edwards replied, according to Shrum.

With that on the table, I feel no excuse but to support Obama, even if we are still a bit early in the primary season. However, Edwards has made some clear amends over his vote on the Iraq War, so if he comes clean on his tolerance of gays, then we shall see.

What I Wanted to see Asked at the Republican Presidential Debate

Two questions should have been asked, both which would have been pretty decent follow ups,

1. First, after being asked about evolution, the candidates should have been asked who believes that Adam and Eve were the first humans on the planet.

2. Second, after being asked about amending the Constitution to allow for foreign-born citizens to run for president, they should have been asked who believes in a Constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage. This question would probably require more than just a raise of the hand though, as I would want to see people explain their positions.

Nail in the Coffin for Gonzales?

I was at first quite skeptical that Attorney General Alberto Gonzales would actually get fired for his role in the US Attorney Scandal. However, the evidence just keeps on mounting that this was indeed done for political reasons and that he was fully knowing of this.

Today, we learned that Gonzales gave two of his aides authority to hire and fire political appointees. Moreover, it appears that Gonzales, nor anyone in the Justice Department, disclosed this delegation of authority to Congress.

Additionally, according to National Journal, an original draft of the delegation of authority was so broad, that neither of the two officials needed to receive approval from Gonzales before dismissing officials.

One can only wonder how much longer Gonzales will be allowed to stick around. It seems that only more information will be recovered in the coming weeks and months and the Attorney General's actions will be further scrutinized. Of course, this also is a nice distraction from Iraq.