Big D Just Got Bigger

March 31, 2008RobotPirateNinja cool, us Tags: dallas, home, texas 1 Comment

The Associated Press: Census: Texas Is the Hot Place to Live

DALLAS (AP) — Four Texas metropolitan areas were among the biggest population gainers as Americans continued their trend of moving to the Sun Belt in 2006 and 2007, according to Census Bureau estimates to be released Thursday.Dallas-Fort Worth added more than 162,000 residents between July 2006 and July 2007, more than any other metro area. Three other Texas areas — Houston, Austin and San Antonio — also cracked the top 10.

A lil shout out to the place that spawned me.

Zbig on the Way Out of Iraq

March 31, 2008RobotPirateNinja iraq, middle east, terror, us, war Tags: Ending Iraq, iraq, stupid, us, war Leave a comment

The Smart Way Out of a Foolish War – washingtonpost.com

The case for U.S. disengagement from combat is compelling in its own right. But it must be matched by a comprehensive political and diplomatic effort to mitigate the destabilizing regional consequences of a war that the outgoing Bush administration started deliberately, justified demagogically and waged badly. (I write, of course, as a Democrat; while I prefer Sen. Barack Obama, I speak here for myself.)

The contrast between the Democratic argument for ending the war and the Republican argument for continuing is sharp and dramatic. The case for terminating the war is based on its prohibitive and tangible costs, while the case for “staying the course” draws heavily on shadowy fears of the unknown and relies on worst-case scenarios. President Bush‘s and Sen. John McCain’s forecasts of regional catastrophe are quite reminiscent of the predictions of “falling dominoes” that were used to justify continued U.S. involvement in Vietnam. Neither has provided any real evidence that ending the war would mean disaster, but their fear-mongering makes prolonging it easier.

There’s some dang good reasoning in the article. Almost robot like in his precision. This is how it should be done.

Contracts, yea…and The Whole Implosion of the Housing Market

March 31, 2008March 31, 2008RobotPirateNinja Poli-Fi, Uncategorized, us Tags: failure of leadership, housing crisis, hud, more time with the fmaily Leave a comment

Housing secretary says leaving April 18 – Yahoo! News

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The housing secretary has resigned and will leave office April 18, he said on Monday.
ADVERTISEMENTHousing and Urban Development Secretary Alphonso Jackson said that he is leaving office “to attend more diligently to personal and family matters.”

In recent days, Jackson has faced calls for his resignation after lawmakers have said he behaved improperly in awarding federal contracts.

Yet another fall-guy for a bursting bubble.

That’s About All She’s Good For Now

March 31, 2008June 4, 2008RobotPirateNinja iraq, Poli-Fi, President 08, us Tags: albania, hillary, President 08, president 2008, snipers Leave a comment

FROM BAD TO VERSE FOR HILL – New York Post

March 31, 2008 — SARAJEVO, Bosnia – The Bosnian girl who famously read a poem to Hillary Rodham Clinton during her 1996 visit to the war-torn country is shocked – and her countrymen infuriated – that the former first lady claimed to have dodged sniper fire that day.Emina Bicakcic, now 20 and studying to become a doctor, told The Post she stood on the tarmac at the air base in Tuzla, greeted Clinton and even had time to share the lines of verse she’d written – all without fear of attack from an unseen enemy.

“I was surprised when I heard this,” Bicakcic said, referring to Clinton’s assertion that she braved snipers upon landing, ducking and sprinting to military vehicles.

Other Bosnians said they had one of two reactions to Clinton’s debunked action-hero account of her visit: laughter or anger.

I think about all Hill is good for at this point. Laughter (R) or Anger (D).

“Old Europe”, eh?

March 31, 2008RobotPirateNinja europe, history, Sci-Non-Fi Tags: anthropology, bones, history, white people Leave a comment

Earliest known human remains found in Europe | NEWS.com.au

ANTHROPOLOGISTS delving into a cave in northeastern Spain announced today they had uncovered the earliest known remains of a human in Europe, a find that they dated to as much as 1.2 million years old.
The exceptional fossil strengthens the theory that humans, after emerging from their African home, struck out towards western Europe far earlier than thought, they said.The find comprises teeth and part of a lower jawbone about four centimetres across, found in the Atapuerca hills east of the city of Burgos, the team reported in the science journal Nature.

The site, called the Sima del Elefante, comprises a cave 18m deep and 15m wide, with sediment and debris from ancient human settlement, bats and other animals forming layers many metres thick deep.

The soil layer at which the fossil was found has been dated to around 1.1-1.2 million years ago, using carbon isotope decay and palaeo-magnetism, in which reversals in Earth’s magnetic field leave a weak signal in rocks, providing a timetable of the past.

Lucy from Ethiopia (Utopia, in your good books) is still the oldest human. This was possibly one of the oldest white people (who like stuff like this).

McCain, Iraq : Can You Guess What He Said?

March 31, 2008RobotPirateNinja Uncategorized Tags: "victory", iraq, mccain, neocon Leave a comment

ABC News: McCain: Iraq Pullout May Mean Genocide

In a major address in California on foreign policy, the presumptive Republican nominee said, “It would be an unconscionable act of betrayal, a stain on our character as a great nation, if we were to walk away from the Iraqi people and consign them to the horrendous violence, ethnic cleansing and possibly genocide that would follow a reckless, irresponsible and premature withdrawal.”McCain Sees Progress in Iraq

Speaking to the Los Angeles World Affairs Council, McCain, who has supported the war from the beginning, pointed to what he said were signs of progress: a decrease in violence and civilian and military deaths, Iraqis returning to work, markets open, and oil revenues increasing.

All of which is true, if you look at a three-day period in late 2007. This is a guy who had a tougher reception in Iraq than Ahmedinijad. Of course *every* U.S. political visitor had a tougher visit than ole Mahmoud. I wonder what that says about the prospects of a long term presence/dominance of the region?