Thursday, May 29, 2008

Scott McClellan's awakening

Yesterday Scott (former White House press secretary) was all over the news because of his explosive accusations at his former boss and colleagues in his new book coming out this weekend. Everyone's asking why now? Why didn't he do that when he was part of the administration. Which is the basic question anyone asks an author writing critically about his past employers. He did that too..

Jake Tapper from Political Punch dug up some past quotes by Scottie when he was the press secretary about a book written by Richard Clarke criticizing the administration. Here's the snippet:
McClellan also took issue with the book by former Bush White House counter-terrorism czar Richard Clarke, "Against All Enemies: Inside America's War on Terror," on March 22, 2004:

McCLELLAN: Well, why, all of a sudden, if he had all these grave concerns, did he not raise these sooner? This is one-and-a-half years after he left the administration. And now, all of a sudden, he's raising these grave concerns that he claims he had. And I think you have to look at some of the facts. One, he is bringing this up in the heat of a presidential campaign. He has written a book and he certainly wants to go out there and promote that book. Certainly let's look at the politics of it. His best buddy is Rand Beers, who is the principal foreign policy advisor to Senator Kerry's campaign. The Kerry campaign went out and immediately put these comments up on their website that Mr. Clarke made. ...

His answer to why he waited?..
“The White House would prefer that I not talk openly about my experiences,”

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Why Bush Invaded Iraq

From the mouth of the former White House Press Secretary, Scott McClellan:
In Iraq, McClellan added, Bush saw "his opportunity to create a legacy of greatness," something McClellan said Bush has said he believes is only available to wartime presidents.

The president's real motivation for the war, he said, was to transform the Middle East to ensure an enduring peace in the region. But the White House effort to sell the war as necessary due to the stated threat posed by Saddam Hussein was needed because "Bush and his advisers knew that the American people would almost certainly not support a war launched primarily for the ambitions purpose of transforming the Middle East," McClellan wrote.
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"I know the president pretty well. I believe that, if he had been given a crystal ball in which he could have foreseen the costs of war — more than 4,000 American troops killed, 30,000 injured and tens of thousands of innocent Iraqis dead — he would never have made the decision to invade, despite what he might say or feel he has to say publicly today," McClellan wrote.

Thursday, May 22, 2008

Bobby Jindal as McCain's Veep?

I've heard this before, but it just felt like wishful thinking by some desi's. But, looks like he IS a potential Vice Presidential candidate. Very Interesting.

From IHT by Adam Nagourney:
Of all the names being mentioned as McCain's potential running mate, Piyush "Bobby" Jindal, the 36-year-old first-term governor of Louisiana, is not only the youngest and least experienced, but also the only one who is not white. Yet in a year in which Democratic voters have raised few objections to such traditional "obstacles," Jindal may be especially attractive as Republicans seek a way to offset the "post-racial" and youthful appeal of Senator Barack Obama.

Related: from Sepia Mutiny

Monday, May 19, 2008

McCain's YouTube Problem Just Became a Nightmare

A Nice compilation of the "Maverick's" Flip Flops..in just this presidential campaign!!

Food Fight

From You Tube's More Info :

An abridged history of American-centric warfare, from WWII to present day, told through the foods of the countries in conflict.

For a breakdown of the actual battles portrayed in the film, visit:
http://www.touristpictures.com/foodfi...

For the official cheat sheet (breakdown of the foodstuffs), visit:
http://www.touristpictures.com/foodfi...

Now, to answer some FAQs...
- The food in this film was consumed either by myself or my dog after shooting. None of the cast went to waste.
- The software used was photoshop and after effects.
- The film took me 3 months to do.
- Although it seems like stop motion, most of it was stop motion created within After effects, using keyframe animation. I am basically moving the food around within the the program, frame by frame, which is the same as traditional stop motion, only it's digital.

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Thomas Friedman Sums Up the Iraq War:

Wow. I read Thomas Friedman being bashed from top to bottom on the liberal blogs, even though he is considered a 'liberal'. Man, this video makes it crystal clear. Just plain Wow. Didn't think this guy was such a Dumb Ass. He studied in Middle East for pete's sake. He is combining the whole Muslim world into one single entity...Just plain unbelievable.

Current day USA in 3 simple sentences

I thought about what America was and what it has become and was trying to figure out a way to express it. The following passage by G.K.Chesterton's from Heretics sums it up.
It may be said with rough accuracy that there are three stages in the life of a strong people. First, it is a small power, and fights small powers. Then it is a great power, and fights great powers. Then it is a great power, and fights small powers, but pretends that they are great powers, in order to rekindle the ashes of its ancient emotion and vanity. After that, the next step is to become a small power itself.
source: glenn greenwald

Monday, May 5, 2008

The Rise of the Rest

A very smart article dissecting and blending the history, present and future of the world's various countries their rise, fall and a lot more...by Fareed Zakaria in Newsweek. The article consists a lot of little factoids I've never heard or read.

A few choice snippets:
A young Chinese diplomat told me in 2006, "When you tell us that we support a dictatorship in Sudan to have access to its oil, what I want to say is, 'And how is that different from your support of a medieval monarchy in Saudi Arabia?' We see the hypocrisy, we just don't say anything—yet."
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U.S. carmakers now employ more people in Ontario, Canada, than Michigan because in Canada their health care costs are lower. Twenty years ago, the United States had the lowest corporate taxes in the world. Today they are the second-highest. It's not that ours went up. Those of others went down.
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So far, America has been able to have it both ways. It is the global rule-maker but doesn't always play by the rules. And forget about standards created by others. Only three countries in the world don't use the metric system—Liberia, Myanmar, and the United States. For America to continue to lead the world, we will have to first join it.
Read the whole thing. Don't miss.

IPL Players - Where are they from?