Bryan Strawser

Must be getting early
Clocks are running late
Paint by number morning sky
Looks so phony

Dawn is breaking everywhere
Light a candle, curse the glare
Draw the curtains
I don’t care ’cause
It’s all right

I will get by / I will get by
I will get by / I will survive

I see you’ve got your list out
Say your piece and get out
Yes I get the gist of it
but it’s all right

Sorry that you feel that way
The only thing there is to say
Every silver lining’s got a
Touch of grey

I will get by / I will get by
I will get by / I will survive

It’s a lesson to me
The Ables and the Bakers and the C’s
The ABC’s we all must face
And try to keep a little grace

It’s a lesson to me
The deltas and the east and the freeze
The ABC’s we all think of
Try to give a little love.

I know the rent is in arrears
The dog has not been fed in years
It’s even worse than it appears
but it’s all right.

Cows giving kerosene
Kid can’t read at seventeen
The words he knows are all obscene
but it’s all right

I will get by / I will get by
I will get by / I will survive

The shoe is on the hand it fits
There’s really nothing much to it
Whistle through your teeth and spit
causeit’s all right.

Oh well a Touch Of Grey
Kind of suits you anyway.
That was all I had to say
It’s all right.

I will get by / I will get by
I will get by / I will survive
We will get by / We will get by
We will get by / We will survive

Pure, and simple, I think Bush, in a twenty minutes speech, outmanuvered the United Nations, and his opponents.  Read the speech, it’s that simple.

President Bush gave a good speech at the U.N., and it now looks far more likely that the U.S. will not simply launch an invasion of Iraq but will work with and through the U.N., as it did during the Gulf War. I think that’s a positive step, and I applaud Bush for taking it. From where I sit, it looks like Bush has chosen to take heed of the critics of the preemptive unilateralism espoused by the hawk wing of his administration. As Josh Marshall puts it, “The White House had one policy. They hit a brick wall. Now they’ve changed policies.” Go over to Andrew Sullivan’s blog and you find a different take: “Bush has essentially outmaneuvered his opponents…Bush has spectacularly called the U.N.’s bluff.” We won’t know whether the U.N. speech represents a genuine shift toward multilateralism or a tactical feint until a few weeks have passed and we get a better sense of how seriously Bush intends to work with the U.N. He has a good example to follow from his father’s methodical building of a global alliance against Iraq. The effort to build such an alliance today will force the president to do what he has not yet done: Explain to the world exactly why Iraq is so much more immediate a threat today than it was two or four or eight years ago. [Scott Rosenberg’s Links & Comment]

Simple, yet powerful.

The Blue Man Group’s eloquent little 9/11 video memorial, “Exhibit 13,” can be viewed online here. (Thanks to Charly Z for the link.) [Scott Rosenberg’s Links & Comment]

I assume that Scott knows that this direction came from the Special Forces Command, and not from any oversight organization or other military leadership.  There’s valid reasons for what they’ve requested.

Did anyone else find this story about the U.S. military freaking out over soldiers growing beards in Afghanistan as strange as I did? I understand the armed forces require (literal) uniformity, but these are Special Forces troops who apparently have good reason to want to blend into the local population. It just seems that our leaders might have more pressing matters to focus on. [Scott Rosenberg’s Links & Comment]

Slight bit of exaggeration here.  The two face an Article 32 hearing which might lead to a General Court Martial for the charges requested by the investigation board – however, they’ve not actually been charged yet.

I love the crap the media pulls. Granted that the military justice system is a tad bit complicated, but their sources on this one suck.

All that said, the report that’s up on CENTCOM’s website makes for some pretty interesting reading, redactions and all.

Air Force charges two Illinois National Guard pilots with involuntary manslaughter, aggravated assault. AP via New Jersey Online Sep 13 2002 11:45PM ET [Moreover – Crime and punishment news]

I understand AT&T’s issue with this, but why in the world is their system setup to allow this to happen?!

AT&T says no more free multiple IPs. AT&T Broadband is telling cable modem customers with multiple IP addresses to pay up or risk having their addresses shut off. [CNET News.com]

What do we do when he doesn’t let the inspectors back in?

We goto war, with the world.  Bush’s speech yesterday, if anything, set the groundwork for that to happen.  The world will go with us.  And it will be the right thing to do.

“thinkusaalignright”Lance asks why there is no debate on war in Iraq in the US. Good question. I’ll do my part. I’m in the US. I am against the US going to war with Iraq. Saddam has had chemical and biological weapons for a long time. Nothing new there. The US apparently doesn’t believe he has nuclear weapons, but even if he does, or if he gets them, he’s about as likely to use them as India and Pakistan were in their war earlier this year. In the end the same balance that applied betw the US and the Soviet Union and China in previous decades applies in Central Asia. Nuclear weapons are not tactical devices, they are strategic. They are only useful as potential weapons. They say Saddam is a madman. I don’t think he’s so crazy as to use nuclear weapons. My hope is that this war talk is just posturing to get the inspectors back in, which of course would be a good thing. [Scripting News]