While waiting tables the other day, I heard a male in his mid-twenties explain to his family (younger brother, 17 or 18, mother, father and 12 or 13 year-old sister) that the "Democrats are getting out of hand." He went on to explain to his sister that Republicans are cool because they stand for and support the military to which she explained, "yeah, but President Bush is a republican and he's always on vacation and that's just stupid." This was all after the younger of the two boys explained that his writing is good but his spelling is bad. His father told him "it's OK that your spelling isn't that great. That's what computers are for." His mother added some optimism with "and if you get a good writing job, you can buy a new computer to check your spelling." I saw in this young man a future staffer at the NY Post.

I'm fascinated by New American Century project. It's a neo-conservative organization modeled after uber-moralist/empirialist Leo Strauss' inplausible democracy-by-force style philosophies and the "project" has existed since 1997. Some of the names signed on the project's statement of principals are Jeb Bush (but not George W.), Paul Wolfowitz, Steve Forbes, Dick Cheney, Dan Quayle (but not George H. W.), Elliot Abrams and other military-industrialist conservative all-stars. They explain, "Such a Reaganite policy of military strength and moral clarity may not be fashionable today. But it is necessary if the United States is to build on the successes of this past century and to ensure our security and our greatness in the next."

Interestingly, this week in their NEWS section, the subject heading is "9-11 Commission Confirms Iraq-al Qaeda Ties," where it points to a series of the commission's vague mention of ties between Iraq and al Qaeda and eventually quotes a statement reaffirming the seemingly incompatible nature of this tie (that Chomsky hypothesized in late 2001): "But to date we have seen no evidence that these or the earlier contacts ever developed into a collaborative operational relationship. Nor have we seen evidence indicating that Iraq cooperated with al Qaeda in developing or carrying out any attacks against the United States."

www.newamericancentury.org

I find tracking conseratives more interesting and useful than keeping up with the left.

Last night I listened to the archived episode of NPR's Fresh Air on which Ron Reagan Jr. spoke about stem-cell research, his father, the Bush Administration and gay marriage. Beyond my agreeing with everything he had to say, I found him an extremely likable man and I suggest if you have the 42 minutes to catch any of it, you give a listen:

http://freshair.npr.org/

I read a Q&A with Reagan Jr. several weeks ago in the NY Times and it was pretty swell.

Also, Sunday 07.25.04's NY Times Magazine featured a phenomenal article about the re-vamping of the Democratic party. Check that out if you are interested and get a chance.

I'll be reading the 9/11 commission's report quite soon, probably after the first of September as I feel as though a huge weight will be lifted off my shoulders by way of work, etc. How exciting.