Direct invasion of a sovereign state has never in fact been America’s favoured method. In the main, it has preferred what it has described as ‘low intensity conflict’. Low intensity conflict means that thousands of people die but slower than if you dropped a bomb on them in one fell swoop. It means that you infect the heart of the country, that you establish a malignant growth and watch the gangrene bloom.
Tour de France champ Lance Armstrong has announced that his girlfriend, Anna Hansen, is expecting a child in June of 2009.
Courtesy of Muntadhar al-Zaidi.The best title so far: Sock and Awe.
Perhaps you’ve seen the remarkable photo of president-elect Barack Ab-ama, shirtless in Hawaii.The Huffington Post has now created a lovely slideshow of Other Shirtless Presidents.
We’ve just posted a new profile of Timothy Geithner, nominee for Secretary of the Treasury under Barack Obama.Trivia tidbit: Both were born in August of 1961. Geithner on the 18th and Obama on the 4th.
So says Obama.He could have dunked on James Madison, at least.
After our earlier puzzlement over the birth name of Madeleine Albright, we wrote to the offices of her consulting firm, The Albright Group, asking for help.That letter has now been answered politely by Jen Friedman, director of communications. She writes:
A hooded burglar stole $2 million in jewels from Paris Hilton’s bedroom on Friday morning.Luckily, when the burglars broke in at 5 a.m., Paris wasn’t home.
We’ve just had an interesting exchange with Who2 reader Martin Bennett about the birth name of baseball legend Willie Mays. We had it listed as William Howard Mays, Jr., but Mr. Bennett wrote:Willie Mays was my boyhood hero and remains my all-time fave, so I’m writing this kind of in defense of him. You have his real first name as William… [but] he was actually named Willie (Howard Mays Jr.), not William.Upon further review, we think Mr. Bennett is right.
But if [George had] hung out for a while, had a few drinks in the Indian Club, dropped a couple dimes in the dance hall, maybe checked out the action at the burlesque, he would have gotten a whole new take on the situation. Pottersville has its problems… but compared to the snooze-inducing Bedford Falls, it jumps.Why Pottersville beats Bedford Falls in It’s A Wonderful Life.