Schiavoni Files

According to the "Think Progress Website" Richard Armitage told NPR in an interview that he thinks the bombings in Lebanon will end up empowering Hezbollah. No other major media outlets have yet reported on these remarks.

Armitage said:

If I thought that this air campaign would work, and would eliminate Nasrullah and the leadership of Hezbollah, I think it would all be fine. But I fear that you can’t do this from the sky, and that you’re going to end up empowering Hezbollah, and perhaps introducing an element into the body politic in Lebanon that will take some great period of time to recover from.

Think Progress has the audio on their website if you want to listen to his entire interview.
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The first veto of his presidential career....

was it to protect our environment?
pay down our embarrassing national debt?
modernize our health care system?

nope...he used it to dash hope of a cure for millions of terminally ill patients...

Now there's a leader we can be proud of.

Bring on the rapture...
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As many of you know, I traveled to Beirut last September. Check out more pics and the post here.

What a beautiful city Beirut was and probably the city where I felt the most comfortable of all the cities I traveled to in the ME.

I have been talking quite a bit with my Jordanian and American friends about what is happening there right now. Opinions vary, but the main consensus is that it is all just really sad.

We all agree that Hizbollah's kidnappings were inexcusable and reprehensible. Many of us also think that Israel has a right to defend itself but that they are overdoing it by not only going after Hizbollah strongholds but also destroying infrastructure in downtown Beirut and killing and injuring civilians of this fragile new Democracy. One Jordanian friend eloquently observed that "Israel always goes straight for the jugular."

I mourn what both countries are going through right now. On a personal level, I am worried for the people I met in Lebanon and my friends in Jordan who have loved ones there. Even though I visited Beirut during a time of relative stability, it was clear that fatalism has been etched permanently into their hearts and minds. To put that in more colloquial terms, the folks I spoke with talked openly about impending war and death, many had thousands in credit card debt (you can't take $ with you when you go), and literally partied like there was no tomorrow.

We can't choose where we are born. We can't choose the time we are born in. But it is more important then ever that the countries who can choose their leaders do so with great caution.

The evangelical Rapture Ready message board for evangelicals read last Thursday, “Is it time to get excited?” Crazy times.

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About a month ago Kirstin and I were driving past this rollerskating rink on our way home from work and Kirstin said she wanted to go sometime which totally blew me away because she is usually too-cool-for-school about those kind of things. But then again she is kind of retro so it wasn't a totally unplausible scenario.

So, for Kirstin's birthday the whole NPC team surprised here by taking her skating. It was totally great to see the whole crew on skates. Some were going backwards while others were holding onto the wall for dear life (you know who you are). Along with our "party package" we got to use this "party room" which was like a 5' x 5' closet and hotter then all hell. We packed in there for our cake and two free pitchers of soda and uncorked some champagne contraband. It was a good time all around. We were hoping to take a team picture with our rollerskates but we forgot the camera so Ludovic went and bought us a disposable camera but they only had one kind at it was horrible quality.

I just want to give a shout out to the Rollerdrome in Madison, WI where we used to go every Friday night from age 12-14 for teaching me how to skate and also dad for taking me to hockey nights on Lake Mendota.
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I was at a BBQ watching the Italy v. Germany World Cup match with a bunch of folks including this outspoken British intellectual type. Being Independence Day, someone eventually made a crack about the "Red Coat" sitting next to us.

But instead of laughing or reacting, the Brit looked confused.

He had never heard the term Red Coat!

According to this chap, British children never learn about their involvement in the American Revolution. While it fills chapters and chapters of our history books, it's a mere footnote in their textbooks.

While it shocked me, I guess it shouldn't that surprising that countries dwell on their victories and skim their defeats. This country isn't even dwelling on our current defeats!

Still weird though.

I also learned that Paul Revere wasn't actually saying "The Redcoats are coming." He was saying "The Regulars are coming" referring to the regular (British) Army. I don't know if that is true though but I thought it was interesting.
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