By nature, Obama does not follow old-line political orthodoxies. Above all, Obama's form of pragmatism is heavily empirical; he wants to know what will work.

Consider his domestic agenda. Favoring aggressive action to control greenhouse-gas emissions, he is open to considering nuclear power and has explicitly credited Republicans for promoting market-oriented approaches to environmental problems (and he has attracted the scorn of some on the left for doing so). A sharp critic of No Child Left Behind, he has spoken favorably about merit pay for teachers. Offering an ambitious health care plan, he would not require adults to purchase health insurance. His goal is to make health care available, not to force people to buy it--a judgment that reflects Obama's commitment to freedom of choice, his pragmatic nature (an enforcement question: Would those without health care be fined or jailed?), and his desire to produce a plan that might actually obtain a consensus. And, while he would raise taxes on the very richest Americans, he is hardly anti-business; indeed, he proposes to eliminate the capital gains tax for start-ups and small companies.

"Reinventing Knowledge: From Alexandria to the Internet ."

by Ian McNeely and Lisa Wolverton.

This seems relevant to the mission of Swords Crossed. Book review at Salon.com:

Happy Birthday John!

So he's now 72.

in Washington Monthly by Steve Benen (old Carpetbagger report) & Hilzoy (OW). they say:

"As has been the case for quite a while, Barack Obama lit into John McCain in his acceptance speech last night, but not in personal terms. It highlighted the key distinction of the two campaign styles -- McCain has gone after Obama on character, integrity, and patriotism, while Obama has gone after McCain on policy, substance, and vision. But this is about more than just competing approaches to character assassination, it's also about laying the groundwork for actually governing....

There's another lesson in George W. Bush's 2004 victory over Kerry by demolishing Kerry's personal reputation: It left Kerry's agenda untouched. As Bush discovered from the day after his 2005 inauguration, he had no mandate for conservative policies such as Social Security privatization because he had not run on them...In 2004, voters agreed with Kerry, but were persuaded to reject him. They disagreed with Bush, but wanted to invite him to their barbecue. But when it came time to govern, Bush did what he wanted to do, Americans grew frustrated because they hated his agenda, and the president's popularity tanked...If a candidate runs a campaign that hides his or her positions on the issues -- as Bush did twice, and McCain is doing now -- it's bound to deeply disappoint the electorate once he or she starts implementing the ideas no one endorsed.

That makes Obama's pitch a gamble -- he's counting on voters to be grown-ups -- but should he win, he'll have the advantage of a mandate."

of chicken with the West:

Iran's deputy foreign minister said Friday that almost 4,000 uranium-enriching centrifuges are now operating at the country's Natanz enrichment facility, the national IRNA news agency reported.

[...] The five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council and Germany -- a group called P5+1 -- offered a package of economic and other incentives to Iran in July if it suspended its nuclear enrichment program.

Georgia ends cease fire agreement . (Assoc. Press)

A Georgia Cabinet minister says the country has pulled out of a 1994 U.N. agreement that ended the war in the separatist region of Abkhazia.

The announcement Saturday by the office of Temur Yakobashvili follows Russia's recognition of Abkhazia as independent.

The U.N. agreement called for a cease-fire after fighting killed thousands of people. It also provided for Russian peacekeeping troops, which Georgia says sided with the separatists.

Russia is now facing isolation over its military offensive in Georgia, and Moscow stands alone in its recognition of the breakaway regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

Russia, which recognized both regions as independent this week, drove out Georgian forces that had remained in a small portion of Abkhazia.

So why is the option joining Russia in recognizing these independent states a non-starter?

I'd like to know what others think.

We recognized Kosovo. On the grounds of self determination, I see an argument for it.

To watch the progression of the post through the three updates is very funny & insightful.

Good final conclusion, even though we won't say those things here.

You can see here , a lot of conservatives were big fans of, and wanted JM to choose , Sarah Palin !

After Mad Cow scares, Creekstone Farms Premium Beef decided they wanted to test all of their cattle for Mad Cow disease independently of the 1% the USDA by government mandate.

The testing kits are only available from the USDA and the USDA refuses to sell Creekstone enough kits to test all of their cattle. The USDA's position is that testing every cow would cause people to think that testing 1% isn't good enough, which would cause uncertainty as to the safety of domestic beef production. Large meat packers oppose Creekstone because they believe if Creekstone tests all their cattle, the rest of the meat packers will have to fall in line lest they lose business. This increased testing would cause them to raise prices, which they'd rather not do.

The case has come back from the appeals court after a preliminary win by Creekstone. The court ruled 2-1 for the USDA.

More here by way of /. .