My friend Andy Leifer has a column in the Stanford Daily which focuses on technology. It’s a good read for techies and non-techies alike, so check it out.
Monthly Archives: November 2005
McCain is my hero, but he should stop calling me…
I don’t neccesarially approve of all Senator John McCain’s ideas, as evidenced recently via his many phone calls and letters directed at informing me as to how I should vote today in my state (which, by the way, is not AZ). Regardless, I am regularly impressed by what he doesn’t do, as opposed to what he does.
McCain should be applauded for going agaist the grain, even when the “grain” are Senators from his party, his party in general, or the President himself. It’s somewhat disheartening that I’m applauding a representative for sticking to their values as opposed to towing the party line, which is something all Senators should be expected to do. Sadly, these individuals are few and far between in politics, so they must be recognized.
Yes, but what’s all this have to do with IR? Well recently McCain introduced legislation to ban the use of torture by interrogators, and ammended it to the defence spending bill. This move was genious, in my opinion, because it is something that the President would find very diffucult to veto (unless he’d like to end the Iraq war a bit sooner than expected). The President maintains that “We do not torture”, but this seems contradictory to yesterday’s promise to veto any legislation that includes the ban.
There are many arguments both for and against the torture ban, the former more sensical and coherant that the latter, but the overwhelming argument to me is how this affects our image to the rest of the world. Our number one goal should be to salvage our image, since it is the predomanent thing which will prevent future acts of terrorism and improve relations with peoples and states worldwide. People will tolerate a progressive and forward-thinking world hegemon, but a bulley who doesn’t abide by it’s own rules will quickly be conspired against and attacked from all sides.
Even if this is defeated, the fact that this ammendment was overwhelmingly supported by members of the President’s own party should serve as a message to the rest of the world that Americans are concerned about the idea of torture, and about how our image is portrayed in general.
Posted in All, Int'l Relations
Stone Smoked Porter
Tried this earlier tonight. I’m a big fan of Stone Brewing in general, their Imperial Stout is one of my favorite beers. After being scared away by the insulting diatribe on the back of their Double Bastard Ale, I opted to try their Smoked Porter. In actuality, there was a very positive review of this beer at my local BevMo and I’ve rececntly learned to appriciate their ranking system (especially with wine).
This time they were spot-on. It’s decently dark, and there’s a suprising lack of bitterness. When they say “smokey” they really mean it, which
makes for a very interesting but pleasant taste. People with more refined taste buds than I claim to notice a chocolatey and coffee-like taste, but all I can pick up is peety and smokey flavors.
Everything I’ve tried from these guys I reccomend, and this is no exception.
Lagunitas Cappuccino Stout
Damn. This is a good beer. Somebody needs to remind me to take a tour of their brewery (read: get drunk on their beer for free), because their located in nearby Petaluma, Ca.
After reading about Nestle’s new beer-like coffee only two days prior, I decided to try a coffee-like beer (since the former is not yet available). It was a very good idea, because this beer is excellent. As a fan of both, I must say that coffee and beer make excellent companions. My friend Tina, who is not a big fan of dark beers (or beer in general), really enjoyed this, so that must say something.
Apparantly this is a sesonal beer, so I’m going to stock up on a few bottles of it shortly.