All the newswires are reporting that Microsoft and the Justice Department are close to a settlement. I don’t expect much good to come of this.
I actually had some interest in reading Jonathan Franzen’s novel The Corrections , that is, until I found out what a pretentious asshole he is. When his book was selected for Oprah’s book club he threw a hissy fit about the Oprah’s book club logo being slapped on the front and basically bemoaned the fact that his book would be exposed to people who weren’t smart enough to appreciate it. There are thousands of authors out there who would be ecstatic at the thought that millions of people would suddenly be interested in their book instead of thousands, but not this jerk. Franzen is the sort of snob who gives authors a bad name.
The FBI faces a tough problem in their investigations of terrorism in the US – many of the figures suspected to be involved are imams who lead various mosques. It’s difficult to investigate them without drawing fire for being insensitive to religion or anti-Muslim. Of course, one wonders why these radical imams are so widely accepted at mosques around the country in the first place.
Nicholas Lemann’s New Yorker article on current theories in terrorism studies about what motivates terrorists is a pretty good read. The discussion of civil war was particularly intersting, and the interview at the end with the hawkish Kenneth Adelman was chilling. This man actually advocates destroying the current government in Afghanistan and leaving it to the people who pick up the pieces, because having anarchy there would be less of a threat to the United States. I personally cannot stomach anyone who doesn’t want the same things for the rest of the world that they want for the US – prosperity, security, and freedom.
For those keeping track at home, the BBC has an Afghanistan who’s who.