lets arm the libyan rebels and train them

Yes let's arm the libyan rebels! I mean jeez its not like we'll face these weapons in the future.. noooo..of course not...

Have we not learned from Afghanistan? Iran?

Mitt Romney in Person

Just sat on a US Airways flight to LGA from PIT with Mitt Romney and his aide next to me.

Guess he's flying commercial to experience the common man's struggles and boy did he get to experience it all its glory, it was a horrible flight thanks to thunderstorms and poor queue management by US Airways.

Scheduled boarding: 3:50 PM
Actual Boarding: 4:10 PM
Scheduled Departure: 4:20 PM
De-planing: 5:00 PM
Scheduled arrival: 5:48 PM
Re-boarding: 6:00 PM
Sitting at gate: 6:00 PM - 6:30 PM
Sitting on tarmac: 6:30 PM - 7:00 PM
Actual Departure: 7:00 PM
Circling LGA: 8:20 - 8:40 PM
Landing: 8:40 PM
Waiting on tarmac at LGA: 8:40 PM - 9:00 PM
Deplaning: 9:00 PM
Baggage: 9:30 PM

Mitt Romney was very graceful throughout the whole trip, we had a nice chat about his iPad, Apple, Steve Jobs' health, airlines' recent baggage and snack policies, and how our pilot had a window to take off but didn't and we'd be very late as a result, and that I was probably going to miss my midterm exam.

Airstrikes on Libya

The airstrikes are more than just a no-fly zone, they've been targeting Qaddafi's mobile SAM's and armor, but less than a full scale invasion.

The problem with going half-way is that you do not eliminate Qaddafi's ability to attack. Qaddafi, instead of using overwhelming force via armor with a quick toppling of the rebel leadership and reasserting power, will now go door to door, inch by inch, foot by foot to reassert control of eastern Libya and the total casualties will be much higher than either:
1) not having airstrikes
2) wiping Qaddafi's forces off the map .

Also, have we not learned from Iraq that once you remove leadership in secular Middle Eastern countries, no matter how repressive, that Al Qaeda immediately fills the vacuum and it requires a long and painful groundwar to remove them?

The future of facebook

Facebook is getting a strong toehold in the elusive small business market. Even tiny ethnic neighborhood restaurants are starting to have facebook pages. The next logical step is a small website with a menu, wonder who will corner that market.

Sectarian clashes in Egypt challenge a revolutionary idealism

Sectarian clashes in Egypt challenge a revolutionary idealism

Trade update

Which is the lesser evil?

I found this Getty newswire picture to be slightly disturbing, I didn't realize Qaddafi was a Nazi and Jewish at the same time. Hopefully this is not representative of the general feeling in rebel held Libya.

I hope people eventually realize that Libya is a mix of Yugoslavia and Iraq, instead of Croats, Serbs, and Bosnians or Kurds, Shiites, and Sunnis, we have dozens of tribes, many with long-standing grievances towards one another.

Qaddafi (of the Qaddafi tribe) was successful in his 1969 coup because it was felt that King Idris I favored the eastern tribes. He learned to play the tribes against each other over the past 42 years to maintain his control.

So have no fantasies that there will be a smooth and easy transition to democracy in Libya even if Qaddafi is overthrown.