War in the Absence of Strategic Clarity

Mark Helprin writes: The Claremont Institute: War in the Absence of Strategic Clarity
More than merely winning the war in Iraq, we needed to stun the Arab World.

America has approached the war on terrorism as if from two dreamworlds. The liberal, in which an absurd understanding of cause and effect, the habit of capitulation to foreign influence, a mild and perpetual anti-Americanism, reflex allergies to military spending, and a theological aversion to self-defense all lead to policies that are hard to differentiate from surrender. And the conservative, in which everything must be all right as long as a self-declared conservative is in the White Houseā??no matter how badly the war is run; no matter that a Republican administration in electoral fear leans left and breaks its promise to restore the military; and no matter that because the Secretary of Defense decided that he need not be able to fight two wars at once, an adequate reserve does not exist to deal with, for example, North Korea. And in between these dreamworlds of paralysis and incompetence lies the seam, in French military terminology la soudure, through which al-Qaeda, uninterested in our parochialisms, will make its next attack.

Recording industry's missteps

Restarting a thread I've had on the RIAA and the downturn in music sales: DenverPost.com - ENTERTAINMENT:

The best-selling "Chicago" movie soundtrack is available on CD starting at $13.86. The actual movie, with the soundtrack songs included, of course, plus additional goodies ranging from deleted musical numbers to the director's interview and a "making-of" feature, can be had for precisely $2.12 more. Therein lies the problem for a critically wounded music recording industry: The "Chicago" CD looks like a rip-off, and the DVD looks like a steal.

Eolas says it would settle over IE

Microsoft values intellectual property protection...when it's their intellectual property. When it's someone elses they'd prefer to take their toys and go home: Eolas says it would settle over IE | CNET News.com

In response to newly revealed details of Microsoft's potential plans to redesign its browser, Eolas founder Mike Doyle urged the software giant to leave Internet Explorer alone and pay his company a license fee instead.

Doyle, whose company's patent suit led to a federal district court's $521 million judgment against Microsoft, made his remarks to counter growing perception in the software industry that he is an ideologically driven crusader unwilling to settle with Microsoft at any cost.

"Microsoft has been representing to the world that they have no choice but to remove technology from the browser and disrupt the Internet," Doyle said in an interview Friday. "And I want to make it very clear that that is not the case. Microsoft has had in its power the ability to settle this case, and to the extent that they're refusing to settle, it's their decision."