Gulfstream

http://www.theatlantic.com/issues/2004/01/media-preview/
pollack.htm Why the intelligence community thought Iraq had WMDs (partial reason): “Prior to 1991 the intelligence communities in the United States and elsewhere believed that Iraq was at least five, and probably closer to ten, years away from acquiring a nuclear weapon. Of course, after the war we learned that in 1991 Iraq had been only six to twenty-four months away from having a workable nuclear weapon. This revelation stunned the analysts responsible for following the Iraqi nuclear program. The lessons they took from it were that Iraq was determined to acquire nuclear weapons and would go to any lengths to do so; that in pursuit of this goal Iraq was willing to use technology that Westerners considered crude and obsolete; that the Iraqis were superb at concealment and deception; and that inspections were inherently flawed—after all, there had been inspectors in Iraq prior to 1990, and they had been completely fooled.” (This is a very good piece.) 04:28

http://www.tnr.com/easterbrook.mhtml?pid=1166 “Are there senior citizens who need prescription drugs on the Moon? Does the religious right favor a Moon base? How about illegal immigrants, would they be willing to take Moon jobs that Americans don’t want?” 03:40

http://arts.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2003/
12/14/bolane.xml Great interview with Anthony Lane, movie critic for the New Yorker. “I tend to send my copy in on deadline, which by New Yorker standards is tacky. It has to go through three or four proofs. The fact-checkers proof; the grammarians proof. And it is amazing. Someone does go to see the film, to make sure I’m not lying. If I’m reviewing a Tim Burton film and I say that Ewan McGregor’s wearing a bright blue shirt, they’ll say to me, ‘It’s more like bright turquoise’. But you should get it right, especially if you’re going to have some fun with it. Otherwise it’s cheating. The New Yorker is the only place in the world where you can pull a piece to change a comma to a semi-colon. It’s a haven for the pedant. I love it.” 15:40

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/3332193.stm Fur boots start out as gigantic fur boots that are then shrunk?? (See picture.) 15:21

http://www.newyorker.com/talk/content/?040112ta_talk_menand On “Top Ten” lists. (Louis Menand) 15:21

http://slate.msn.com/id/2093649/ “Free Trade Butters”—are they really for free trade at all? (Michael Kinsley) 15:19

http://www.nerve.com/PersonalEssays/Ueland/Britney/ The ingredients necessary to get married in a Las Vegas chapel. (“Lots of alcohol, a weakness for extreme experiences, and some dirty nasty porn-star-like fucking-sex.”) 15:16

http://slate.msn.com/id/2093550/ Kurd Sellout Watch, Day 310. (Kurds have been very lucky so far.) 13:57

http://slate.msn.com/id/2093582/ Is child molesting a sickness or a crime? (Dahlia Lithwick) 13:49