"Less than a decade after String Cheese Incident was formed by four ski bums in Crested Butte, Colo., the band finds itself at the apex of the jamband scene, filling venues like New York's Radio City Music Hall and selling more than 300,000 albums."

I'm not really a fan of SCI - they're a little too phishy for my tastes - but they are from Colorado and I thought it interesting that the Christian Science Monitor of all places is writing about jambands, so I decided to share.  An interesting article, although probably more interesting if you like the band ;)

"The administration has framed its case for war in terms of American national security. That's the case I'll address. I won't argue with their assessment that Hussein is an evil and murderous tyrant; clearly he is. I won't argue that venal or frivolous motives lie behind the administration's push for war—such as a desire to control Iraqi oil fields or a personal vendetta on the part of President Bush. I don't think such motivations are what drive the administration. Finally, I won't even spill much ink on the moral case against war in Iraq, even though I think that case is quite strong. Simply put, it's wrong for us to kill (at a minimum) hundreds of innocent Iraqi civilians based on an entirely speculative possibility of future harm. But as it happens, the pragmatic case against invasion is strong enough to suffice by itself. Iraq does not represent a threat to American national security. In fact, invading and occupying Iraq will likely undermine American national security, perhaps catastrophically so.

The administration argues that Saddam Hussein may not be deterrable. But it has provided no reason to believe that deterrence—which sufficed to contain nuclear-armed Mao and Stalin, the gold and silver medallists in the 20th Century's genocidal Olympics—will not work And it ignores the fact that Hussein has demonstrably and repeatedly been deterred from using weapons of mass destruction against enemies capable, like the U.S., of massive retaliation. The administration argues that Hussein has links to Al Qaeda and may have had a hand in September 11th. But its evidence on those counts amounts to a plea of "trust us." Finally, the administration argues that forcible regime-change can lead to a free, prosperous, and democratic Iraq, which will serve as a beacon to surrounding nations. But it ignores the much greater risk that an invasion will increase the risk of terrorist attacks in both the short term by making Hussein undeterrable and the long term by leading to a newly empowered Al Qaeda. "

This is one of the best anti-war articles I've read yet.  It neatly sums up just about every sensible position against war with Iraq, while avoiding the pitfalls which often will get a piece dismissed as lefty hysteria.  Its a long piece, but well worth the read, especially by those that might support the upcoming war and those against it who want a nice demonstration of how to argue their case.

[via Stand Down]