Happy New Year.

There are two intelligence analyses that are relevant to the balance of power between the U.S. and Iran — one is the latest U.S. assessment of Iran, which certainly gave a much more complex view of what is happening there. The other is the Iranian National Intelligence Estimate of America, which — my guess — would read something like this: #

I personally find it sad that we’ve declined this far. We used to be top of the world — a country that could set a good example. But now we’re a country ruled by fear of terrorists, that holds detainees without trial and tortures them, both of these violating principles that this country has stood for since its conception.

And it’s not like any of the 2008 presidential candidates are going to lead us out of that.

And, kids, whatever you do, don’t do this:

[What] the American people need to be sure of is that, if there is corruption, the United States is in fact dedicated to rooting it out.

You could start there?

12 hours of my day yesterday was spent at Seattle Center, at Bumbershoot. I’m only going to be going one of the three days, but it was a lot of fun. For those who aren’t familiar with the event, Bumbershoot is a Seattle music festival that showcases mostly local artists, which runs through Labor Day weekend. Basically, the entirety of Seattle (at least those who are into this type of thing) converged upon the center of Seattle, to listen to live music and peruse local artists’ works (the music is a much bigger draw).

This year the “big artists” were The Shins, Sean Paul, Fergie and the Wu-Tang Clan (reunited!). Apart from these famous acts, many local bands also played, including Natalie Portman’s Shaved Head (yes, that’s a real band), Blue Scholars, Good Medicine and many more. The shows I saw were Natalie Portman’s Shaved Head (pretty good), Kings of Leon (good), Blue Scholars / Good Medicine (amazing), the last part of Sean Paul (okay) and Fergie (which sucked).

Needless to say, I’m recuperating. I would have gone tomorrow, as well, which is when the Wu-Tang Clan is playing, but unfortunately I have other commitments.

This was, of course, in response to Miss South Carolina’s idiotic response on national TV.

Things I’m going to be missing:

• The release of the iPhone
• WordCamp 2007
• The release of Live Free or Die Hard
• The release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I must say, I can’t wait to see what happens.

(Let’s hope this future posting thing works.)