orichalcum

What a strange, strange world this man lives in:

From an interview today on CNN:

"Wolf Blitzer: What was the biggest mistake you made?

VICE PRESIDENT CHENEY: Oh, I think in terms of mistakes, I think we underestimated the extent to which 30 years of Saddam's rule had really hammered the population, especially the Shia population, into submissiveness. It was very hard for them to stand up and take responsibility in part because anybody who had done that in the past had had their heads chopped off."

You don't think the fact that if someone takes a leadership position _currently_ in Iraq, they stand a good chance of having their head chopped off might have something to do with it?

Athens Update:
Debate got quite heated yesterday, especially when the President would not call on the Rich Athlete, who had already been interrupting and monopolizing debate over the question of whether to choose Athenian generals by random lot from the Assemblymembers. Finally, the Rich Athlete got up and went to the podium, a position where the rules require that he eventually be called upon by the President. When she called on several other people first, however, he grew upset, and began talking. She went over to him to try and get him away from the podium. He put his hands on her shoulders, forcefully. She pushed back. Things got nasty for a moment, and then they settled down, I restored a bit of order, and after another minute, he was allowed to speak.

This was, um, unintended, and I hope I dealt with it okay.

OTOH, it's having the great consequence in-game in that the other students are responding by deciding to hold a trial and charge the Rich Athlete with hubris, or outrage, against the duly selected President. They're hoping to take a bunch of his money and use it to pay poor Athenians. Meanwhile, the Rich Athlete has gotten together with at least one other Assemblymember (the Metic) and are plotting to try and convince Sparta or Persia to invade and set up a tyranny/oligarchy, with them as rulers, in defense against the Radical Democrats seizing too much power.

The next few sessions will be exciting, I think.