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Monday, March 31, 2003
United States and France sign cooperative accord; U.S. takes command of French warship! From today’s Washington Times:
Game theory in war and poker A compelling article in the Boston Globe "The Poker of War" details how mathematical game theory applies to both Texas Hold’em Poker and military strategy. (Hat tip to Arts & Letters Daily) From Sports Night: Jeremy Goodwin: Natalie, listen to me. You've lost a lot of money to me tonight. You're basically gonna be living the rest of your life on a charitable donation from the Jeremy Goodwin Foundation. Take the hundred bucks back and fold. Natalie Hurley: Scared? Jeremy Goodwin: I've got a straight, you've got three sevens. Natalie Hurley: You don't have a straight. Jeremy Goodwin: Look at me. I'm not lying to you. I have a straight. Natalie Hurley: How do you know I don't have a big house. Jeremy Goodwin: A FULL house. Dan already folded the six you needed, and I have the other one. You don't have a house of any sort, you don't even have a pup tent. You've got trip sevens, and I have a straight. I want you to trust me right now. I want you to say to yourself, yeah, I've dated a string of jerks in my life, they were stupid, they were mean to me, but maybe this one's different. Maybe I should take a chance and not adopt the break-up-with-him-before-he-breaks-my-heart strategy. I want you to remember that when I started liking you, I didn't stop liking tennis. And I want you to know that I don' t think there's a woman in the world that you need to be threatened by, no matter how glamorous you think she is. But mostly, I want you to trust me, just once, when I tell you, you have three sevens, and I have a straight. He had the straight. Revenge of the triplets? Hmmm....Kim Jong Il has been quiet lately: SEOUL, South Korea - Where's Kim Jong Il? The North Korean leader has mysteriously vanished from public life for six weeks. The official newspaper, which carries regular and laudatory accounts of his activities, has been conspicuously silent on that account since Feb. 12, when Kim celebrated his 61st birthday at the Russian embassy in the North Korean capital of Pyongyang. Sunday, March 30, 2003
Saturday, March 29, 2003
The Axis of Evil meets Shakespeare Macbeth is told by the Witches that he will never be defeated by a man "of woman borne". Macduff, who finally kills Macbeth, was born by Cesarean section or, as the witches put it, is "not of woman borne" (4.1.79). From the Herald Sun, via Fark: ALL triplets in North Korea are being forcibly removed from parents after their birth and dumped in bleak orphanages. The policy is carried out on the orders of Stalinist dictator Kim Jong-il, who has an irrational belief that a triplet could one day topple his regime. Very light blogging here because I've been working on my monthly page: Smarter Harper's Index I just updated (about 10 minutes ago) so check it out. Thanks! Friday, March 28, 2003
What Iraqis say when the "minders" aren't around A remarkable account from Assyrian Christian News about a peace worker in Iraq who learns "I Was Wrong". It seems like these stories are coming more frequently - the "unminded" Iraqi expressing how he/she really feels about Saddam Hussein and the war. From a former member of the Army to a person working with the police to taxi drivers to store owners to mothers to government officials without exception when allowed to speak freely the message was the same - `Please bring on the war. We are ready. We have suffered long enough. We may lose our lives but some of us will survive and for our children's sake please,, please end our misery." [Emphasis in original]Hold tight. We're coming. Luck with a capital "F" Here's a quote from Susan Sarandon, found on IMDB: "You're so lucky in Ireland, England and Spain. Everyone there already knows what it's like to have inexplicable terrorist violence." Words escape me. Definition of redundancy: Mark Steyn must-read Excerpt from “War is Purgatory”: On the first night of ‘Shock and Awe’ in Baghdad, the TV boys’ preferred line was ‘it looks like Dresden’. The next day, the Iraqi foreign minister announced a civilian death toll of ...four. Four? You mean, four thousand? But no. Single figures. Not exactly Dresdenesque, and a long way from the anti-war movement’s thoughtful projections. Our secret plans discovered! From today’s Washington Post: TUKH, Egypt, March 27 -- At the small farm where he grows onions and oranges, Hady Said Hassan wraps a pet sheep around his shoulders and stretches out his legs as his friends gather to watch the U.S.-led war against Iraq unfold on television.Here’s what we have to do throughout the Middle East, starting with Iran and Saudi Arabia: we should be parachuting offset printing machines. Let a thousand underground newspapers spring up to counter the state-run media that spreads this nonsense propaganda. Why do these governments spread, indeed encourage, such obvious and hateful lies? Here’s noted Middle East scholar Bernard Lewis in the Wall Street Journal: In the same way, the dictatorships that rule much of the Middle East today will not, indeed cannot, make peace, because they need conflict to justify their tyrannical oppression of their own people, and to deflect their peoples' anger against an external enemy. As with the Axis and the Soviet Union, real peace will come only with their defeat or, preferably, collapse, and their replacement by governments that have been chosen and can be dismissed by their people and will therefore seek to resolve, not provoke, conflicts. [Emphasis added]A change is gonna’ come. John Kerry – A man of (checking polls) principle! On Tuesday, Mickey Kaus wrote this withering analysis of John Kerry’s flip-flops and ambiguities: Executive Summary: Let's see ... 1) Was Kerry Irish? It was hard to say! 2) Did he throw his medals over the wall? Hard to say! 3) Does he support or oppose the Iraq war? Hard to say! 4) Is he for dividend double taxation? Hard to say! 5) Is he rethinking his support of race preferences? Hard to say! 6) Is he opposed to the death penalty? Hard to say! 7) Will he use his wife's money? Hard to say! ... I sense a pattern! ... Bonus question: Has he ever taken a clear stand on an issue when it might have cost him enough votes to threaten his career?And here’s a choice quote from today’s Boston Globe: ''To this day I don't know what John Kerry's position is,'' [Vermont Gov. Howard] Dean said. ''It's still hard to figure out, reading his statements, which way he's going to come down on it, and I think you all ought to ask him.''There’s one thing that’s clear about Kerry: he wants to be President of the United States. Well, except for the South – screw them! NewsMax reported in “John Kerry to South: Drop Dead” that the Massachusetts Senator told a fundraising crowd in San Francisco he doesn’t need the South to win the Presidential election. But today Political Wire is reporting: “Sen. John Kerry "has been passing notes on the Senate floor, assuring his Southern Democratic colleagues that he plans to compete in their home states," the Boston Globe reports.” No word if Senator Kerry was wearing a NASCAR jumpsuit at the time. Mickey, time to add #8 Apologies (again) - when the comments server doesn't connect, this page loads slowly. Thank you for standing by. Religion of Peace watch I'm surprised this photo isn't on Little Green Footballs (or anywhere else) yet...maybe I'm the first to see it. A Pakistani student wears a headband with the words 'kill jews,' during an anti-war rally at a university in Islamabad, March 26, 2003. The students of Quaid-i-Azam University gathered on Wednesday to protest against the U.S.-led war in Iraq (news - web sites). REUTERS/Mian Khursheed Also, here's the Yahoo link. Quick note: I love Dagh Nielsen's Daghtator Blog but, man, does it load slow. Dagh, is there anything you can do to speed it up? Maybe lighten up some of the graphics? Maybe put my link in *BOLD*? (It can't hurt!) Speaking of the hacks at the New York Times Media Minded notes that the Media Research Center is picking up where Smarter Times left off by starting TimesWatch to track the bias at the Paper of Record. Smarter Times was my inspiration for Smarter Harper's Index (which I hope to update this weekend), so I'm glad to see somebody is staying on Howell Raines' ass. That's not right Reading over a pile of blogs every morning leads to a lot of skimming and I missed this post by Dr. Weevil noting that he lost his job until it was pointed out by Terpsboy. What's up with that? Dr. Weevil hasn't said yet, but I wish him well. Some major newspaper should hire him and get rid of the hacks like Maureen Dowd. Thursday, March 27, 2003
The other conservative in Massachusetts Jeff Jacoby in today's Boston Globe - "America the Liberator": But it will go down fighting, and it will remain brutal and fascist to the last. And how do brutal fascists fight? They shoot POWs in the head and flaunt their corpses on camera. They site military hardware near hospitals and schools, turning civilians into human shields. They wave a white flag to indicate surrender, then open up with machine guns or rocket-propelled grenades. They order noncombatants in front-line cities to attack allied troops, threatening to kill them if they refuse. They build a military bunker under the hotel at which foreign reporters are required to stay.Well put. Cool headlines U.S. Informally Renames Airport for Bush Senate Approves Owen's Nomination to Appeals Court Dog saves dog in Australian shark attack Oh no! I mean Oh Yes! Susanna Cornett of Cut on the Bias linked me (twice!) today! Must put in new post to make permalinks work! BTW, go check out Susanna's site today - she's really working overtime. A verb is born From the Drudge Report: DREAMWORKS is preparing to release the comedy [“Head of State”]on Friday. There are deep concerns that [Chris] Rock may unleash a fresh diatribe on President Bush and the Iraq war, studio insiders reveal, which could ignite a public backlash and boycott of the film.Is that anything like "Fisked"? Saddam Hussein’s military strategy lives on…in the Future! Fry: I heard one time you single handedly defeated a horde of rampaging somethings in the something something system. Zapp: The Killbots? A trifle. It was simply a matter of outsmarting them. Fry: Wow, I never would've thought of that. Zapp: You see the killbots have a preset kill limit; knowing their weakness I sent wave after wave of my own men at them until they reached their limit and shutdown. Kif !!! Tales of the Tyrant Here's an excerpt from an upcoming Atlantic magazine article "Tales of the Tyrant" graciously available online:
[Emphasis added] Wednesday, March 26, 2003
Mural found in Iraq NASIRIYA, Iraq (CNN) -- U.S. Marines searching Iraqi military headquarters in this southern city that was the site of intensive fighting came across a mural depicting a plane crashing into a building complex resembling New York's twin towers, a news agency photograph showed Wednesday. Too funny not to mention: On the syndicated episode of "Jeopardy!" tonight, the last question of the game (before Final Jeopardy) was "In 1998, a bridge on the Seine was dedicated to this French general." Complete bafflement ensued. After time ran out, Alex Trebek said "Charles DeGaulle". Oh man....(shaking head) He’s everywhere!!! From today’s NY Times Corrections page: An article yesterday about a change in tone of news coverage of the war in recent days referred incompletely to an Australian report on Saturday that naval aircraft had used napalm in Iraq. In a later edition, the newspaper, The Sydney Morning Herald, added the Navy's denial, and on Monday the newspaper published a clarification pointing out the update. Yesterday a Defense Department spokesman, Maj. Tim Blair, said United States forces had not used napalm in Iraq and would not use it. Academy Awards wrapup The Village Voice reviews the turbulent mixture of Oscar and politics over the history of the award. Includes this joke from the other night: "What is a movie star?" Oscar host Steve Martin riffed Sunday night. "They can be thin or skinny. They can be Democrats or . . . skinny."And then Michael Medved ices the issue with this great Opinion Journal article: “The Little People” Beyond threats of boycotts and petitions (which scare no one), there is a pervasive sense of disillusionment and anger that ought to alarm the industry. For years, Hollywood has promoted messages that neither reflect nor respect the values of everyday Americans. On Oscar night, the contrast between our struggling troops in Iraq and the stars who wouldn't support their efforts proved too glaring to ignore--or forget.The only movies I plan to see in the theater in 2003 will be the ones with the word “Matrix.” Home field advantage This past weekend was filled with hand-wringing over the war in Iraq, fallen and captured soldiers, and guerilla warfare. This week is bringing a little more perspective and understanding of the huge undertaking in progress half-a-world away, but there’s a lingering consternation over the behavior of the Iraqi people. Why are they fighting for Saddam Hussein? Why isn’t this Kuwait Part 2 with charred trucks lining the Highway to Hell and an Iraqi army in full retreat? Part of the answer may be summed up in an anecdote told by Civil War historian Shelby Foote: "Early on in the war, a Union squad closed in on a single ragged Confederate. He didn't own any slaves, and he obviously didn't have much interest in the Constitution or anything else. And they asked him, What are you fighting for? And he said, 'I'm fighting because you're down here.' "Almost none of the Confederate soldiers during the American Civil War owned slaves. They weren’t particularly keen on slavery or states rights. But they fought, to a large degree, because somebody was invading their land. (See this excellent review on the motivations of Rebel soldiers during the Civil War). This may explain, in part, the resistance the allied forces are seeing in Iraq. Everything in the Iraqi culture has supported the idea that the Western forces are “crusaders” bent on the subjugation of the Arab world. Expelling the Iraqi army from Kuwait was easy because they did not have a nationalistic stake in the land. But now we’re on their land, their patch of Earth, and the conflict is much different. And, much as I hate to contemplate it, there might be a significant portion of the Iraqi population who think “Saddam Hussein is a bastard….but he’s our bastard and this is our country." This one’s for Tim Blair From yesterday’s CentCom briefing Q (Off mike) -- Channel 9, Australia. Australia has a relatively small contingent here taking part in Operation Iraqi Freedom. Have you been impressed by their capability? (Laughter.) The National Review & The Simpsons on midnight basketball From Jay Nordlinger’s “Impromptus” column: We have heard, endlessly, of the cost of the war, and that's as it should be — cost is not nothing. But it's time for a couple of elementary points. First, Democrats and liberals rarely fret about government expenditure, so their worries merit some skepticism. Second, this is what government is for: what the central government is for. The physical protection of the nation, first and foremost. Not midnight basketball, not "free false teeth," as Bill Buckley would say. The physical defense of the nation. Everything else is gravy. President Lisa: As you know, we've inherited quite a budget crunch from President Trump. How bad is it Secretary Van Houten? Milhouse: [shows a chart] We're broke. Lisa: The country is broke? How can that be? Milhouse: Well, remember when the last administration decided to invest in our nation's children? Big mistake. Aide: The balanced breakfast program just created a generation of ultra-strong super-criminals. Milhouse: And midnight basketball taught them to function without sleep. I visited my son’s first grade class last week and witnessed a kid put his backpack on the ground then whip out the telescoping handle and walk to the school bus as if he was catching the red-eye to JFK. This encroachment of grown-up behavior in an elementary school struck me as exceedingly strange. But then I checked out Lileks this morning, and there’s a picture of Gnat with her “Hello Kitty” travel backpack. Radley Balko always cracks me up when he refers to former trial lawyer John Edwards as “Senator Handsome”. Here’s a post on a Florida hospital that will no longer deliver babies because of malpractice insurance costs. Tuesday, March 25, 2003
The effect of eating cheese that has fermented too long From AP story: "France determined to play big role in rebuilding Iraq" Worried it could be shut out of business deals in postwar Iraq, France is drawing up plans to win French companies access to lucrative oil and reconstruction contracts, officials said Tuesday.We have zee plans, monsieur Rumsfeeld! Some French are concerned that a U.S.-led administration in Iraq will favor companies from the United States and other pro-war countries while penalizing companies from France and other war opponents.Perish the thought! French oil giant TotalFinaElf probably has the biggest stake. It spent six years in the 1990s doing preparatory work on two giant oil fields and has signed two tentative agreements with Saddam to develop them.Didn't you hear Bush's speech? That oil belongs to the Iraqi people. But thanks for the prep work! France opposes any U.S. reconstruction plan that would sideline United Nations development agencies, multilateral organizations and non-governmental aid groups.Wait, wait…let me get this straight. If the United States decides that it will not work through the United Nations to rebuild Iraq, then France will veto the resolution that we will not be introducing. Is this, like, Jerry Lewis-type humor? I don't get it. Why I do not follow college sports A study released Monday showed that 10 of the schools in this week's round of 16 have failed to graduate even half of their players in recent years. Black players are less likely than whites to finish their careers with degrees, according to the study of NCAA graduation rates.From the Boston Globe via Fark. Now you've done it From the NY Post: "Marines out to avenge blood of “executed” GIs": THE Marines at this chopper base near the Iraqi border are seething with rage and talking revenge over the treatment of American POWs - paraded on TV and some possibly executed. Krugman watch Tom Maguire on Just One Minute and Robert Musil on Man without Qualities tag-team Paul Krugman today. But where's Matthew Hoy? Moving into his new condo!?! Get back to work, slacker! F the French The war in Iraq has been all-consuming, with the news organizations and blogosphere scrambling for every scrap of information, so it seems trivial to discuss other matters. But then I’m reminded: there’s always time to hate the French. Check out Today’s Front Pages from the Newseum and click on the graphic to see the front page of today’s edition of Le Monde. If you have Adobe Acrobat, you can click here. First of all, the French daily decided that nothing was so important than to put Michael Moore on the front page, holding an Oscar and flashing the peace sign. But more disturbing is their little editorial graphic of an American tank passing Iraqi people who appear to be in ditches while holding up human skulls (or oddly shaped flowers) on sticks. The text attached to this cartoon is “La foule en liesse” which I found out means “The crowd is jubilant” – obviously added for ironic effect. If there’s any justice in this war, France will be on the receiving end of a serious attitude adjustment. The Economist on where we stand so far AFTER another night of air raids, American and British forces are approaching Baghdad and encountering fierce resistance from Saddam Hussein’s most loyal troops. As the noose tightens around the Iraqi regime, American officials are concerned that some Iraqi units have been given the go-ahead to use chemical weapons. The war is about to enter one of its most critical stages. Monday, March 24, 2003
Speaking of "Landslide" I have a long commute to work everyday and the number of times I heard the Dixie Chicks' version of "Landslide" was nearly comical. It was not uncommon to hear it four of five times a day. But since Natalie Maines comment, I don't think I've heard it once. Today I heard it again, but it was the original Stevie Nicks version. So the Dixie Chicks mix was nixed for Nicks. I crack myself up. The rhetoric of failure The Washington Post tries to get the “All is Lost!” landslide going with today’s “U.S. Losses Expose Risks, Raise Doubts about Strategy.” But Andrew Sullivan puts the recent “setbacks” for the U.S. military into perspective: “The setbacks the allies have suffered these last couple of days are all due to one thing: some Saddam units acting as terrorists.” A perceptive reader on NRO’s Corner also lists the causes for the battle deaths so far – and most of them don’t involve battle. Stupid White Man swears to keep his cakehole open until January 2009 Michael Moore backstage at the Oscars: “The majority of Americans do not want to see our young boys killed, and the majority of people didn't vote for the man sitting in the White House, and I'll keep saying that until he's out of there.'' In related news: President Bush’s re-election may be guaranteed. Go Al! Saddam Hussein is right! The first sentence of this Fox News article, “Allies push to within 50 miles of Baghdad” gave me an involuntary chuckle of irony overload: Coalition forces continued their northward dash through Iraq Monday, coming to within 50 miles of Baghdad. Meanwhile, Saddam Hussein appeared on television, promising "victory is soon."Yep. More redundant links: You probably have these also, but if you don’t, you should. Centcom and the Command Post (new address as of yesterday). The new Lileks bleat today is priceless. Go check it out. What? You say everybody else has already posted it? So what. At least I can help to push it to the top of Blogdex. So there. Comments are disabled due to a problem with the Yaccs server. Update: Well, it seems to be back, so let's try again. I apologize for the wait. Quagmire watch at the BBC A question from yesterday’s Centcom press conference: Q General, Mitchell Switch (sp) from the BBC. Nobody thought this was going to be simple, but, given the degree of resistance, which I think you concede has been unexpected -- the level of casualties, now the prisoners of war -- is it not the case that this is proving to be significantly more difficult than you might have hoped?That was his whole answer which, I think, shows his contempt for the question. Furthermore, General, have you stopped beating your wife? Q Ahmed Samir (sp), Abu Dhabi Television. We have been seeing reports of U.S. soldiers killed, missing, and captured, and the state of resistance of Iraqi in many cities which you claimed before taken full control, such as An Nasiriyah and Umm Qasr. Are you facing a new Vietnam in Iraq, or are you victims of over-self-confidence?This question betrays a hint of panic among the Arab states: What? They’re not running away like in Somalia? The Americans are going to keep going? That’s right, Ahmed – tell your readers. Michael Moore praises free speech in America - bashes America I'm getting a bunch of hits for a Google search on Michael Moore at the Oscars last night, which you can mostly find at this link. My take is that Moore's rant was so over the top, that he looked foolish in his overarching self-righteousness. The boos were much louder than the scattered applause (Tim Robbins & Susan Sarandon) and Steve Martin followed up perfectly by noting that "The Teamsters are now helping Michael Moore into the trunk of his car." Those poor shock absorbers. Sunday, March 23, 2003
More fog of war There's a lot of confusion about that chemical plant in Iraq, but the Jerusalem Post believes it, and now Fox News is reporting that a senior Pentagon official confirms that coalition forces seized a chemical plant. A senior Pentagon official has confirmed to Fox News on Sunday that coalition forces have discovered a "huge" chemical weapons factory near the Iraqi city of An Najaf, which is situated some 225 miles south of Baghdad.We'll know more, soon, but this could be a major development. The top three posts on Little Green Footballs right now are stunning. An illegal chemical plant has been found in Iraq, the latest on the captured (and possibly summarily executed) Americans, and an update that coalition forces are 100 miles from Baghdad. I pray those POWs can hold out for just a couple more days..... Here's the main editorial from the Sunday NYT: "Hunting for Iraq's Terror Weapons" America will not be able to claim victory in Iraq until it secures Saddam Hussein's missing troves of unconventional weapons, the ingredients for making them and the network of scientists able to produce them. This is a long-term challenge."We will never, never, accept victory! We will set the bar ever higher to insure the failure of this Republican President. Bwa-ha-ha-ha!!!" Saturday, March 22, 2003
Choking on the irony From the Daily Telegraph (again) with the great title: "I was a naive fool to be a human shield for Saddam" Anyone with half a brain must see that Saddam has to be taken out. It is extraordinarily ironic that the anti-war protesters are marching to defend a government which stops its people exercising that freedom.This is the concluding paragraph from somebody who actually went to Baghdad to become a human shield. Talk about "there's no zealot like a convert". The Daily Telegraph in England is reporting that Saddam Hussein was seriously injured last week, and crazy Uday may be dead. Not good Midwest Conservative Journal is reporting, based on a release from the Jerusalem Post, that the U.S. soldier who launched the grenade attack against a commanding officer at the 101st Airborne Division in Kuwait is a Muslim. Furthermore, Little Green Footballs found a CBS report that listed the attacker as a black Muslim, before the description was changed to "engineering sargeant." If true, this attack will be an enormous boon to the people who believe that we should not extend the benefits of our free society to those who would tear it down. On the one hand, I feel that the Westernization of Islam could help to modernize it and bring the religion out of the the 16th century; and that by this modernization, we can find middle ground (think Turkey). On the other hand, well, what's our option? We can't ban a religion followed by a billion people. We can, however, enforce deportation and support strict tracking of money flowing from American-Islamic "charities". This could be a bad season for hate crimes. Friday, March 21, 2003
The usefulness of a degree in social justice I was forced to watch Peter Jennings because I have a little TV next to my computer and it only picks up ABC & NBC. NBC was showing "Law and Order" – ABC was showing a comedy. Actually it was "student activist" Max Uhlenbeck (I was very careful to copy the name) from United for Peace and Justice. (Oddly, a search on his name on the UPJ website doesn't turn up his name, although it pops up for an NYU protest). Joke #1: [paraphrasing] "We're holding a protest in New York City tomorrow and expect several hundred thousand people." Joke #2: (After Mr. U goes on quite a bit about the role of students in political protests) Peter Jennings: "So you're a student." Uhlenbeck: "No, I graduated." Jennings: "So you're a full-time student organizer." Joke #3: (after the interview) Jennings: "I didn't know there was a protest in New York City tomorrow." Heh-heh. Sometimes unintentional humor is the best. Poisoned Apple Here's a news release posted on Apple Computer's web site: “In the wake of Apple’s announcement late yesterday that former Vice President Al Gore was elected to the company’s board of directors, President George Bush announced this morning that he would demand a recount… The Bush administration indicated that if a recount was not successful, they would take the matter to the Supreme Court,” reports Crazy Apple Rumors. [Mar 20]I guess after you've sold your soul to Bill Gates, put Al Gore on your board of directors, and watch your stock fall to near a 52-week low, the only way to hold onto your dignity is to make fun of the President. Keep an eye on this one - I'll bet it "disappears" soon. Thursday, March 20, 2003
Here's the list of presenters and performers for this Sunday's Academy Awards. I think most of them will be neutral on Iraq, but a couple (Richard Gere, Susan Sarandon, U2) won't be able to help themselves. Catherine Zeta-Jones is going to sing a song from "Chicago"; she's 8 1/2 months pregnant. If there are any Academy Award drinking games going and she breaks water on stage, there's going to be a lot of hungover people come Monday morning. So you think the United Nations is an ineffective debating society out of step with reality? Well...you're right. William Saletan recounts what happened in the U.N. today while the Yanks, Brits, and Aussies were liberating Iraq. Hilarious. Hint: it involves French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin and Hans Blix. 'nuf said. Do yourself a favor and read, by comparison, today’s main editorial in the Washington Post titled “First Strike”. It's almost poetic in its clear-headed, logical exposition. My fisking of the NYT editorial page Although I had girded myself, still I was shocked by the besotted equivocation of the New York Times’ main editorial today “The War Begins.” This noxious spackle, slapped against the wall in the most desultory and unprincipled manner, isn’t fit for The Mini Page, much less the paper that holds itself up as the paper of record. If Andrew Sullivan rejoined as a contributor to the NYT, the wattage in the Howell Raines’ office would triple by the simple physics of radiant absorption. As you can see, I’m quite upset. Just like picking up my dog’s crap (what an appropriate metaphor!), let’s get to the unpleasant, but necessary, task of deconstructing the mottled fruit of the NYT’s labor: From here, the sound of the war that began last night is inaudible. As veterans realize and almost every writer on the subject of war has reminded us, the experience of this new, unwanted war will be unknowable except among those who will be there for the fighting. The job of the soldiers, men and women alike, is transcendently clear. No one who knows the American military doubts that it will do its job to the best of its ability and with an unswerving consciousness of the balance between opportunity and risk. The lives wagered in this operation belong to young Americans and to Iraqis of all ages. Perhaps no military has ever known as well as this one how important it is to have a care for those lives.The prose on this paragraph flows as smoothly as a Western Union telegraph. War is here – STOP. The soldiers are good – STOP. The lives of the soldiers are theirs – HUH? And what’s the deal with the word “unwanted” before “war”? It’s redundant like “delicious” before “tiramisu” or “biased” before “Paul Krugman.” Every war is “unwanted.” The NYT clearly slipped in that adjective to remind us that the war is “unwanted” by certain establishments that live outside of reality – like the New York Times and the United Nations. Many Americans remember the first gulf war all too vividly, and the temptation will be to read this war against the backdrop of that one. The terrain is the same, but everything else has changed. A military that, even a dozen years ago, still found itself shuttling paper battle orders back and forth is now electronically linked and coordinated in ways that would have seemed unimaginable then. There is no strategic exit in the offing, as there was when the coalition forces stopped well short of Baghdad in 1991. Now it is Saddam or nothing. There is no sense of international coalescence, a mission that bound disparate nations together. This mission has unbound the world.I don’t think the NYT remembers the first gulf war so vividly. Here’s a clue: it was a success. It aimed to enforce United Nation resolutions, liberate a conquered country from a wacked dictator and re-establish the rule of law. But that’s unlike now: “everything else has changed.” Everything! “This mission has unbound the world” – please. The approval of France does not constitute “international coalescence” and I’d move to Mars if it did. Our job here is not as transcendently clear as the soldiers' job. Now that the first strikes have begun, even those who vehemently opposed this war will find themselves in the strange position of hoping for just what the president they have opposed is himself hoping for: a quick, conclusive resolution fought as bloodlessly as possible. People who have supported Mr. Bush all along may feel tempted to try to silence those who voice dissent. It will be necessary to remind them that we are in this fight to bring freedom of speech to Iraq, not to smother it back home.Here’s that tired and spurious “dissent=martyrdom” syndrome so popularized by people like Mike Farrell. I’m not trying to silence you, Howell Raines. I want to ridicule, refute, and roil you. Blather on, you ivory tower twit! It would take a very set mind to judge what comes next on any ground but the success of the effort. If things go as well as we hope, even those who sharply disagree with the logic behind this war are likely to end up feeling reassured, almost against their will, by the successful projection of American power. Whether they felt the idea of war in Iraq was a bad one from the beginning, or — like us — they felt it should be undertaken only with broad international support, the yearning to go back to a time when we felt in control of our own destiny still runs strong. Of all the reasons for this mission, the unspoken one, deepest and most hopeless, is to erase Sept. 11 from our hearts.Pop quiz: America’s war with Iraq is for (pick one) 1.) to enforce U.N. resolutions and make the world body relevant 2.) to eliminate weapons of mass destruction 3.) to deny terrorists a base of operations 4.) to liberate a country from a brutal dictatorship 5.) a purely emotional reaction in a desperate attempt to “erase Sept. 11 from our hearts.” Paging Dr. Phil! This is now, as Mr. Bush has said repeatedly, a war with two missions: disarming Iraq and then transforming it into a free and hopeful society. That second goal is also an end everyone would like to see. Yet as a nation we have scarcely begun to talk about how it should be accomplished. Even as we sit here at home, worrying about the outcome of the fighting, we must start to debate what comes next.Oh, must we? This is the NYT running on pure peeve. The war is a day old and they’re bitching that we haven’t outlined a Marshall plan yet. That public discussion has to start soon, even tomorrow. But for now, all our other thoughts have come to rest. We simply hope for the welfare of those men and women — sons and daughters — who will be flinging themselves into the Iraqi desert.This is the most incoherent hypocrisy imaginable: right now we should keep our thoughts and prayers with our American sons and daughters…until tomorrow. Then screw ‘em, they’ll be fine. And WTF is up with that word “flinging”? Not “marching bravely” or “facing the enemy”; no, the NYT chose a word that is most closely associated with a sexual misadventure or a reckless impulse (or scatological projectiles). Do they choose these words indiscriminately, or are they trying to be too-clever-by-half? Brain-dead or not, the New York Times editorial page is a non-stop assault on the mind and sensibilities of the American people. DEBKA confirms: Hussein likely killed, wounded, or unscathed by attack. (Right on - lifted from this thread on Free Republic) Agonistic Academy Award Airheads Assail America From American Prowler (hat tip to Curmudgeonly): Perhaps out of concern that their vast left-wing membership would use the numerous open mikes available to them leading into and during Sunday's Academy Awards, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has decided to pull the plug on the nationally (and internationally) televised red carpet entrance at the top of the show.Will there be any red, white & blue ribbons in support of the liberation of Iraq and our troops overseas? Or is that gauche? Please no more Debka rumors There’s a lot of speculation on the blogs this morning that the Saddam Hussein on Baghdad TV last night wasn’t really Saddam Hussein, that he had on weird glasses, his mustache was too thin/thick, whatever. Even the White House is getting into the act: “Bush Administration Questions Hussein Video.” While I chalk this up to wishful thinking, I can understand how everybody would be enchanted with the idea that a bunker-buster could sidetrack a wider conflict. That said, I know from reading the book “Poker Nation” that you should always consider the “worst case scenario” when playing cards. That is, if you can gauge the best possible hand your opponent can make (based on the “up” or “common” cards), it will better inform your play. Thus, I think the speculation that Saddam is eating 72 raisins in the great hereafter is counterproductive to the war effort. At least for the time being, we should assume he’s alive, that his communications are not disrupted, and he’s still holding his iron fist control over Iraq. This will keep our military forces on alert and focused on the goal at hand. If we start spreading the idea that Saddam has assumed room temperature, it will cause the troops to relax and let their guard down. This is not about us – it’s about the troops fighting in a faraway land to keep us safe. Let’s not do anything to jeopardize their safety. Just my two cents There's a load of great news and opinion links at Real Clear Politics this morning. A good place to start. So far: Here's LT Smash this morning Saddam fired a couple of those Scuds that he doesn't have at me this afternoon. So much for the war in Iraq as a "distraction" from the war on terrorism From Fox News: BAGRAM, Afghanistan — About 1,000 U.S. troops launched a raid on villages in southeastern Afghanistan Wednesday night, hunting for members of the Al Qaeda terrorist network, military officials said. Looks like there's a lot going on tonight. This is just skylarking, but it's possible that we'll remember March 20th as the day we got Osama Bin Laden and Saddam Hussein. I'll take either one. Wednesday, March 19, 2003
The fog of war It would appear that the President "called an audible" and launched a cruise missile and/or stealth bomber strike on a "target of opportunity" based on a particularly good piece of information. The British (apparently) were unaware that this strike was taking place, so I can only imagine that Bush was so compelled by the intel that he authorized the strike. What else could it be but Hussein? Stay tuned.... God protect our troops I'm absolutely confident the war with Iraq will start tonight. The air bombardment will start for sure, and tanks may start the northward push so that they'll be outside Baghdad by sunup. I would be very shocked to wake up tomorrow and find Iraq untouched - that would give Saddam Hussein the incorrect impression that he's dodged the bullet again. It won't happen. I may be wrong...but I don't think I am. The next four hours will tell. Krugman watch Tom the Minuteman finally sobers up from St. Patty’s Day and gets back to work fisking Paul Krugman. More Daschle backlash Michael Barone in U.S. News & World Report: “Daschle's words can only be explained as the product of a kind of hatred, unbuttressed by any serious intellectual argument, likely to hurt the party of the speaker far more than the party of the president they were directed against.” More unhinged Democrats From Political Wire: "Sen. John Kerry "is becoming a fresh target of some Democrats for supporting a resolution giving President Bush authority to wage war, but scolding Bush on the stump," the Boston Herald reports. The Boston Globe notes that Kerry said "a failure of diplomacy of a massive order" by President Bush "has left the country on the brink of war with Iraq, with an unnecessarily small group of fighting partners... and without the strongest possible support of the American people." "Unnecessarily small group of fighters"? There's the U.S., the U.K., and Australia. Does John Kerry really believe the French army is going to add a lot to that? Addressing the Naysayers George Will gets medieval on Tom Daschle in the Washington Post today. Some choice grafs: Speaking of indiscriminate chaos, many elements of the Democratic Party, including most of its base and many of its most conspicuous leaders, seem deranged, unhinged by the toxic fumes of hatred and contempt they emit for the president. From what does this arise? It cannot just be Florida, the grievance that Democrats, assiduous cultivators of victimhood, love to nurse. No, many Democrats' problem, which threatens to disqualify their party from presidential responsibilities for a generation, is their incontinent love of snobbery and nostalgia -- condescension toward a president they consider ignorant, and a longing for the fun of antiwar days of yore.I think there was a Michael Moore slam buried in there. And there’s this concluding section: So Daschle's position is: America is "forced to war" because presidential diplomacy failed to produce a broader coalition for war. With that descent into absurdity, Daschle would have forfeited his reputation for seriousness, if he had one.The Democratic Party continues its deadly dance with bathos (take that, Sheryl Crow!) GMTA Here's Rod Dreher on The Corner, channelling my thoughts (below): OSCAR SCHADENFREUDE Morning graphics I was going to publish a great editorial cartoon by Bill Deore, but American Realpolitik beat me to it. Go there for some good stuff this morning. I will, however, copy this great picture from the Courier News of Australia from an article titled "Get out or die: Bush" - how's that for subtlety? Awesome. Tuesday, March 18, 2003
Sheryl Crow's Humble Opinion and Search for The Truth Sheryl Crow takes off the sequined T-shirt and the "No War" guitar strap and tries to explain her anti-war stance in something a little longer than a bumper-sticker slogan. Unfortunately, she gets off to a bad start pretty early on: I consider myself a citizen of the world as well as a proud American. I love my country and all it has to offer. I believe in the pathos it was founded on...the right to express what one feels without loss of freedom, the right to worship, the right to vote, the right to bear arms in a respectful manner, etc. I am not un-American in my stance but simply exercising my right to free speech. [Emphasis added]Um….that would be "ethos", Sheryl. That might be a little unfair. Say what you want about Sheryl's opinion piece – and there's a lot to criticize – she is clearly earnest. Putting aside the faux sacrifice ("I am currently selling my BMW SUV"), she believes these things and backs up her viewpoint with facts and opinions to support her case, including a couple of hyperlinks at the bottom of the page. She is not, let's just say as a hypothetical figure, a Senator from South Dakota, cynically grasping for some political points. She makes a principled case and stands by her beliefs. So, as much as I disagree with her, at least her exposition is refreshing in its candor. This is very good news (if true) WASHINGTON — As the 48-hour clock continues to wind down on Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, there are signs that thousands of Iraqi troops are planning to surrender to the U.S. and its allies even in the first hours of war, Fox News has learned. From Fox News: Republicans blast Daschle "I think Sen. Daschle clearly articulated the French position," said Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., referring to French opposition to war. "This is uncalled for, I hope he retracts it."Ouch! Strange - I'm getting a whole bunch of hits from a site called "Football Guys Talk", but I can't view the page link. Seeing as there's very little football chat here, what are you guys looking at? Night of a thousand losers Nothing could do more to expose the dichotomy between Hollywood and the rest of America than a parade of pampered screen stars foaming at the mouth against the liberation of Iraq. With that in mind, I have a new favorite choice for the Best Director Oscar: go Stephen Daldry! Stephen Daldry, Britain's brightest hope of an Oscar at this year's Academy Awards ceremony, has vowed to denounce the war on Iraq from the podium if he wins.Anyone else we should be on the lookout for? Foreign nominees who are likely to denounce the war from the podium should they win include Bono, the Irish rock star who is nominated for Best Song and is due to perform at the ceremony; Pedro Almodovar, the Spanish film-maker who is in the running for two awards, and Michael Moore, the favourite to take the Best Documentary Oscar. All have previously condemned the proposed military action.I think we're all in "agreeance" that the upcoming Academy Awards could be a watershed moment for Hollywood. Think Dixie Chicks. Slate's Saddameter holding steady at 99% chance of war. The only way to go now is up. 34 hours to go..... From Iraq Daily: "President: Ten times America can not brush Iraqis off their freedom" [Saddam Hussein] told his guest that though hoping war not break out, ten times America can not brush Iraqi people off its independence and rights; and “If the US attacked, it would find fighters behind every rock, wall or tree in defence of their land and freedom.”Wanna bet? Is this why we went to Level Orange? This is certainly an odd story from Washington: A man drove his tractor into the shallow water of a pond on the Washington D.C. Mall - N.C. Truck Driver continues standoff on Mall The Washington Post reported earlier that the man in the tractor, identified by law enforcement sources as Dwight W. Watson, 50, of Whitakers, N.C., drove into the pond in Constitution Gardens, between the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial, about noon yesterday. Law enforcement officers are continuing to keep watch on the man, whom they have described as distraught. Although they had made contact with him by cell phone, it remained unclear why he was there and what he wanted.Given that law enforcement in Washington is a bit on the edge right now, I hope this ends favorably for Mr. Watson. Doncha just love James Lileks?: It’s as if the devotees of diplomacy think that international negotiations are like a mortgage closing. But if mortgage closings were like Security Council resolutions, we’d all be living on the lawn, waiting for the housing inspectors to verify that the previous owners not only didn’t fix the leaky gas line, they weren't still holed up in the attic with shotguns and canned food.Send in the housing inspectors! Tom says: "I'm not the President". Millions rejoice. Everybody is blowing a gasket over Tom Daschle's comments to the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (see American Realpolitik, Curmudgeonly, and Pejman). I wish I could say I'm surprised, but Daschle has long ago co-opted the Groucho Marx character Prof. Wagstaff from "Horse Feathers" who says "Whatever it is, I'm against it!" Take pity on this blackened amoeba, Tom Daschle. Once, he could have been President. Now, he's a shadow of a man-child, grasping for the talking points of the day which are always centered around his deep disappointment, his profound regret, his endless hand-wringing, his troubled troublement at the President's policies. Woe, woe is Tom Daschle, that he has to seek solace from the #2 overall donor to the Democrats in a desperate search for a sympathetic audience. Oh Tom, Tom. Does it hurt much? Best line of Bush's speech: "Instead of drifting along toward tragedy, we will set a course toward safety." Or, as some have suggested, should we wait until we're attacked again? No. Is it better to take action against Saddam Hussein and be wrong about weapons of mass destruction, or wait until we're proven wrong when Washington is vaporized? Now is the time. Meet me in St. Louis I'm back from my trip. Under normal circumstances, I wouldn't bore you with the details of a business trip, but I'm making an exception here, given the developments of the past 24 hours or so. If you're not interested, then skip this post; I won't be insulted. If I haven't mentioned it before, I'm a Product Development Engineer for a specialty fiber optics company called OFS (until recently, we were part of Lucent). We make optical fibers for just about everything except telecommunications. So we make large fibers used for laser applications for medical procedures, high-temperature fibers used for temperature sensing down oil wells, and fibers used as data links in high-temperature, high-vibration environments such as on fighter jets. The trip I just got back from was to Boeing in St. Louis. They were looking to use a fiber optic cable as an early detection system for failure around electrical systems. Although I've been working for defense contractors for years, this was the first time I'd ever been given the chance to see the "end product" up close at the famous Boeing Phantom Works. I'm not going to get into too much detail – the Defense Department and/or Homeland Security might be watching – but I'm just going to make a few observations: 1.) Fighter jets are enormously complicated pieces of machinery. Parts of the planes were everywhere, held in space with huge positioning jacks as the machinists ran electrical lines, hydraulic lines, fuel lines, etc. It is an unimaginable jigsaw puzzle of technology. The corollary to this is….. 2.) You can see where all that defense money goes. 3.) On every wall is an oversized American flag. 4.) Also on the walls: numerous safety reminders, a checklist of progress (e.g. planes completed), and an urging for quality from young men in flight suits. 5.) The workers: a snapshot of America. Black and white, men and women, young and old, almost universally dressed in blue jeans. Lots of high-top sneakers and T-shirts with (American) Eagles and (St. Louis) Rams. 6.) In their personal spaces and tool boxes: pictures of Calvin (from Calvin & Hobbes) pissing on Saddam Hussein's head, union slogans, some mild sexual humor, a sandstorm rising with an Eagle at the apex, and slogans like "The Aggressive Pursuit of Peace." I guess what I'm saying here is that I was really proud to be an American today. Maybe "proud" isn't the word – more like "gratified." This country is extraordinarily blessed in so many ways, and I thank God that we have the will and the means to defend our way of life. Foreigners seem baffled by the patriotism Americans have for our country (that decadent America) but there's a simple reason for it, and it's summed up by (of all people) Demi Moore in "A Few Good Men": Lieutenant Sam Weinberg: Why do you like them so much?I saw a lot of people today standing on that wall. Sure, they're working for a paycheck, but they're also working for something more. And they're not going to leave a bolt untightened because it's close to quitting time, or half-ass the quality tests because they want to meet a quota. They're doing their best work for you and for me, and God bless them. OK, that's enough of my sentimental crap. I gotta scroll through all the blogs I've been missing over the past two days. Love and kisses – Eric (P.S. – Sadly, I didn't have time to get to the Budweiser brewery) Sunday, March 16, 2003
No free ice cream for a couple of days - business trip. Like it matters...it looks like Blogger is refusing to publish anyway. Peace out - Eric U.S. says Al-Qaeda ready to topple The United States is within reach of dismantling the leadership of the al Qaeda terrorist network responsible for the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on New York and the Pentagon, Bush administration officials and U.S. intelligence experts said. Premium Births (from today's NYT Magazine) Highest insurance premium rates paid by obstetricians and gynecologists, reported by insurers, July 2001: Miami-Dade/Broward Counties, FL: $202,949 Dallas, Houston, Galveston, TX: $160,746 New York City, Nassau & Suffolk Counties, NY: $115,429 Lowest rates: South Dakota: $11,580 Nebraska: $12,288 Indiana: $13,874 Saturday, March 15, 2003
The Sting The New York Times Magazine has a feature called "What they were thinking" where a photograph is shown along with dialogue from the subjects in the picture explaining what's on their mind. It's been one of my favorite features ever since I saw a picture of a middle-aged man dressed up like Gene Simmons of KISS, holding a briefcase as his elderly father fixes a buckle on one of his boots. But I digress.... In today's paper, there's testimony from a pair of women who suffered from chronic fatigue and multiple sclerosis but have discovered a wonder drug that has turned their lives around. The medicine? Bee stings. They swear by it. The husband of one of the women became a bee-keeper. Patrick Ruffini has his "Closing Argument" for war with Iraq. Unlike Lewis Lapham's supercilious shotgun logic in Harper's this month (it came this morning), Ruffini uses logic, historical perspective, and facts to back up his viewpoint instead of visceral grandstanding. Too good to excerpt - go read it all. Wow - I just did a tour of the blogs and there's a lot of Dixie Chicks bashing goin' on. Natalie Maines picked both the wrong place (Europe) and wrong time (on the brink of war) to make disparaging remarks about the President - now, reap the whirlwind. Estrada update Zell Miller, Democrat Senator from Georgia, weighs in on Senate obstructionism on Miguel Estrada in "Senate Math" A portly British statesman once famously said that "democracy is based on reason and fair play." But there's nothing reasonable or fair about what's been happening in the Senate recently. The filibuster against Bush nominee Miguel Estrada is not just an expensive waste of time and taxpayer money, it's also an affront to majority rule, the principle that democracy operates on everywhere.So intelligent, so upstanding, and yet a Democrat! Join us, Zell - come over to the dark side [evil laughter] Why, oh why, do I read Arab News? God, or Allah, or Buddah, or L. Ron Hubbard help me, why do I read the Saudi-run English-language web page Arab News? Dear Lord, I know it's supposed to show the best side of Islamic opinion. But then I read something like this, and I can't help but think, Abraham help me, that maybe (just maybe) Islam isn't a religion of peace. Some excerpts from a hatchet job on Colin Powell: Nelson Mandela was right. The bribing, bullying, horse-trading and warmongering we are witnessing in the world today are all because there’s a black man sitting at the helm of the United Nations.It's all a racist plot! We wouldn't have these problems if Kurt Waldheim was still running the U.N. Uncle Ben’s Rice literally sold itself because it was good, nutritious and healthy; Uncle Sam isn’t selling because the product is bad, unwholesome and malevolent. Powell can no more sell his stale product than a grocery store can sell rotten apples and tomatoes, except to the starved and dying of the world, except to the famine-struck African peoples of Guinea, Angola and Cameroon.Don't forget about Zimbabwe, governed by wacko and friend-of-the-French Robert Mugabe. Or how about Islamic Sudan? How's the slavery trade going over there? Powell first used the method in his PowerPoint presentation to the UN when he tried to convince us that the rabbit shape we see in the moon really is a live gigantic rabbit.WTF? Can somebody help me? What is this clown talking about? Notice, for example, the digital link used by Bush when he claimed in his first speech after the tragedy of Sept. 11 that 130 Israelis had died in the twin towers when the correct number was actually 3 (out of the 3,000 Israeli employees that were supposed to have been in the WTC at the time of the explosions).Stop. Hammer time. I'm stopping right here, at this hateful urban legend. Read the rest if you want to be annoyed by this "Professor of Stylistics" (no kidding), but the only thing you'll learn is how far the Muslim mindset is from the 21st century. Or the 20th. Friday, March 14, 2003
I like music My review of the Elvis Costello cover CD "Almost You" is now up at Blogcritics. By the way, I caught the first 15 minutes of Elvis guest-hosting for Letterman the other night. He was surprisingly good - he was funny and had a good monologue which he closed with a version of "Alison" where he sang "Oh....Letterman, I want my own talk show now / Letterman...don't hurry back." (It helps if you know the song). Nope, no racists here! Here’s part of House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi’s official statement on Trent Lott back in December: “This is an astounding betrayal of what was on his mind.” Take note: Pelosi makes it clear that the subject of condemnation is Trent Lott, the man and his mind. Now here’s Pelosi’s statement about the removal of Virginia Democrat James Moran from the Democratic leadership after suggesting that the Jewish lobby is pushing for war in Iraq: "I have taken this action because Congressman Moran's irresponsible remarks were a serious mistake," Pelosi said. "As I said earlier this week, his comments were not only inappropriate, they were offensive and have no place in the Democratic Party." [Emphasis added]The man is good. Only his comments were bad. Mistakes were made. Intention vs. obsession The now-too-long buildup to war with Iraq has now given rise to a new round of psychoanalysis of the President and his motivations. Now he’s no longer interested in protecting Americans or enforcing U.N. resolutions or disarming Saddam Hussein. Now he’s just obsessed. “Obsessed” with the intrinsic suggestion of “irrational” is the latest tactic used by the anti-war crowd to smear the president without addressing the issue of the terrorist threat in the post-9/11 world. So here’s Paul Krugman today, in full character assassination-mode, attacking Bush with an article titled “George W. Queeg”: Aboard the U.S.S. Caine, it was the business with the strawberries that finally convinced the doubters that something was amiss with the captain. Is foreign policy George W. Bush's quart of strawberries?It’s beneath Paul Krugman’s station to explain why this war should not be fought, when it’s so much easier to just question the President’s motives and mentality. For the takedown of Krugman, see (who else?) Matthew Hoy’s page today. Last night on Wolf Blitzer, Ron Silver made mince-meat of Bill Maher, but not before the “Politically Incorrect” outcast regurgitated this spittle: BLITZER: Bill, why do you think President Bush, who's privy obviously, to the top national security intelligence information, wants to go to war against Iraq?In psychological terms, this is known as displacement, where the main object of emotion (e.g. anger) is transferred to a substitute. For armchair Freuds like Krugman and Maher, failure to capture Bin Laden, or the inability to confront North Korea, is driving Bush’s war with Iraq. There really can’t be any other reason, right Norman Mailer? Then Mailer takes us on a fantasy trip that incorporates virtually every leftist cliché ever directed at the United States. I paraphrase: America has allowed big corporations to rob its soul, and destroy the environment. Bush is obsessed with building an American empire, thus the rush to war. Bush's embrace of empire as a way of life is rooted in his near messianic obsessions about good versus evil, a dangerous road that could literally embroil us endlessly in conflicts around the world.He’s crazy, I tells ya! It takes a special brand of cynicism to engage in this kind of amorphous smear, this baseless insult. If there’s an argument against war with Iraq, then just make it. Unfortunately, for these pundits and their Hollywood amen-corner, the pacifist argument is quickly swept away. What remains is nothing more than a house of cards built with vapid ad hominem attacks. Thursday, March 13, 2003
Guess the movie The main character is single-minded in his mission of acquiring a weapon He believes that this weapon will give him the power to vanquish his enemies and there is an elaborate fantasy scene where these enemies retreat in abject defeat due to the overwhelming power of this weapon He engages in both overt and covert propaganda to obtain the weapon (e.g. subconscious propaganda and documents stating his intent) However, he is rebuffed by an agent of the government, a quasi-religious figure, and the main authority figures in his world. He uses vile language and tells untruths. He engages in other challenges to authority and subterfuges involving, for example, code-breaking and an obscene disguise. All the while, he is threatened with force by a dominant figure (described as a bully) This dominant figure is accompanied by another (described in amphibian terms) who acts tough but, without protection, promptly retreats when faced with danger. Later, the main character stands up to that dominant figure and his weak ally. Although he commits an unpardonable sin in the process, a member of that main authority fails to report it to the other member of the group and the danger passes. A disagreement forms between the members of this main authority group on weapon policy. He acquires the weapon. He promptly misuses the weapon and causes the very damage warned about from the start. A chilling political thriller? A parable for our times? Click HERE or on the comments button for the movie (if you haven't guessed it yet). Fun with Google News Strategy? Feh! New ideas? Bah! For Democratic National Committee chair Terry McAuliffe, it’s always, always about getting more money….and then blowing it on the wrong races. Just for laughs, I did a Google News search on McAuliffe + DNC + money = 73 hits By comparison a search on (RNC chairman Marc) Racicot + RNC + money = 32 hits A regular Google search yields McAuliffe + DNC + money = 3620 hits While Racicot + RNC + money = 906 hits And yet, with all this begging and money-grubbing, the Dems are broke! WASHINGTON (AP) — The Republican National Committee is starting the march toward the 2004 election with a multimillion-dollar advantage on its Democratic rival. The RNC began the new year with $5 million in the bank; the Democratic Party was $106,000 in debt.I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Terry McAuliffe is a gift to Republicans. Big fan, Terry, big fan! George Will cracks me up sometimes because I’m convinced that when he makes up a phrase he’s particularly proud of, he feels compelled to repeat it over and over. On “This Week” this past Sunday he said: “The United Nations is not a good idea badly executed; it’s a bad idea.” Today, he picks up on that theme, using the same phrase (with “implemented” replacing “executed”) in his opening paragraph. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t read his incisive article today, “U.N. Absurdity,” where he fleshes out all the thoughts he started on the Sunday Roundtable. Why was Helen Thomas dissed by President Bush at his press conference? Because she’s a royal pain in the ass. Jack Shafer on Slate presents the evidence. Speaking of Hollywood activists Here’s a line from the WSJ Opinion Journal article “Stars and Gripes” about hypocritical celebrities who found nothing whatsoever wrong with Clinton’s unilateral approach to Kosovo and elsewhere: Some celebrities are at least honest about their hypocrisy. Comedian Janeane Garofalo was blunt in explaining why Hollywood types didn't protest any of Mr. Clinton's military ventures: "It wasn't very hip."It. Wasn’t. Very. Hip. In my opinion, these Hollywood types can’t be ridiculed enough. The Capitalist System Works From the New York Post’s “Page Six” section this morning: MARTIN Sheen's politicking against the war on terrorism may have cost him a lucrative endorsement contract.Good. Wednesday, March 12, 2003
New hope for Paul Krugman! From New Scientist: World's first brain prosthesis revealed The world's first brain prosthesis - an artificial hippocampus - is about to be tested in California. Unlike devices like cochlear implants, which merely stimulate brain activity, this silicon chip implant will perform the same processes as the damaged part of the brain it is replacing. Viking Pundit News I’m in the top 10 of “Interesting Newcomers” according to Technorati, right behind some French blogs but ahead of “Howard Dean 2004”. And, just one day after setting up my Amazon tip jar, a kind soul (from Massachusetts!) put in enough to keep off that annoying Blogger banner. Thanks! NOW tries to revive ERA – tells Muslim women: TS Last week, the Wall Street Journal/Opinion Journal ran a powerful piece by Kay S. Hymowitz called “Liberation’s Limits” with the telling subtitle: “Feminists to Muslim Women: Drop Dead.” In the article, she berates American feminists for being so focused on their own culture of victimization, they willfully ignore the persecution of women in the Middle East: Feminists had an extraordinary opportunity after Sept. 11, when pictures of other-worldly creatures in blue burkhas shocked even beer-chugging Super Bowl fans into becoming women's rights advocates. But instead of seizing the moment to revive an anemic movement by raising their voices against genuine female oppression, they have given the ultimate illustration of their preference for partisan politics and smug resentments over principles.Today, NOW president Kim Gandy put out a press release with this concluding paragraph: Women need a constitutional equality amendment to effectively counter what is already a full- blown campaign to weaken and limit civil rights and to diminish women's rights. As we look to a future where conservative ideologues will dominate judicial thought and action, progressive leaders must stimulate debate among our elected representatives, women's rights advocates and the public-at-large on the meaning of equal protection for the sexes under the law. Passage of a strong constitutional equality amendment will assure that this most important advance in human rights is undertaken. [Emphasis added]Put aside the vast-right-wing-conspiracy paranoia for a moment. According to NOW, the passage of the Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution – essentially a re-iteration of the 14th Amendment – will be the “most important advance in human rights.” Moreso than, oh, say the Magna Carta or the Emancipation Proclamation, or the liberation of Afghanistan from Taliban rule. This would be funny if it wasn’t so sad. It’s Marie Antoinette logic: “How can we worry about the murder of girls in Saudi Arabia when women in America are only making 80 cents to a man’s dollar?” Pitiful. Best article title today: “French Disconnection” By suggesting that France will oppose any second resolution, whatever the wording and whenever it is introduced, M Chirac, as Tony Blair noted yesterday, has sent a message to Saddam Hussein that he is “off the hook.” It will encourage dictators around the world, from Pyongyang to Harare, to believe that they can defy UN resolutions, oppress their people and get away with it, safe in the knowledge that France will take a self-indulgent and unprincipled stand, at least as long as M Chirac is in the Elysée.C’est le cheese-eating surrender monkeys. Roasting the French I, for one, don’t think Congress should stoop to such pettiness such as renaming “French Fries” at the House cafeteria as “Freedom Fries.” Our elected officials should leave that kind of crudeness to us, the unwashed masses. Here’s what I propose we do [rubbing hands together and grinning devilishly] At any office superstore, you can purchase “sticker” paper for your inkjet printer. Print whatever, then peel off the back and you’re ready to go. I’m going to get some yellow paper (natch) and print “Cowardly” a hundred times and cut it up into little inch-long strips. At the local Mobil where I get my coffee in the morning, they always have one of those pump-containers with “French Roast.” I’m going to put a sticker there so it reads “Cowardly French Roast.” Heh-heh-heh. I’ll let you know how it pans out. Good deeds Mike at Cold Fury and Susanna at Cut on the Bias have put together a list of employers who are going above-and-beyond to help our men (and women) in uniform while stationed in the Middle East. Visit The Home Front to see the full list. (And link the page so we can push it to the top of Blogdex). Support these businesses and support our troops. Oil drilling saves the whales Two years ago, Charles Krauthammer wrote an article called “Supply and Demand Realities” where he derided the liberal position toward energy policy. On the topic of developing the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska for oil development, he noted: “ANWR is the poster child of cake-and-eat-it-too eco-petulance. It's a place so remote and so desolate that not one American in a million will ever see it. Exploration would affect no more than 8 percent of the refuge. Rather than disturb the mating grounds of caribou, however, our exquisite environmentalists have prevented exploration of what could be our next Prudhoe Bay.” Take note that this was written before 9/11, before Iraq, before the Venezuelan strikes, and before a bitter Northeast winter, all of which have driven gas prices above $2/gallon. Considering how the price of oil affects the American economy, maybe now’s a good time to reconsider development of ANWR. Not so fast, says the Boston Globe, in an editorial today that is a breathtaking pique of eco-petulance, bordering on self-parody. An excerpt from “The Damage in Alaska”: Although there have been no major spills on the North Slope itself, the noise of exploratory drilling and other activities has forced bowhead whales into more distant migration patterns, which has hurt hunting of the whales by natives. The garbage of oil field workers has increased the populations of predators like brown bears, foxes, ravens, and gulls that also feed on the eggs and fledglings of arctic birds, cutting into their populations.Even now I’m shaking my head at this gaseous display of greenish foot-stomping. So oil drilling in Alaska 1.) saves the whales 2.) feeds the animals and (gasp!) 3.) thaws the permafrost. I can see the protest posters going up all across the Berkeley campus now: “Stop the Melting of the Alaskan Permafrost!” “Billions of ice crystals are being reduced to their liquid form!” “Stop putting asphalt over the frozen ground!” Completely absent from this peevish rant is any mention of the potential cost of not drilling in ANWR, most notably our increasing dependence on Mideast oil and the funneling of petro-dollars into the hands of terrorists through Saddam Hussein and Saudi princes. The editors at the Boston Globe (owned by the New York Times) really do live in a different world than you and me. Bizarre historical parallels This just in from Fox News: BELGRADE, Serbia-Montenegro — Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic has been assassinated, the Reuters news service reported Wednesday. Tuesday, March 11, 2003
Yes, I finally gave in and installed an Amazon "Click to Give" button. The way I see it, if I can get back the $15 I paid Blogger to get rid of those annoying banner ads, then I'll be happy. That's all. -EAL Shameless plea for links - It would seem I’m getting a lot of traffic thanks to my NYT subscription parody (below). Since you’re here, how about adding me to your blogroll? C’mon, it’s easy! Did I mention you look fabulous today? Are Inspections Working? The Washington Post has a long editorial today called “Are Inspections Working?” It’s pretty clear they think the answer is “No.” Mr. Blix has dodged repeated requests that he judge Iraq against the terms of Resolution 1441; instead, he has retailed indications of "progress" on such issues as interviews with scientists, which in turn are hailed by some as proof that the "inspections are working." Such discussions have a surreal quality, because they ignore the elephantine fact that Iraq has still not disclosed its weapons. Mr. Blix doggedly pursues "unanswered questions" about huge stores of unaccounted-for materials -- but in reality, his team has little of substance to do. It can only wait to see if Iraq will be more forthcoming, or hope for a lucky break that will lead it to hidden stockpiles. [Emphasis in original]Between Iraq and Miguel Estrada, the Washington Post editorial page has been a welcome anecdote to the self-righteous and confused blather of the New York Times. “Elephantine” – that’s great. Slate's Saddameter update - holding steady at 99% chance of war with Iraq. (Will this post make my permalinks work now? Only the Blogger knows) Monday, March 10, 2003
To the Subscription Department of the New York Times: I have received your third letter requesting remittance for my New York Times newspaper home delivery. I’m disappointed that you have threatened to cut off delivery of my daily paper, especially in light of my continued efforts towards compliance within the agreed framework of the subscription contract. Soon after my daily subscription started, I received a bill from the NYT. I immediately complied with this request for payment by sending in $0.25. While this was not a “full” payment (as defined by you), it was clearly a signal that I intended to comply within the structure of our mutual agreement. This was followed up a week later by an additional $0.25 payment; once again, a clear indication that I was conforming to your demands. However, although I was paying for my newspapers, you seemed to indicate that the level of compliance was out of step with what we agreed to. In response to this, I accelerated my payment schedule to $1 a week. Granted, this was significantly less than the “total” newspaper cost, but I think you’d agree that progress is being made. In your letter, you also indicated that you would submit my name to a collection agency to recoup losses from papers already delivered. I view this as an unreasonable escalation on your part, which can only lead to mutual hostility between us. Furthermore, it is unsupportable when viewed next to my continued compliance as I’ve noted above. However, if you continue to feel that such drastic action is required to ensure my full compliance with the subscription contract, I’m going to have to demand that you get permission from the editors of Le Monde and Pravda before moving forward. Best, Eric Meanwhile, here in the “Commonwealth” I was doing my Massachusetts state taxes the other day and saw that there was an extra line added to this year’s form: an option to pay a higher tax rate of 5.85% instead of the regular 5.3% rate. This can’t be a bad idea, right? After all, the state that voted for George McGovern and Al Gore – the home of the Kennedys - must be chock-full of self-loathing liberals who feel they just aren’t being taxed enough. Or maybe not. (Hat tip to Daily Pundit). USA Today gets it An editorial in today’s paper “U.S. opponents squander last chance to avoid war” reiterates that the only thing Saddam Hussein understands is force: Any doubts about how Saddam Hussein behaves when pressures on him are relaxed even a little now can be erased. Though chief United Nations weapons inspector Hans Blix gave only a lukewarm endorsement Friday to Iraq's grudging disarmament steps, Saddam is acting as if he deserves a reward rather than a rebuke.This indirectly brings up a good point: do the Euro-weenies think inspections “will work” because the U.S. has now positioned a quarter-million troops around Iraq? Furthermore, do they expect me (the American taxpayer) to support these troops stationed in the Mideast while the endless inspections drag on? In other words, if the U.S. backs off, brings the troops home and says “OK, inspect away!” do you think there is the slightest chance that Saddam Hussein would then allow unfettered inspections? It’s ludicrous. In fact, how’s this for a counter-proposal to the United Nations? The U.S. withdraws American forces from the area in exchange for stepped-up inspections which includes fast-moving helicopters and the right to stop tractor-trailers driving along the Syrian border. If the Iraqis balk at any aspect of the inspections, then the French military will bear the cost of forcing Iraqi compliance, since it’s the French who most vocally insist Saddam Hussein is willing to disarm. Why are you laughing? Sunday, March 09, 2003
Judicial wars Here's an excerpt from the NYT Magazine article "The Power of the Fourth" about the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals: Clinton finally tried an end run around Helms by nominating a Virginian, a soft-spoken African-American lawyer named Roger L. Gregory….His nomination had bipartisan support. But even Gregory couldn't get a hearing scheduled.With regard to President Bush thinking he would get equitable treatment from the Democrats, I would quote Otter from "Animal House": "You f----- up, you trusted us!" Michael Moore cuts back on burger budget…buys books Today I got my Sunday New York Times and – WTF? – Michael Moore's "Stupid White Men" is #1 on the Hardback "Nonfiction" Best Seller list. Despite the fact the book has been out for nearly a year, the leftie book jumped from #9 last week to the top spot this week. And, as has been the case for as long as I've been tracking the book, the NYT has a dagger next to the listing indicating "some bookstores report receiving bulk orders." I find it extremely hard to believe this book is still maintaining some semblance of popularity. For 46 weeks now? I mean, c'mon. Moore must be sending out some acolytes to purchase books in massive numbers to keep his name on the best sellers list. There's really no other supportable conclusion. Saturday, March 08, 2003
Upholding the dignity of the office Jimmy Carter burnishes his *cough* well-earned Nobel Peace Prize with an editorial in the New York Times today (Sunday). Is there any point in reading it? War? He's against it. Permission from the United Nations? He's for it. Blah blah - ah, just go read the superb counter argument on OxBlog and be done with it. Whatever happened to the tradition of ex-presidents retiring from the public eye and leaving the field to the new Commander-in-Chief? Write your memoirs, make some speeches, and then play golf. But not the Democrats: Jimmy Carter and Bill "60 Minutes" Clinton simply cannot keep their gums from flapping and expressing their perpetual disappointment. Please, have some self-respect, and shut up. You gotta know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em During the President's press conference the other night, he used the poker term "show your cards" to indicate that U.N. members should be forced to reveal their true position on disarming Iraq (and, peripherally, the utility of the United Nations). As an amateur linguist, I'm always on the lookout for words and phrases that pop up in the American vernacular. Bush's gambling reference sent me scurrying to my copy of "The Story of English" from the PBS series, and I faithfully re-typed this section: The French origins of poker – present in usages like ace and deuce – were soon forgotten, especially when the Westerners evolved into their own varient, stud poker (one card down, the other cards up). As the wild men of the West carried the game far and wide, so phrases like put up or shut up, I'll call your bluff, and passing the buck entered the language. (The buck was the buck-horned-handled knife placed in front of the dealer and passed by a player who did not care to deal the next hand.) Deal itself, as word with a long pedigree, now acquired a whole new resonance, spawning a family of phrases, from square deal to new deal, to fair deal to raw deal and big deal! Once the cards had been dealt, the quality of bluffing became an important factor in the game. By the middle of the century, bluff was synonymous with poker, and the best way to win was to have a poker face and to hope that the cards weren't stacked against you. Such gambling terms are now common in English. We talk about having an ace up one's sleeve, and we boast that we will up the ante, we say of someone that he has hit the jackpot, or loaded the dice, or thrown in his hand, or played both ends against the middle, that he wouldn't follow suit and preferred to play a wild card when perhaps he should have recognized the chips were down.Does the prevalence of gambling terms in the American language reveal something about our character? Maybe we're willing to take risks where others would prefer not to play at all. I'd bet on it. Friday, March 07, 2003
More Monty Python fun I had a jarring revelation of the perfect model for the U.N. inspection team in Iraq. They’re just like the Roman soldiers searching for the People’s Front for Judea in the movie “Life of Brian”. This script really doesn’t do it justice, but in the movie the Romans come to a miniscule apartment looking for Brian; the members of the People’s Front hide themselves by doing things like putting a towel over their heads. About a hundred soldiers march into the room (way more than could ever fit), only to come back out without finding anyone. They leave but come back a few seconds later, claiming they failed to look in one place. In they go (clomp clomp clomp) and out they come; a sergeant proudly states “Found this spoon, sir”. “Well done, sergeant!” Rent the movie. You won’t regret it. Moss-backed windbag gets her comeuppance This: "This is the worst president ever," Mrs. Thomas told the Daily Breeze of Torrance, Calif., in January. "He is the worst president in all of American history."And this: For four decades the White House correspondent for United Press International, Mrs. Thomas, 82, has in recent months harangued Bush spokesman Ari Fleischer, asking how President Bush can slaughter innocent Iraqis in a quest for oil.Leads to this: Syndicated columnist Helen Thomas, who has covered every president since John F. Kennedy, was relegated to the third row in last night's East Room event and — if the memory of press corps veterans is accurate — received her first presidential snub.It’s about time. Estrada update The Washington Post had some pretty strong words for the Senate Democrats in the main editorial today: “Escalation in the Senate”: But a lower court nominee has never been stopped by filibuster, nor has withholding a vote ever been used to force a nominee to discuss matters about which nominees traditionally remain silent. The Estrada vote, therefore, formalizes a dramatic escalation in the war over the courts -- one Democrats may come to regret.The Republicans need to break out the cots and put aside the “gentleman’s” filibuster. Make the Democrats defend the indefensible. Double entendre of the day From the article: “Hooters Air Takes Off with Waitresses in Hot Pants” Henry Harteveldt, an airline analyst for Forrester Research in San Francisco, described Hooters Air as a novelty idea that would not give established carriers such Delta Air Lines, which operates on the same route, anything to worry about.(Fill in your own breast joke here) Melinda? Have you seen my wallet? I had $10 billion in there! The Economist has a graph of “The World’s 12 Richest People” Bill Gates lost $10 billion dollars in 2002 and he’s still the richest man in the world. Here's a little follow-up on Gates and author Robert X. Cringely from Wired: Cringely was thrilled when Gates tried to disprove an anecdote from Accidental Empires. In the book, Gates goes to a convenience store in 1990 (net worth at the time: $3 billion) to get a tub of butter pecan ice cream. At the checkout counter, he can't find a 50-cents-off coupon he had brought, and as he searches and searches, a frustrated customer farther back in line finally tosses him two quarters, which Gates takes. The customer calls out, "Pay me back when you earn your first million." Gates told Cringely the story couldn't be true because coupons come in the daily newspaper, and he doesn't get a daily newspaper. "He wanted me to buy it!" Cringely marvels. "Why? Who am I to him?"Nerd fight! For the past two months, a country has been missing The tiny island country of Nauru (population: 10,000) lost their phone system in early January and had been cut off from the rest of the world until an Australian engineer fixed their phone system this past week. As if this wasn’t strange enough, well…read about the history and present problems of Nauru. It involves phosphate, London musicals, and Iraqi refugees – ‘nuf said. Thursday, March 06, 2003
My quick take on Bush tonight Yes, he was repetitive and seemed distracted by the whole affair. But it's also reasonable to interpret him as single-minded and focused on the task at hand. Really, he boiled it down to the following: 1.) Iraq is a threat to the United States 2.) As President, he is sworn to protect the United States Ergo, 3.) He must remove the threat in Iraq Furthermore 4.) Before it grows beyond our control If you agree with #1, it's really hard to knock the rest of the syllogism. Also, you can't deny that Dubya has a vision: a world free from the kind of regimes that bring about 9/11s. Things that make you go Hmmmmm........ I caught the slightest bit of Thomas Friedman of the New York Times (he's their good columnist) on C-Span giving a speech before the Center for Advanced International Studies. He had a really insightful observation on Muslims: he said Muslims view Islam as (in computer terms) "God 3.0" while Christianity is "God 2.0" and Judaism is "God 1.0". In Friedman's words, Muslims can't understand why their new and improved version doesn't seem to work as well (socio-economically) than the old version, so they're blaming the competitors (other religions) and the programmers (Muslims who "corrupt" the program). I'm going to have to look for the transcript tomorrow. If anyone finds it, can you forward it on? Update: It was the School of Advanced International Studies at John Hopkins. No transcript on the site, but I'll check back later. OK, I took the strong advice of other bloggers and signed up with Weblogs so I can start pinging. Of course it would also help if some of you fine bloggers would link this fantastic blog. Thanks! Jesse Helms was right On January 20th, 2000, former Senator Jesse Helms gave a speech at the United Nations. As chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, “Senator No” had been a long-time opponent of the U.N. and had bottled up U.S. funding for the international body for years. In this speech, he bluntly informs the U.N. that the U.S. will not tolerate any attenuation of American sovereignty. Here are some excerpts from that speech, which you can find here. In all cases, emphasis is in the originally-prepared text.
The Dead walk the Earth! From Little Green Footballs: "The President will hold a news conference tonight at 8:00 EST. Rumors are flying that he may announce the capture of Bin Laden." Has anybody heard anything about this? Update: "The White House has denied rumours circulating in Washington that it is about to announce the capture of Bin Laden. " The perfect counter-balance to the NYT’s fecklessness William Safire has a great column today called “Give Freedom a Chance”. I won’t excerpt – just read the whole thing. Yes, yes, a million times yes. The Wall Street Journal has the transcript of a speech given by editor James Taranto, with the title: “No Distraction: Why liberating Iraq is crucial to beating terrorism.” Fred Barnes rounds out the discussion with the “Peacenik Top 10” of anti-war lies about the coming conflict with Iraq. Finally, Larry Elder asks: “Where were Bush’s critics during Kosovo?” It’s all good. Hope springs eternal at the New York Times From the main editorial today: “The Worst-Case Scenario Arrives” The first casualty is likely to be the effort to use coercive diplomacy to disarm Iraq. The unity of the Security Council last November in backing Resolution 1441 without a dissenting vote, combined with the movement of American forces to the Persian Gulf region, changed the equation with Iraq. Though Saddam Hussein is far from full disarmament, he has given ground in recent months by permitting the return of arms inspectors after a four-year absence and, more recently, by beginning to destroy illegal missiles. With more time and an escalation of pressure, Mr. Hussein might yet buckle. (Emphasis added)The NYT reminds me of that Bugs Bunny cartoon where he tells Yosemite Sam: “I dare you to step over this line”. “I’m a stepping!” declares Sam. Bugs: “Well, I dare you to step over this line.” The difference is that every time Hans Blix and the NYT feel that the pressure on Saddam Hussein is growing, they say “Comply with this modest concession.” He does and they cry: “He’s cooperating!” Meanwhile, the goal of disarmament is miles away. Always another ultimatum - never enforced, another threat – consequences delayed, more debate, more inspections, more time, always more time. Twelve more years? Twenty? The United States cannot back down now. If we do, the message to the Islamofascists will be loud and clear: split world opinion with appeals for peace, use economic carrots, and put on a microscopic display of compliance and you can paralyze any forceful response. James Lileks recently had a Bleat where he painted a scenario, six months after a hypothetical nuclear attack on Baltimore. He asks: would we respond in kind if we found evidence linking the nuclear holocaust to a terrorist nation? We’d never do it. We’d hold televised benefits for Baltimore. We’d all remember the victims of 5/23. We’d buy the DVD compilations of news footage, archive the papers that landed on our stoops the day after. We’d find life returning to normal, eventually - but we’d never feel at ease again. The worst thing ever had happened, and to our surprise the world hadn’t ended. But the world had changed. Our better nature had prevailed - and we were certain to suffer again because of it, right up until the day we lashed out and became everything we never wanted to be.Failure to take action against a sworn enemy of the United States – that would be the “worst-case scenario.” Brainless Peaceniks on Parade in Western Massachusetts Some choice quotes from the “Skip School for Saddam” rally: Ann Ferguson of the Philosophy Department said that she's been involved in political activism since the 1960s.But there was one kindred soul here in the Happy Valley: Several people in the center of Amherst said they didn't agree with the protestors' views. Two words: Australian schoolgirls (Adobe Acrobat required) Or...go to the Newseum and click on the very first graphic for the front page of the Australian. The headline is also provocative: "Secret UN Plan to Rule Iraq" Wednesday, March 05, 2003
Slate's Saddameter - which estimates the chance of war with Iraq - hit yet another all-time high today: 99%. Whistling past the graveyard Tapped linked a story from the American Prospect called “Hard Money, Harder Races” about the Democrats’ plans to retake Congress in 2004. Coming from the left-leaning American Prospect, the tone of the article is hopeful as Senator Jon Corzine (D-NJ) and Rep. Robert Matsui (D-CA) detail their carefully-crafted strategy to regain control of the legislative branch. Here’s the whole plan: get more cash. I thought for sure that after the embarrassing losses of the 2002 mid-term elections, the Democrats would have jettisoned DNC Chair Terry McAuliffe. But the Dems are a party so deep in denial, so delusional, and so desperate (is that what the “D” stands for?) that Svengali McAuliffe has convinced them that it wasn’t the absence of a message that led to defeat, it’s that there just wasn’t enough money. Corzine, a freshman senator who largely funded his own campaign, says his main challenge is raising money under the new laws that ban soft-money donations. In the past, Democrats have relied on large donations to stay competitive with Republicans who have a broader base of donors.At least there’s one glimmer of honest self-appraisal: As pollster Celinda Lake said about the economy, "After 2000 and 2002, voters aren't even clear about what the Democratic alternative is."And I defy you to find it in this article, as well. The two men are certain that more voters agree with the Democrats on issues; the party just need to do a better job articulating and promoting its message.Whatever that is. Massachusetts: Bedeviling Democrats and bolstering Bush That’s not a typo. At least on education policy, the recent MCAS results in Massachusetts have served to support President Bush’s belief that standardized testing will help to ensure that no child is left behind. From yesterday’s Boston Globe: “90% of Seniors Pass MCAS” Eclipsing even most education leaders' predictions, 90 percent of students in the class of 2003 have passed the controversial MCAS exam, clearing the way for them to earn a diploma on time.(Emphasis added.) Read that last sentence again - this is astonishing. The kids were given a goal and told simply that they must pass the test to graduate. So after years of sliding by, it would appear they woke up to the fact that they should, you know, learn something. The MCAS requirement is bitterly opposed by the teachers union (read: Democrats) who have dragged out the race disparity in failure rates to show that the test is unfair. But, as the Boston Globe article notes, the students that failed don’t go to class: Of the 6,058 who haven't passed, officials estimated roughly half of them do not attend school regularly and many would not meet local graduation requirements. Driscoll said students in the class of 2003 who have not passed MCAS missed an average of 20 days of school in 11th grade compared with 11 days of school missed by students who had passed.No matter, declares Springfield mayor Michael Albano. We’ll hand out our own pieces of paper. Opponents of the requirement yesterday vowed to push onward with their protests and already there were signs of a battle heating up. Springfield Mayor Michael J. Albano said yesterday that his school committee on Thursday will consider awarding so-called ''local diplomas'' to students who fail MCAS but meet other local requirements. Springfield would be the largest community to take the step so far.Here’s a thought: since Albano intends to hand out “local diplomas”, they should be granted on the condition that the “graduates” must work within the city limits of Springfield. That’s sure to help the local economy. Since they’re just over the International Date Line, do they get tomorrow’s news today? The Sydney Morning Herald seems to be getting the scoops lately, including this story: “Khalid changes story on fate of bin Laden” Alleged al-Qaeda terror mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was flown to a US detention centre in Afghanistan today after three days of interrogation in Pakistan, first telling officials Osama bin Laden was alive, then claiming he was dead.I find that “six months” intriguing because I was convinced Bin Laden was dead when he failed to produce a videotape or audiotape taunting America on the anniversary of 9/11. That must be one deep cave he’s in. No Estrada posts today The wife checked out the page yesterday and said I focus too much on the Estrada imbroglio. Instead, head over to Hoystory, where Matthew Hoy has assembled all sorts of new information - including graphs - to show that the Dems are a bunch of whiny pansies. SF book list - let the arguments begin The Science Fiction Book Club has posted the "Most Significant Science Fiction and Fantasy Books of the past 50 Years". In the top 10, I've read "Neuromancer," "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?", and "Fahrenheit 451". The last book I really enjoyed was "Cryptonomicon" by Neal Stephenson, which (sadly) did not make the list. (Hat tip to Hit and Run) There's a lot of great editorial cartoons and a wonderful picture from the space shuttle Columbia on American Realpolitik this morning so, rather than just copying them here, just go over there. Update: Ooops...looks like Anon is right. I've been duped. Rand Simberg figured it out too. The photo is from a computer simulation. Tuesday, March 04, 2003
Eric Olsen double-dog swears this is the last time he'll be moving the address for Blogcritics. Reset your bookmarks (again). Viking Pundit gets results! Wow - that was fast! Republicans Inch Towards Estrada Vote Update: Byron York's latest: "The GOP Changes Its Estrada Strategy - They’ll now force Democrats to vote on ending the filibuster." Call the vote I know I’ve been dwelling on the Miguel Estrada nomination, but this issue drives me up a wall because Democrats can’t stand to see someone go “off the reservation.” They loathe affirmative-action-turncoat Clarence Thomas and now they can’t bear to see a Hispanic judge who doesn’t conform to the groupthink of the liberals. In the Democrats version of Hobson’s choice, minorities can have any political philosophy they want…as long as it’s the same as the Democrats. But now the game is up and Senate Republicans should call the cloture vote for Estrada’s nomination to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, or force the Democrats into a round-the-clock filibuster. In a deft flanking maneuver, the White House has collapsed the Democrats argument against the Estrada nomination. The universal complaint from the Daschle obstructionists has been that the nominee “hasn’t answered questions.” (See multiple variations of this theme at Byron York’s latest National Review article). So the White House said “fine” – submit questions in written form by last Friday and Miguel Estrada will answer them, to the best of his ability, by today (March 3rd.) This formal invitation was sent to all 100 U.S. Senators. Number of questions submitted: zero. The Democrats now do not have a leg to stand on. As Matthew Hoy quipped, let’s see some “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington”. Make Tom Daschle stand in the Senate chamber and explain why the President shouldn’t be allowed to appoint judicial nominees as declared in the Constitution. Make Charles Schumer say why he gave up his opportunity to expose this “stealth candidate.” Make Richard Durbin – who was “straining to find some information” on Miguel Estrada – explain why this well-qualified nominee should be denied a chair on the federal bench. Stand and deliver. The inside dirt from Andrew Sullivan Chatting with a senior member of the administration this weekend, I felt a sense of relief. The president is adamant that Saddam will soon be gone. It will happen. The only option short of war will be Saddam's exile, or death. I think Saddam understands this, which is why we suddenly have his desperate attempts to show superficial disarmament. But it isn't enough.Saddam could try an interview with Larry King next. Curse you, corporate suits If you grew up in the New York metropolitan area in the 1970s and 80s – like me – you listened to WNEW-FM “The Place Where Rock Lives.” But now the legendary rock station is gone and “while in format limbo, the station plays Top 40 music by Nelly and Mariah Carey.” Dammit. Monumental miscalculations Sometimes George Will manages to weave a display of writing that leaves little goosebumps on my arms. The concluding paragraph to his Washington Post opinion piece today is a keeper: [British citizen Conrad] Black says that three of the greatest strategic errors of modern times -- Germany's unrestricted submarine warfare in 1917, Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor and the Soviet refusal of postwar U.S. aid in exchange for liberality in Eastern Europe -- involved underestimating the dangers of provoking America. Khalid Sheik Mohammed, one of the authors of the fourth great error, the Sept. 11 attacks, may have belatedly understood that danger when, before dawn Saturday, he stood in his underwear, facing the drawn guns of the men who told him America would like to ask him some questions. Monday, March 03, 2003
The award for the most unnecessary asterisk goes to…. The Washington Post for this passage in an article about the interrogation of Khalid Sheik Mohammed: "We don't kick the sh*t out of them. Some of our friends do, but we don't do that," a former counterterrorism official familiar with U.S. interrogation methods said. If you're going to go that far, you might as well just print the whole word. In the same article, the White House press secretary made this statement: "The standard for any type of interrogation of somebody in American custody is to be humane and to follow all international house of pancakes laws and accords dealing with this type of subject. That is precisely what has been happening and exactly what will happen," White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said.So no beatings, but a 45-minute wait for a table followed by hot maple syrup on your ba*ls. Boy, that Monty Python rework did wonders for my traffic. I'm now averaging over 200 visits a day! Take that, Instapundit! Meet the Oppressed Here’s a portion of the transcript from yesterday’s Meet the Press with the back-and-forth between former Senator Fred Thompson and Mike “BJ Honeycutt” Farrell:
Mike Farrell does the full Ray Bolger with this convoluted defense. Let’s enumerate: Straw Man #1 - Anti-war activists are unpatriotic The peace crowd loves to repeat this canard because it feeds their martyr complex, their need to be “censored” and “oppressed.” Let’s make it clear: the anti-war protesters are not “unpatriotic” – they’re just wrong. Fred Thompson does not make the allegation that the anti-war types don’t love their country, but somehow Farrell twists the accurate term of “appease[rs]” into an attack on patriotism. Straw Man #2 – The pro-war types are making a false link between Al-Qaeda and Saddam Hussein While I will agree that some have tried to make this tenuous link (such as Lindsey Graham earlier in the show), in the commercial Fred Thompson does not tie them together except in a metaphorical way. By invoking the 9/11 hijackers, Thompson is obviously using a comparison designed to invoke a visceral reaction – but the point here is that evil must be confronted now before we’re confronted by it later. Farrell seizes upon the mention of the 9/11 hijackers as if Thompson was trying to link them to Iraq. He did not. Straw Man #3 – The war in Iraq will cost too much Earlier in the show, Tom Andrews of Win without War hit on this theme relentlessly, and Farrell couldn’t wait to pile on, apropos of nothing that Fred Thompson said in his commercial. (Andrews bordered on self-parody when he practically held a pinkie up his mouth and declared the war would cost “One trillion dollars!”) Here’s a newsflash: wars cost money…lots of it. But liberals (patriotic liberals!) like Farrell can’t get past the “If the Navy had to have a bake sale” mentality so prevalent among the anti-war crowd. Look, there’s always going to be other stuff we could spend defense dollars on, but it’s hard to maintain order and defend freedom around the world with Amtrak. Estrada update The Washington Post finds fault on all sides of the Estrada nomination in their editorial today: “Layers of Nonsense.” But, on the whole, the Post comes down harder on the Democrats: The question at stake in the Democratic filibuster of Mr. Estrada's nomination ultimately has nothing to do with race or with Mr. Estrada's allegedly inadequate answers. It is simply whether a conservative president can reliably place on an appeals court a qualified conservative against whom no serious complaint has been made. The answer must be yes; for if he cannot, the courts will become the province of those anodyne centrists whose views don't offend anyone with power.The White House may have made a strategic decision to wait out the Dems as the chorus of criticism against the Estrada filibuster grows louder. That’s fine and I still believe that Estrada will be approved to the D.C. Court of Appeals. But I also want to see the Democrats stand up and vote to supersede the Constitution and the President’s right to shape the judiciary. Great news – the KSM rundown Thanks to Man without Qualities for finding this report from the Sydney Morning Herald: Washington: The captured terrorist mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed was carrying the names and phone numbers of members of al-Qaeda sleeper cells in North America when he was apprehended, according to intelligence officials.This is HUGE. Former CIA officer Robert Baer also gives his take on the KSM capture in the National Review: Kathryn Jean Lopez: How big of a deal is it that Khalid Shaikh Mohammed was arrested this weekend?And speaking of KSM’s interrogation, there was this iiiiiiinteresting exchange on Fox News Sunday between Brit Hume and Senator Pat Roberts, chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee: HUME: How aggressive should his interrogators, American interrogators, be in trying to get information from him?(Von Horst talking about the torture of Nick.) Von Horst: "They're still working on him. They've tried everything. He won't break. Do you want me to bring out the Leroy Neiman paintings?" General Streck: "No, we cannot risk violating the Geneva convention." From “Top Secret!” France: Confused about the enemy Give Matthew Hoy some credit: he was apparently so incensed by French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin on “This Week” he typed in part of his interview with George Stephanopoulos (since I know ABC doesn’t provide a transcript). I saw the same interview and threw up my hands at Frenchy’s baffling and opaque statements. My favorite was this: “I think you cannot remake history. You can take lessons.” Well, Mr. De Villepin, open your history book to “Chamberlain, Neville.” Sunday, March 02, 2003
Now for something a little more light-hearted Instapundit links a story called "Swedes against recycling" - hey, I'm one of those! Readin' Writin' and Jihad The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has been running a series of quarter-page ads in the New York Times' "Week in Review" section for the last couple of weeks. Usually the ads have some smiling men or women with vague Arab features explaining why they're just like you or me, except they are Muslims; the caption that accompanies the picture is "I'm (or We're) An American and I'm a Muslim." In today's paper, there's a picture of a woman wearing a hijab (head scarf) detailing her education at Georgetown and her position as a researcher for an international corporation. Fair enough. But in the main section of the paper, in an article about Al-Qaeda operative Khalid Shiek Mohammed, we learn that he earned his mechanical engineering degree in North Carolina. Now I'm filled with the sickening realization that Mohammed, who has been branded as the mastermind behind the 9/11 terrorist attacks, may have determined just the right spot to hit the World Trade Center so the buildings would buckle and disintegrate – and that knowledge was imparted to him right here in the U.S. Did he calculate the kinetic energy of a jumbo jet and the compressive strength of steel softened by jet fuel using an old textbook and a Texas Instruments calculator? Well…I think that's all I'm gonna say about that. Estrada update Juan Non-Volokh has a brief summary of the Senate filibuster of Supreme Court Justice Abe Fortas when he was tapped to replace Chief Justice Earl Warren. The Fortas filibuster has been cited as the precedent to block Miguel Estrada from the D.C. Court of Appeals. Non-Volokh thinks the comparison is a poor one: It seems to me there are important differences between the Fortas nomination fight and that of Estrada. First, the stakes were higher as Fortas was nominated to the Supreme Court. Second, there were specific and credible allegations of impropriety against Fortas. On the other hand, the explicit basis for the Estrada filibuster -- the need for more information about his views -- is disingenuous on its face, as this letter by White House counsel Al Gonzales makes clear. If Senate Democrats wanted more information, they would have posed more questions to Estrada and those that have seen the disputed memoranda from the Solicitor General's office.He also notes that the Fortas filibuster was bipartisan whereas the Estrada filibuster entails one political party specifically blocking a President's nominee for the federal court. Oh well… Constitution Shmonstitution! (I think my spell-checker just imploded with that last one) Saturday, March 01, 2003
The case for torture The capture of Khalid Sheik Mohammed is being hailed as a deadly blow against Al-Qaeda. There's ample evidence that he was central to the 9/11 attacks as well as many other terrorist attacks around the world. And as this Canadian press headline notes: "Seized al Qaida general would know of any looming Canadian and U.S. strikes" Al-Qaida has been reorganizing and plotting further attacks. U.S. authorities hope through interrogation Mohammed will provide the most up-to-date information available about those plots, the al-Qaida operatives involved and point to bin Laden's whereabouts.Upon reading that line, my mind shot back to an essay I read at college, which I dutifully found in The Norton Reader. It's called "The Case for Torture" written in 1982 by one Michael Levin. Below are some key paragraphs from the essay (click on the link for the whole thing).
We're musicians, therefore we understand foreign policy Sheryl Crow, Jay-Z, Lucinda Williams, R.E.M., Dave Matthews, Missy Elliott, Emmylou Harris and Busta Rhymes were among 42 music acts that signed their names to an antiwar message published as a full-page advertisement in Wednesday's issue of the New York Times.We know it. Doesn't that just sum up the rhetorical sophistication of the guitar-strummer crowd? By the way...did you know you can burn CDs on your computer? It's true! Say you didn't want to drop $15 for Sheryl Crow's or Dave Matthew's new record. You can borrow it from someone or take it out of the library and make your own copy. Technology is amazing. Of course, I would never do such a thing because it takes money out of the pocket of Michael Stipe. I caught a little bit of Dan Rather on Charlie Rose tonight and, speaking of his Hussein interview, noted that (roughly from memory): "I spoke with one of two men who can prevent this war." Um, Dan, that may have been true a month ago. Now there's only Bush. Joanne Jacobs has some background and links about how all the apocalyptic predictions about the Massachusetts MCAS requirement are nonsense. Estrada update I was starting to worry that the White House, perhaps distracted by more pressing issues of war and the economy, would ignore the nomination of Miguel Estrada and, by default, give way to the cynical machinations of the Senate Democrats. But then Byron York of the National Review reported today that George Bush and his White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales have not yet begun to fight: In perhaps its most forceful effort yet to break the stalemate over the appeals-court nomination of Miguel Estrada, the White House has now invited every member of the Senate who has doubts about Estrada's legal views to submit written questions to Estrada by the close of business Friday. In a letter delivered Thursday to all 100 senators, White House Counsel Alberto Gonzales said Estrada will respond by next Tuesday.This is a brilliant move: the White House is kicking away the rickety rationale for opposing Estrada, that he didn't answer questions. Well, ask away. Then give him a vote. |
