"This was the voice of moderation until 13 Sept, 2025"
I mean, really, really insane. We’re talking transcendently insane: Bush/Clinton in 2004 (Clinton being, of course, Hillary). Isn’t that lunatic? I got the idea from a poster from this dKos thread about that popularity poll. dKos is especially amusing today, by the way: the post after that one is sort of about how Dean doesn’t … Read more
Gary Farber of Amygdala is apparently in a bit of a hole financially and could use some help. He’s an all right guy (when he isn’t correcting our grammar) and it is the Christmas season… your call to make; I didn’t begrudge him a twenty. Moe
Just in from Fox News : BAGHDAD, Iraq — At least five people were killed in a large explosion that ripped through a restaurant in central Baghdad Wednesday and there were reports that Iraqi police said it may have been caused by a homicide bomber. This is not an occasion to try to score political … Read more
It’s interesting: we’ve had this blog up and running for just over a month, and already we’ve jumped into at least three contests. There was Wizbang’s 2003 Weblog Awards (it was a shame that our site was still jumping up and down the Ecosystem at the time, because I felt too weird about voting for … Read more
While flipping through the site of a certain new smart-aleck visitor I came across this gem that I had read about earlier: Castro Photo Gets a Hitler Makeover. I respect the cojones of whoever did this*, and humbly suggest that they stand not on the order of their coming but go at once. I’d further … Read more
I’d just like to note for the record that we’re currently #2 for Google searches using naked women as the search string. #1 is a Salon article about Mr. Spock’s nudes. (pause) The Internet is weird, man. UPDATE: My smarter half has pointed out that we’re #12, not #2. Oh, well, something to aim for.
Thanks to regular Tacitus poster Timmy the Wonder Dog I was alerted to this piece of Lileksian amusement. Amusing stuff… and, in the spirit of the holiday, we’re going to designate this as… THE NEW YEAR’S POLITICAL RESOLUTION THREAD!!!!! Right. Anyway, the rules are simple: 1) Come up with a political resolution that applies to … Read more
Ashcroft has opted out of the Plame game, recusing himself in favor of Peter Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald is the U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois. Although there were a few ruffled feathers when Fitzgerald was appointed — he’s not a native son of Chicago, but rather a carpetbagger from New York (so to speak) — all accounts are that he’s nonpartisan, sharp, and relentless.*
This is an excellent decision by Ashcroft. But why now?
From the Washington Post, troubling news about our attempts to rebuild Iraq’s police force.
As the U.S.-led governing authority in Iraq attempts to build a security force of 220,000 in the next few months, the competing priorities of speed and thoroughness have prompted shortcuts in the recruiting and training process. The consequences are starting to become apparent. . . . more than 200 Iraqi policemen in Baghdad have been dismissed and dozens of others have had their pay slashed for crimes ranging from pawning government equipment to extortion and kidnapping. . . . . In addition, roughly 2,500 people on the payroll of the Facilities Protection Service, which guards government buildings, either do not exist or have not been showing up to work . . . . [A] number of Border Patrol officers have been disciplined for accepting bribes in exchange for allowing people without proper identification to enter Iraq.
The importance of building a capable Iraqi police force cannot be overstated. Iraq needs substantial foreign investment to rebuild its infrastructure, institutions, and public services. The principle barrier to that investment is security.*
Many (including I) have chanted the mantra of “more troops, more money, more international involvement” as a solution to Iraq’s security issues. Our chanting has gone unheeded. The US lacks the will to commit the troops necessary to do the job, and the period during which a massive show of US force might have been effective has slipped us by. The time for chanting is past. The Iraqis must pick up the slack.
Indeed, the US military could have provided, at most, only tempory relief. And resort to the rebuilt Iraqi army — tempting though it may be — is also no substitute. It is the role of the Iraqi police to protect Iraqis. Having the police actually police is what is meant by “the rule of law.”
“[W]hen have you ever seen the police lead a coup?” Casteel explained. “If you build a strong police force, you have a republic. If you build a strong military, you have a banana republic.”
What are we building in Iraq? What shape do we wish Iraqification to take? And, if anything is an improvement over Saddam, does that make everything acceptable?
It’s time to stop celebrating the capture of Saddam. There’s work to do.
von
…but this Dave Barry year in review thing got funnier the farther in I read. Equal-opportunity skewering galore. (via Peevish, which has also been belatedly blogrolled)
…(also via Norm) is this link to an Observer article on Member of Parliament Ann Clwyd (to be blunt, if you don’t know who she is, then you have absolutely no business discussing the humanitarian arguments re the Iraqi liberation). It would seem that she has a better working relationship with Tony Blair’s government these … Read more
Norm Geras linked to this article, which is worth noting for this paragraph alone: Therefore a cat with chicken tikka masala on its back will be certain to hover in mid air, while there could be problems with buttered toast as the toast may fall off the cat, causing a terrible monorail crash resulting in … Read more
Yeah, I know, half of you probably can’t stand OpinionJournal’s Best of the Web. Alas, I have a considerable fondness for it, and it’s for links like this one: The scam that caused a painful sting in my mailbox.
Oh, dear, that’s not a very good title by Polly Toynbee, is it?
Funny, funny article, though – in that actually, we’re not really laughing with you sense. It seems that our heroine got a letter from a Nigerian schoolgirl asking for money. Seems that said schoolgirl needed 200 pounds to finish school, being an orphan and all, she gave references, which apparently checked out, Toynbee cut a check and – guess what? – yup, the writer’s bank account keeps getting raided for cash.
Big surprise, really. Cold call, no way to really check it out, the girl’s parents were supposedly victims of Ebola, for crying out loud: this is one reason why relief organizations exist (like this one), to make sure that money goes where it should. So, is it Toynbee’s fault?
Naah. Sure, she’s an idiot, but in the end she lays the blame on the good old US of A:
Lawyers. I know: the word alone almost causes you to swoon with joy and thanksgving. Lovers, fighters, poets — there’s no evil that these paragons of truth and virtue cannot conquer, no danger that they will not face, no friend-in-need whose call they will not answer.
Yes, I am one of them. Save your applause, please, until the end — for there are heavy matters that we first must discuss.
Heavy matter numero uno: The speed with which politico-shtick and lawyer shtick are converging. The rush to apply the bare minimal standards of honesty that govern us law-folks to political rhetoric — the “if I say it this way it will just barely be truthful” test. You know what I mean: “no controlling legal authority”; “I never said Iraq had WMDs, I said it had WMD programs“; “I suppose it depends on what the definition of ‘is’ is.”
This one foot over the line, one foot behind is usually just fine. Sure, a partisan or two gets stirred up, but most people can distinguish between spin and lie. But, sometimes, in our eagerness to score rhetorical points, we take that step beyond a step too far . . . .
The U.S. dollar hit an all-time low against the Euro today. This is mildly interesting, because the dollar should be strengthening as the Federal deficit increases: Higher deficits generally lead to increased foreign borrowing/investment,* which in turn leads to an increase in demand for dollars and hence a higher price for the same. Why that … Read more
Well, now I’m back too. And annoyed. Item the first: CRAWFORD, Tex., Dec. 28 — President Bush’s stewardship of the nation’s food supply was attacked Sunday by Democratic presidential candidates who charged that the case of mad cow disease in a Washington state Holstein could have been discovered earlier if the administration had not coddled … Read more
Priorities and Frivolities points out this:
“I am disappointed but hardly surprised by the latest reports that the Bush Administration has withheld information regarding Senator Carper’s bill,” Dean stated. “What we need is openness in government, not secrecy. But this Administration doesn’t even want us to know who the Vice President met with when he was concocting their drill and burn energy plan.”
(Bold mine)
…in response to Pejman’s pointing out of this:
Democratic presidential contender Howard Dean has demanded release of secret deliberations of Vice President Dick Cheney’s energy task force. But as Vermont governor, Dean had an energy task force that met in secret and angered state lawmakers.
Dean’s group held one public hearing and after-the-fact volunteered the names of industry executives and liberal advocates it consulted in private, but the Vermont governor refused to open the task force’s closed-door deliberations.
In 1999, Dean offered the same argument the Bush administration uses today for keeping deliberations of a policy task force secret.
“The governor needs to receive advice from time to time in closed session. As every person in government knows, sometimes you get more open discussion when it’s not public,” Dean was quoted as saying. (Again, bold mine)
Dan Drezner is guest blogging for Andrew Sullivan. I’ll repeat my advice (that he clearly put his name on each post he writes, because otherwise people will just assume that he’s Andrew Sullivan*) and my wishes of good luck here; I look forward to seeing the results on both your site and Andy’s. Moe *Happened … Read more
…is that even a word? At any rate, I’ve noticed that Calpundit more or less owns our referrer logs today, thanks to the link he threw our way in this post. By the way, Kevin, sorry to hear that you aren’t feeling well; hope you feel better. So. What’s the proper response to somebody enabling … Read more
…well, I am, at least: back home, that is. Not as dramatic a return as it could have been – what with my remote blogging from my parents’ house and all – but so it goes. All in all, as Christmas trips to visit presumptive in-laws whose patriarch doesn’t quite believe even after seven years … Read more
…but better late than never. Non-satirical, but (as always) when Scott’s good, he’s good.
Just so you don’t think that I worship the fellow, I’m going to have to say that the second paragraph of this particular post is out of line. The post (which started to be about improving Israeli/Indian relations, then segued into an odd – and to my mind, unsupported – allegation* that the Intifada is a ‘proxy war’ between the EU and the USA) ends with this:
I’ve thought for quite a while that “proxy war” was the appropriate characterization, and indeed I’ve used that term here before. Europeans should worry, though, about what will happen if Israel — or America — decides to return the favor. Providing financial aid to terrorists who target European civilians would be uncivilized — but, then, the Europeans are supposed to be the civilized ones, no?
Glenn Reynolds, I’m sure that you’ve used the phrase ‘proxy war’ before, although I can’t remember offhand the last time you’ve used it. However, those last two sentences are offensive. Europeans should not have to worry about us ‘returning the favor’, both because it’s not going to fragging happen and because the entire idea is not what this country is all about**. And I don’t buy this tit-for-tat bit, either – and I find that I don’t really like the tone of that last line, either. Too close to deniably advocating in the classic Henry II fashion.
Retract, please.
It’s a hell of a way to start up after Christmas, but by now you’ve probably read about this. As of today, there are fears that the death toll could reach 40,000.
OK, three points to address here, one after the other. First, due to existing diplomatic complications, groups like Direct Relief may end up being the primary instruments of American aid. You can donate to them here. Any other groups that you guys hear of, feel free to add in comments and I’ll update where I can. It hardly needs to be said that I was saddened by the destruction and loss of life, and that I offer my hopes and prayers that the initial estimate of the loss of life turns out to be exaggerated.
It gets partisan from here, so you can ignore the rest if you like.
UPDATE: BuzzMachine’s got more links (via Instapundit).
ANOTHER UPDATE: Matt Stinson’s got an interesting suggestion involving UNESCO and the First Lady. Check it out. Pejman links to a site with several other relief groups. Check him out.
Not too long ago, the irrepressible Moe Lane said in these (virtual) pages, “So, if you show up at this site after experiencing a holiday horror story (waving hand grandly) feel free to tell it here.”
It was a good idea. It was a great idea. It was the kind of idea that might lead to peace in the Middle East, goodwill towards men, and the Indianapolis Colts beating the Denver Broncos.
There was one problem, however. We got no comments. None. No one wanted to share their holiday horror stories with us. (And the Broncos beat the Colts, gosh-darnit.)
It took me all night and a fifth of Beefeater gin, but I think I’ve finally figured out why. Moe, gentle soul that he is, admonished our readership “to limit the profanity.” Sorry, that simply will not do. One cannot tell a holiday horror story and “limit the profanity.” Many holiday horror stories consist of nothing but profanity.
So, I’m unilaterally relaxing the posting rules for this thread only.* Consider this your gratuitous profanity holiday open thread. Since I’m an anal-retentive lawyer jerk, however, I’ll ask that you obey the following rules:
(1) Do not limit yourself to past events. Is your mother trying to convert your Jewish boyfriend to Catholicism at this very moment? Post on it. Did your Aunt just refer to your goyish girlfriend as “that shiksa”? We want to know. Has Uncle Bob appeared at another Christmas morning breakfast in his boxer shorts with the fly is wide open? Every detail, friends.
(2) Do not use real names or characteristics that will easily identify your subject. Why? Google. You don’t want your remarks to come back and haunt you (or us) as a result of some ill-advised, post-holiday egoGoogling. Now is also not the time to discover that extra-randy poster “DrEXXXtasy” is your father or that super-bitch “Lorax84” is great aunt Thelma. So a little self-restraint is needed. Remember: we cannot (and will not) monitor the comments section in real-time.
(3) Use of the “curse” words “biotch,” “effing,” and “shite” is forbidden. Really, people: curse like adults.
(4) No ad hom against other posters. We’re all in this together, folks. (This rule does not apply to ad homs against unrepresented friends, family members, and loved ones, of course.)
And away we go . . . . .
As Moe suspected, I’ve been too busy with Hanukkah celebration/Christmas preparation to post. I have limited computer access, especially if I don’t want to reveal my secret identity to my extended family. Also, I’ve paid almost no attention to politics for the past few days so I don’t have all that much to write about. … Read more
…which sounds kind of weird, but there you go. I’ll be running around a lot tomorrow and I’m about to go to sleep, so I’ll take the time now to wish everyone a happy holiday of the appropriate type, religious or secular; I’ll post in from time to time, but you know how it is. … Read more
… so I will. It’s from the Blogging of the President: 21st Century Participatory Democracy: A Perspective. In deference to her, I merely link to it without comment, analysis or uncontrollable fits of laughter. But do go out and vote next year, and every year. Vote for all the boring stuff, including municipal elections that … Read more
Where Mike of Cold Fury got these transcripts, we’ll never know… but don’t let the rough language and unfair accusations made against our good, dear friends Germany, France and Khofi Annan distract you from the point. Said point will no doubt be transmogrified* in a fit of heavy-handed sarcasm by somebody, but, hey, it’s almost … Read more
Thanks (big thanks) to two Matts (Stinson and Yglesias) I was finally able to read this TNR article about Dean and religion. You should, too. It seems to be the CW that Dean’s religious impulses are, shall we say, somewhat less overt than, well, just about everybody else running for President these days. Now, here’s … Read more
General Hugh Shelton was asked whether he would back General Wesley Clark for president, and he responded as follows: I will tell you the reason he came out of Europe early had to do with integrity and character issues, things that are very near and dear to my heart. I’m not going to say whether … Read more
At least the days get longer from here on out. I’m tapped out here, people.
Folks, I’m aware that most of you probably think that they’re schmucks, too – but trust me on this one, you don’t want to be standing next to a PETA activist when he or she hands out this to some kid. Unless you happen to enjoy the sight of an enraged soccer mom beating a … Read more
I was pretty sure I had cobloggers: guess that they’re in the middle of prepping for Christmas, or something. (pause) Slow day today, huh? There was that earthquake in California, but other than that it was a pretty quiet Monday. I like quiet days, tell you the truth: they seem rarer than they used to … Read more
Because of Amygdala*, I now have to deal with the internal vision of the Head Heeb and his Monopoly fanfic. Well, if we’re going to play, Gary, then all I have to say in response is: Stratego Slashfic. “She was the bomb. No, I meant it.” UPDATE: Moe Lane can’t spell, and one of his … Read more
Nader wants to know how you feel about him running again. He even gives a text box for your comments. Why not explain your views to him? (Via Instapundit: see, he isn’t always so bad.)