Month: June 2004

On civility.

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Constant Reader hilzoy made a post in comments which I liked so much that I’m putting it up here as a post of its very own. I’ve gussied up the layout a bit, but made no other changes. Moe About civility: I think C. S. Lewis gets it right. The real test is this. Suppose … Read more

Short debate, really.

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Come on, with a title like this – Nader, Dean to Debate if Ralph Should Run – the answer’s bloody obvious, isn’t it? Nader says yes, Dean says no, Nader says yes and sneers, Dean says no and gets a little flushed, Nader screams Yes, Dean shouts No, Nader starts shoving metal spikes through a … Read more

More Veep speculation

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Dan Drezner is commenting on various reactions to the possibility that Senator Kerry will pick Representative Gephardt as his running mate. My advice is of course highly suspect – I’m a Republican, after all, and we’re tricksey and sly, yes, yes, my preciouss – I think that my opinion’s still relevant, and my opinion is … Read more

Too Sensitive for Serious Debate?

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Everyone from David Brooks to Nicholas Kristof is calling for more civility in the national discourse. Depending on your side of the fence, what you consider the source of the widespread incivility may vary:

Brooks:

To a large degree, polarization in America is a cultural consequence of the information age.

Kristof:

Mr. Bush got us into a mess by overdosing on moral clarity and self-righteousness, and embracing conspiracy theories of like-minded zealots.

But seemingly everyone agrees that we could do with a bit more civility. Everyone, some have suggested, except The Nation, who published this image on the back of the July 5, 2004 issue:

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Chirac and Afghanistan

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Yesterday there was much talk across the blogosphere about Chirac and Bush’s public exchange of words regarding Turkey and the EU. But Chirac did something far more damaging than that. He has blocked the deployment of NATO troops to safeguard the elections in Afghanistan. (Rueters cite): France has blocked a U.S. bid to deploy NATO’s … Read more

Folks, a touch of perspective, here.

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I’m aware that Senator Hillary Clinton has been a special irritant for many of my side since her days of being First Lady / unelected co-President; I’m also aware that a case could be made that she deserves any little negative kharma that comes her way. Heck, I don’t even personally like the woman, based on what I’ve seen of her. But she was talking to a bunch of San Francisco Democrats about (in her opinion) necessary tax increases*; how did you expect her to frame the concept? In terms that the Cato Institute would have approved of?

So, no, I don’t think that she’s a Marxist or even a Socialist, just a Democratic politician (and, contrary to popular perception, the three concepts aren’t interchangeable) who was trying to explain a policy position of hers to a bunch of folks rather to the Left of her. The quote was pretty clear that she was telling her audience that they themselves were going to have to sacrifice for the common good – yes, yes, Ms. Rand, your loud and reflexive loathing of the very idea is noted for the record – and I’ve watched enough quotes from my side get mangled and/or taken out of context to be comfortable with assuming that a specific argument was meant to have universal significance. My personal opinions of the Senator from NY aside.

Mind you, if she starts talking like this in general, well, I’ll be less inclined to give her the benefit of the doubt…

(Via Tacitus: nothing personal, Bird Dog)

Moe

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She’s going.

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I’m sorry for this. I can’t help it. I’m still watching her go. My grandmother. (You’ll need to read the link to understand.) Ninety-one. Strong. Brilliant. Dying. She doesn’t sound the same. She isn’t there anymore. My father says that he and his brothers just want to get her to her cabin in Maine one … Read more

Why I’m pro-life.

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Safe, yes. Rare — and legislated to make it so. Legal? Only where one evil is overwhelmed by another. Via Pejman. (Tacitus has a post up as well, and notes “I already thought the unborn fully human in any case.” Note to same: Humanity is not defined by biology alone.) P.s. I know this post … Read more

I love the end of the month…

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…in that special ‘Not’ way. Regular deadlines at work, you understand. So, time for a random link or two; well, this looks promising enough. Finnish Police Confiscate Forged Dali Artworks HELSINKI (Reuters) – Police raided a Salvador Dali centenary exhibition in Helsinki, confiscated a number of suspected forgeries and ended the show two days early, … Read more

Frickin’ French Idjit

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Via Sullivan ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ OK, so I’m stopping short of endorsing Freedom Fries, but Chirac (like many other world leaders I can think of) could use a good swift kick in the pants (you choose from which side). And, get me a chair, I actually agree with Bush: In remarks prepared for delivery at a Istanbul … Read more

Don’t ask, don’t tell.

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By popular (if Canadian) demand, here’s an open thread to discuss last night’s Canadian elections. Or perhaps Canalections. Or maybe Electians. Who really knows? It’s really cold up there, and some of ’em speak French. Like all good citizens of the United States, I make it my practice to know absolutely nothing about Canadian politics … Read more

It looks like I was wrong…

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…and in this particular case I won’t mind a bit: Three Turkish hostages ‘released’ THE extremist group responsible for beheading two foreign hostages was releasing three Turkish captives “for the sake of their Muslim brothers”, Al-Jazeera television said today. The Arab satellite station broadcast a videotape showing the three hostages kneeling in front of three … Read more

Godwin’s law in Action.

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What to say about the Bush campaign’s latest ad, “Kerry’s Coalition of the Wild-eyed“? Silly? Sure. Least-effective campaign ad ever? Probably. So bad that it’s destined to be screened at midnight on college campuses around the world? Very likely. The first shot in the ad is a statement that Kerry disagrees with every statement that … Read more

Fahrenheit 911

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I’ve normally found Michael Moore too bombastic and reckless. His in-your-face style of filmmaking embarrasses me normally, and his speech at the Academy Awards struck me as in poor taste.

After I saw the film last night, though, I attended a moveon.org house party where Michael Moore spoke to thousands of Americans via a national conference call. He was polite and actually quite patriotic. He had helpful advice about getting the disenfranchised back into the political system, and his response to anecdotes of reactions to his film seemed gracious and genuininely grateful.

I had gone into the film expecting to see all kinds of outrageous juxtapositions and innuendoes (and surely it’s not a respectful portrait of the president), but I came out thinking there’s nothing in there that’s any less flimsy than the constant “technically true” propaganda we get daily from the White House, so he’s essentially just fighting fire with fire.

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European Approach to Nuclear Proliferation

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Via Pejmanesque I find this article on the Iranian nuclear program: NINE MONTHS AGO, as a confrontation loomed between Iran and the United Nations over Iran’s illicit nuclear programs, three European governments staged a preemptive operation. Flying to Tehran, the foreign ministers of Britain, France and Germany struck a deal with Iran’s Islamic regime: The … Read more

Not so Fast There, Mr. President

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Stop the Music, stop the music. Turn down that spotlight a bit, would ya? I’m willing to give the Bush team credit for a very clever early transfer of “sovereignty” as a means to deflate any plans the insurgency may have had for June 30, but I’m not about to let this stand without comment: … Read more

Don’t do this, please.

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At least not here. From Sullivan: A BLOGOSPHERE CHALLENGE: It’s been extremely difficult to get a full transcript of the Michael Moore movie. So here’s a thought: why doesn’t some enterprising blogger take a tape recorder to a screening, transcribe the narrative, and post it? Then it’s a fiskathon. On your marks, get set … … Read more

Sovereignty: Hyperreal at hyperspeed

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So much sooner than one would have expected, a potentially very real test of Iraq’s “soveriegnty” comes from a lawyer hired by Saddam’s wife. Ziad al-Khasawneh, one of 20 Jordanian and foreign lawyers appointed by Saddam’s wife, Sajidah, said the United States has no legal basis to keep prisoners, including Saddam, now that it has … Read more

Going Medieval.

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The very core of liberty secured by our Anglo-Saxon system of separated powers has been freedom from indefinite imprisonment at the will of the Executive. (From Scalia’s dissent in Hamdi v. Rumsfeld; Scalia dissented because he would go further than the plurality in the Hamdi case, which found the detention justified but, contra the Bush … Read more

Martial Law: Good for Iraq! Good for the US? …and a few thoughts on SCOTUS

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Will the newly re-“sovereign”-ized Iraq need to impose martial law? Mere hours after the surprisingly early handover, whispers are already circulating that a severe Iraq-implemented clampdown (which would certainly have caused outrage had the US tried it) is Plan A to deal with the insurgency. Who’s going to be watching to ensure any clampdown stays this side of Husseinesque is a good question, but I can see the wisdom of letting the Iraqi’s themselves call this shot.

Having said that, there is this bit of confusion to clear up (from a few days ago):

The US-led occupation authority in Baghdad has warned Iraq’s interim government not to carry out its threat of declaring martial law, insisting that only the US-led coalition has the right to adopt emergency powers after the June 30 handover of sovereignty. [emphasis mine: Sounds like a funny kind of full sovereignty to me, but….]

Senior American officials say Iraq’s authorities are bound by human rights clauses in the interim constitution, known as the Transitional Administrative Law, prohibiting administrative detention.

But they say the recent United Nations Security Council resolution 1546 sanctions the use by foreign forces in Iraq of “all necessary measures” to provide security.

A senior coalition official in Baghdad said: “Under the UN resolution, the multinational force will have the power to take all actions traditionally associated with martial law.” He said they had raised their legal objections with Iyad Allawi, Iraq’s prime minister.

Mr Allawi on Tuesday appeared to back away from remarks made on Sunday that the government would assume emergency powers after the handover.

“No, I didn’t specifically say martial law meaning martial law,” he said, adding that the government was developing a “public safety law” which would allow it to implement curfews, searches, and “apprehend the enemies of Iraq”.

Well, so long as he didn’t mean “martial law meaning martial law.” Besides, he really should leave that kind of legally nebulous acrobatic nonsense to the professionals; like George Bush’s 9 closest friends.

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Here we go.

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In a surprise move, sovereignty has been formally transferred to the Iraqi government two days early: BAGHDAD, Iraq – The U.S.-led coalition transferred sovereignty to an interim Iraqi government Monday, speeding the move by two days in an apparent bid to surprise insurgents and prevent them from trying to sabotage the step toward self rule. … Read more

Understatement of the Week…

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…and it’s only Monday: Texans wary as polygamous sect moves in

The population of this drowsy West Texas town hasn’t done much but dwindle in recent years, so its residents grew pretty curious in March when a pilot shot some aerial photos showing construction of several huge dormitory-style buildings on a sprawling ranch just outside town.

The curiosity soon changed to concern when anti-polygamy activists from Utah showed up for a news conference to reveal the identity of the group that had bought the 1,600-acre ranch: the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or FLDS, a secretive Mormon sect that practices polygamy and marriages involving underage teenage girls.

Now, with construction on the buildings nearly complete and the first of an expected 200 church members about to take up residence, the 1,951 residents of Eldorado are trying to make their peace with new neighbors many regard as followers of a strange cult.

I’m given to understand that the polyamory folks* aren’t too thrilled with the FLDS, either – hey, these massive understatements are pretty easy, once you get into the swing of things**! – indeed, the FLDS is pretty much defined by their enemies, huh? Polyamorists, mainstream LDS, anti-polygamists, battered women’s networks, cult awareness groups, mainstream liberals, mainstream conservatives… the list goes on, and, with all due respect to the First Amendment, quite deservedly. I mean, I’m sure that the cult’s a fascinating sociological study and everything, but it’s a little hard to get past the entire “indoctrinate 15 year olds until they’re ready to be the fourth wife of some guy in his fifties” thing without getting squicked out, not to mention the controls put on the rest of the members.

I wonder how long that the FLDS will last at that ranch before they get evicted. Or the leadership gets indicted.

Moe

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Short List.

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Somewhere out there in the blogosphere is a post indicating that Gov. Schwartzenegger, Sen McCain and former Mayor Guiliani are slated to speak at the Republican National Convention. All three are fairly obvious choices and on my own short list of people who should be given screen time*; I’m curious about who’s on everybody else’s … Read more

Tsk, tsk.

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I have to agree with Steven Taylor: this Alliance of Digital Brownshirts thing is kinda creepy. Yes, I understand that former VP Gore’s* gone off into Barking Moonbat territory again with this ‘digital brownshirts’ thing; Hell’s bells, if you look at it the right way the man was accusing people like me (although it’s entirely possible that Jonah Goldberg’s assumption that Gore was talking about “a bunch of GOP flacks who email rebuttals to journalists” is correct).

Still. Not really funny, this. Adopting the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy tagline was one thing; it was a nicely vague descriptor, we could be all in your face about it and it’s kind of interestingly ironic these days, given the current policy positions of the junior Senator from New York. But I don’t like the vibe of this one. Too much specific anger, hate and fear towards my side of the spectrum came along with it, and I can go for entire years without feeling the need of having people trying to lay negative karma on me, thanks.

Just saying, that’s all.

Moe

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Green Party Nominates David Cobb for President

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No, that’s not my home-remedy headline for you late-night blogging insomniacs. But, admittedly, even the mainstream media only reported this news within the context of the Green Party’s rejection of Nader. Greens reject Nader endorsement, back Cobb Unlike 99.9% of Americans, I’ve not only heard of David Cobb, I’ve met him and stood two feet … Read more

al-Qaeda poised to commit another act of necromancy.

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Because it’s long since time that we started calling things like this by their true names, don’t you think? As always, my sympathies to the victims and their families: I wish that I could say that they will be released, unharmed, but of course that would be almost certainly a lie.

By now it should be clear to even the most foolish observer that kidnapping hostages and threatening to murder them if the terrorists’ demands are not met is not going to accomplish said terrorists’ goals. It didn’t work with us, it didn’t work with the Italians, it didn’t work with the South Koreans and it won’t work with the Turks. We are continuing to do what we deem necessary and appropriate, in a manner and timing as close to our own choosing as is humanly possible, and the multiple visions of groups of masked Islamist terrorists oh-so-courageously striking down one single helpless captive with knives is somehow failing to impress us with either their bravery or the inevitability of their victory. Indeed, they are doing their best to highlight the moral gulf between their cause and ours, to their detriment; I appreciate this, although I somehow doubt that they intended to do that for us.

They are also obviously not acting in the tenets of mainstream Islam, as even a cursory understanding of that religion would show. Yes, I am aware of the flaws in that faith; you will note that I am not an adherent myself, which should be diagnostic of my opinion of it. But it is not even remotely an pernicious belief system, it does not celebrate ritual murder and it does not permit the wanton acts of cruelty and evil that al-Qaeda routinely plans and carries out. I believe that my God and the Allah of Islam are One*; I find no such commonality between my Deity and al-Qaeda’s.

So, not geopolitics, not true religious belief… we’re left with maltheism and necromancy. I don’t know whether they think that they’re entered on this course of human sacrifice in order to appease or entice their god; either way it will avail them not. We’re still going to win.

And I think that the terrorists know it, too. Why else take the time-honored tactic of mountebanks everywhere and ‘call for’ protests that they knew full well would occur anyway, if not to give themselves wiggle room for when their sacrifices do not produce the desired effects?

(Via OTB)

Moe

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I’m back…

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…at 12:50 PM this afternoon, just after we found out that the one remaining RPG session left that a) we were interested in and b) wasn’t sold out was a game that required us to be at a prior session in order for us to play (a piddling little detail that should have been on the description), I slump down and start to massage my aching feet. My girlfriend looks at me, I look at her, she pulls out her cell phone and cancels the last night of our stay and we head for our hotel. One fifteen minute walk later (normally five, but there was a gay pride parade going on in Columbus that was paralleling our route*), we’re going through our hotel room like a NSA sanitation squad covering up that unfortunate complication for the Senator; by 2 PM we’re on the road, having discovered the way out of Columbus, City of the Shifting Streets, with only a minimum of SAN loss. Eight hours and three states later, we have arrived and I can begin to decompress from my blipping vacation.

Loopy? Disjointed? Rambling? Who, moi?

Anyway, I’m sure that the news I’ve read so far will seem far less surreal tomorrow. Well, no, I’m not, but a man can dream.

Moe

UPDATE: Got some sleep and cleaned up some of the babbling, but the news is still all surreal. Alas, alack.

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Fair notice

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I have decided to support Joe Kernan (D) in Indiana’s gubernatorial race, primarily based upon (1) his reputation as a moderate and (2) Mitch Daniel’s (the Republican candidate) role in drafting a federal budget that included a near-unprecedented mix of spending increases and tax cuts. If this, coupled to my prior declaration that I cannot … Read more

Greetings from Origins.

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…eventually. The directions to get here, and to the hotel, were not all that could have been desired*. Non-Euclidian dimensions belong in Call of Cthulhu, not the map.

There. I feel much better now. See you all Sunday…

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Uhh, Francis, Any Updates in the Works?

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As a firm believer that the best analyses of history come well after the fact and that any attempts to describe “history” within the context of the future is best left to Coney Island fortunetellers, I was always slightly annoyed by the arrogance of Francis Fukuyama’s celebrated prognostications in his 1992 auto-back-slapping rant “The End of History and the Last Man.” The fact that Western leaders rushed to praise Francis (essentially for praising them) and then took his book as license to carry on carrying on without concern for how the subtlties can come back to bite one in the ass was also annoying. Nothing’s ever that simple.

Oh, he left himself some wiggle room with predictions of minor fluctuations, but here, 12 years later, he might do well to revise a chapter or two given that:

A widely noted United Nations survey of 19,000 Latin Americans in 18 countries in April produced a startling result: a majority would choose a dictator over an elected leader if that provided economic benefits.

[…]

The United Nations report, also drawn from interviews with current and former presidents, political analysts and cultural and economic figures, showed that 56 percent of those asked said economic progress was more important than democracy.

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Bainbridge gets there . . . .

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. . . . And makes the same point that I made yesterday: Bush may be in better shape than conventional wisdom allows. Everyone assumes that the next election will be about security, Iraq, and the WoT — but what if it’s not? What if it follows the trend of the last few years, and … Read more

On language

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Gotta agree with Professor Volokh on this one: What’s with those Jewish people? Why do some people think that it’s more polite to say “Jewish people” than “Jews”? I’ve heard some people say that “Jews” is somehow considered rude, and “Jewish people” is better, but I just don’t see why. Does anyone know the story … Read more