Month: January 2005

Gonna be a Busy Day at RatherBiased

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CBS Fires 4 Executives for National Guard Report Four CBS News employees, including three executives, have been ousted for their role in preparing and reporting a disputed story about President Bush’s National Guard service. The action was prompted by the report of an independent panel that concluded that CBS News failed to follow basic journalistic … Read more

Oops.

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From the New York Times:

“On the afternoon of Dec. 31, 2003, Khaled el-Masri was traveling on a tourist bus headed for the Macedonian capital, Skopje, where he was hoping to escape the “holiday pressures” of home life during a weeklong vacation.

When the bus reached the Serbia-Macedonia border, Mr. Masri said, he was asked the usual questions: Where are you going? How long will you be staying? Mr. Masri, a German citizen, did not think much of it, until he realized that the border guards had confiscated his passport.

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Social Programs

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Jane Galt mentions a statistic which generates some snark from Crooked Timber and a discussion about poverty levels, knowledge and access to food.  Rather than jump in completely I want to try to take the wonky mediation approach.  I presume that we can agree that poverty is undesirable.  I further presume that it is true … Read more

My Take on Talk Radio: Part II

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As noted in Part I of this series, long hours of driving around listening to talk radio has–if I say so myself–made me a connoisseur of this medium (or, for the French-averse, aficionado). For purposes of s***s and giggles, I developed a Ten List of talk radio programs, ranking them from worst to first. My criteria for judgment is the total package: content, presentation and entertainment value. Talk shows compete with the other stations on the dial, both against music and other talk formats. If the program doesn’t get your attention or if the presentation puts you to sleep (not a good thing for commuters), then content quality of the show is wasted.

The worst talk show fellas were covered in Part I, and this one will hit the Middle of the Pack. Another thing. If I haven’t listened to it, I can’t comment on it. I literally heard Air America for the first time just a few days ago. Al Franken was on and he was grousing about the Democratic Party not being liberal enough, and lobbying for Howard Dean as DNC chair. The next day Janeane Garofolo, in the absurdly named "Majority Report", was trying to rally the progressive troops in calling the Ohio presidential results illegitimate. While I’m sorely tempted to rank Fringe Radio No. 11, fifteen minutes of painfully listening to these harangues is not enough time to pass judgment. Other guys I haven’t listened to much or at all are Neal Boortz, Glenn Beck, Oliver North, Mike Gallagher, Gordon Liddy, etc. So, without any more ado, drumroll please…

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“The Salvador Option”

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From Newsweek, via kos: “Jan. 8 – What to do about the deepening quagmire of Iraq? The Pentagon’s latest approach is being called “the Salvador option”—and the fact that it is being discussed at all is a measure of just how worried Donald Rumsfeld really is. “What everyone agrees is that we can’t just go … Read more

A Really, Really Stupid Bill

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From Democracy For Virginia, via Atrios, comes news of the dumbest bill I’ve heard of in quite some time. It would require that “A fetal death report for each fetal death which occurs in the Commonwealth shall be filed, on a form furnished by the State Registrar, with the registrar of the district in which the delivery occurred or the abortion was performed within three days after such delivery or abortion and shall be registered with such registrar if it has been completed and filed in accordance with this section”. Moreover, “When a fetal death occurs without medical attendance, it shall be the woman’s responsibility to report the death to the law-enforcement agency in the jurisdiction of which the delivery occurs within 12 hours after the delivery. A violation of this section shall be punishable as a Class 1 misdemeanor.” And what, you might ask, is the penalty for a Class 1 misdemeanor? “Confinement in jail for not more than 12 months and a fine of not more than $2500, either or both.”

The most obviously bad implication of this bill is that when a woman has a miscarriage, she must stop crying for long enough to call the police and inform them of what the bill refers to as “the death” within twelve hours or face jail time. But it’s actually considerably worse than that.

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A Challenge to the Blogosphere

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Conjuring what spirit of the original den Beste challenge as I can, the challenge issues …. Resolved:  As a matter of U.S. policy, torture should be used by the U.S. and its allies in fighting the war on terror. UPDATE:  Our smarty-pants commentators have pointed out that this formulation gives me too much in light … Read more

Portraits of Another Kind of “Fellow Traveler”

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Mass transportation is one of modern culture’s great equalizers. Buses and subway trains have no 1st class sections, and there are no private lounges for the club members to relax in as they wait on the platform or bus stop. No matter how well dressed you are, no matter how many people report to you, no matter what your income—on the bus or subway, you are simply one more fellow traveler. A homeless person is as entitled to the sole remaining seat as an heiress (and I’ve seen both dive for it—equals in battle). So people let their guard down…poses of pretense or airs just look silly when dozens of people are pushing their way past you. With everyone exposed as just another body, there’s nowhere like the subway or bus to get a truly human snapshot of who we really are at any given point in time.

At least it used to be that way.

Just in time to coincide with the New York Subway system’s 100th Anniversary, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) has proposed a ban on all photography and video recording on subways and buses without authorization. That’s right, those of you who haven’t visited New York yet and were hoping for a snapshot of you and your friends on the legendary A Train had better hurry.

A spokesman for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, Tom Kelly, said the new photography rules were devised after extensive talks with the Police Department, which is responsible for patrolling subways and buses.

"Nobody is looking to violate anybody’s civil rights or deny anybody’s constitutional rights," Mr. Kelly said. "But when you check with law enforcement agencies, they have uncovered photographs of subway and rail systems from various terrorist organizations. And I don’t believe they were going into somebody’s scrapbook."

Meanwhile:

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Consent Makes All The Difference

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Jonah Goldberg in The Corner (is he quoting someone else? Hard to say): “After I was captured, my hands were tied behind my back and I was struck repeatedly in the face with an open hand. After enduring the beating I was thrown on the water board, where under questioning the enemy would drown you … Read more

Gov. of California

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I was hopeful about Schwarzenegger when he was elected mostly because I didn’t think you could do worse than what we already had in California.  He has actually done quite well, but if he pulls off the stuff in this speech I’ll be totally sold.  This isn’t going to make friends, but it is a … Read more

Wiki THIS

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Glenn Reynolds laments that he’s been wiki’ed with a truly bizarre Wikipedia entry on Instapundit.  "WIKIPEDIA, and its trustworthiness, has become a topic of considerable discussion," he writes.  Indeed, it should be — this whole Wiki-thang has been a bit Arthur 2 (i.e., "on the rocks") for a while.  Eugene Volokh and Orin Kerr have … Read more

Talk Radio 2: Reflections Of A Sick And Perverse Fellow Traveller Who Defends Mass Murderers Against Her Country

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Via rilkefan, in comments on another thread, I was led to read Rush Limbaugh’s web site. His two transcripts from yesterday are: first, “Senator Depends, Democrats Defend Mass Murderers and Endanger Security of America” and second, “Let’s Sign A Treaty With Bin Laden”. (Limbaugh, following Andrew McCarthy in NRO, thinks that anyone who thinks that … Read more

The Wierdness Yardstick

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It’s tough sometimes in a world where "coolness" is valued as highly as it is in our culture to know if you’re a bit wierder* than you should be. I mean there’s definitely a spectrum: if you’re still skiing, rather than snowboarding, you might not want to admit it at a class reunion, but it’s … Read more

Jon Stewart: Powerful Television Mogul

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Well, he’s not a mogul but he is powerful.  Less than three months ago, Stewart appeared on CNN’s Crossfire and totally annihilated the show and its hosts.  As I wrote here, Stewart should get an Emmy Award for the category of Best Guest on a Talking Head Show.  There isn’t a real category for this, … Read more

10. Print “WTF?” 20. Goto 10.

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Glenn Reynold has now updated his post on the so-called "torture memo" associated with AG Gonzales multiple times, and I’m at an utter loss.   (Original ObWi discussion here.)  The issue is whether Gonzales should be questioned at today’s hearings regarding a 2002 memorandum that he authored which took a, well, novel position on the law … Read more

Food And Drug Administration

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While I’m talking about changes to cherished institutions, let’s talk about the FDA.  There needs to be some control regarding drug distribution and claims about drugs, but I’m far from convinced that the FDA’s current approach is anything near the optimal approach.  Mark A.R. Kleiman (a liberal I respect but often disagree with) is apparently … Read more

I’m Switching Camps

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At the risk of sounding like a wishy-washy flip-flopper, I have no choice but to change my position.  After the third recount in the Washington State governor’s race, I wrote in several comment sections in several weblogs that Dino Rossi should concede the election to Christine Gregoire, provided that an independent audit be conducted and that the state legislature enact laws that would prevent the re-occurrence of all these voting mishaps.  That position is now untenable, and now I’m firmly on the side of a revote.  Here’s why.

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Tortured Reasoning

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Responding to this post by Andrew Sulliven, Glenn Reynolds offers what I suspect he believes is pragmatic advice on the so-called torture memos associated with AG-nominee Gonzales:

I’ve been against torture since Alan Dershowitz was pushing it back in the fall of 2001. (Okay, actually I was against torture even before Dershowitz was pushing it). But I think the effort to turn this into an anti-Bush political issue is a serious mistake, and the most likely outcome will be, in essence, the ratification of torture (with today’s hype becoming tomorrow’s reality) and a political defeat for the Democrats. And the highly politicized way in which the issue is raised is likely to ensure that there’s no useful discussion of exactly how, in terms of incarceration, etc., we should treat potentially very dangerous people who do not fall readily within the laws of war.

Sure, politicizing the "torture debate" (such as it is) will be a bad idea.  I’m sympathetic to Glenn’s "just wait a-while for the right day" concerns.  I’m been known to espouse such concerns myself, and I’m not in a mood to weaken Bush much before the no-holds-barred debate over Social Security reform.  And better to have the present bad than the future worse, and all that crap. 

But, if we cannot have the torture debate now because it’d be too political, exactly when should we have it?  If your beliefs are as you say they are, when do you plan to stand up for them? 

When will addressing the torture memos cease being an "anti-Bush" activity?  And why, if we think the memos poorly reasoned or morally bankrupt (or both), should we care about the political fallout?  If Glenn — and others who find the Bush administration’s and the ultraLeft’s positions equally untenable — stand up, maybe we’ll actually have the nuanced discussion that we want. 

Indeed, when would be a good time for this debate?  Should its timing really depend on whether it might be cast as anti-Bush?  Bush is hardly a victim or naif in this.  He knew what the memos contain, he knows what they likely contributed to, and he tacitly endorsed it all by promoting Gonzales.   He can hardly be surprised to find the torture memos among the feathering in his nest — resting next to the "buck," which stops with him.   

So, Glenn, should we wait until Gonzales is nominated to the Supreme Court for this particular fight?  Will that make it less "anti-Bush"?  Should we wait until Bush is out of office?  Silence ourselves in a bargain for political gain?  (Weren’t dodgy bargains supposed to end with the election?  Do they now continue, ad infinitum?)  Maybe we should wait for the fifty-year retrospective.  Until Godot drops by?  Maybe then it’ll be "safe" to raise our concerns and not damage Bush.

If your standard is the lowest common denominator, that is where you will find yourself.

(Sullivan has an excellent follow-up post along similar lines here.)

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House Republicans Do / Don’t / Do / Don’t Value Ethics Rules

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In a series of smoke-and-mirror moves designed to, at the very least, leave the public confused, the House Republicans have taken a stand on the House ethics rules: they don’t care for them. This one’s a bit hard to follow for me, so I’ll outline it here before commenting.

Do – Eleven years ago, to dramatize their own higher standards (in comparison with the Democrats who had controlled the House for quite some time and were having some ethics problems themselves), the GOP set a standard for themselves that required House Republican leaders and the heads of the various committees to relinquish their positions if indicted for a crime that could bring a prison term of at least two years. This was a bit of political grandstanding, but it was also a good way to demonstrate their commitment to higher standards.

Don’t – Current Republican House Leader Tom DeLay is facing an investigation in Texas that may lead to an indictment (and if he is indicted, the above rule would require him to relinquish his position). So after the November 2004 elections, as a gift to their leader and as a sign of how pleased they were with themselves, House Republicans voted to do away with that rule. But there was a bit of public outcry about this, mostly by the Democrats, so…

Do – The public outcry threatened to become a distraction from the agressive agenda the GOP hopes to accomplish, so yesterday they announced that they were reversing course and changing back to the original rule, apparently leaving DeLay vunerable should he be indicted in the Texas investigation. In fact, they did this with a bit of self-congratulatory fanfare, with Representative Zach Wamp (R- Tenn), saying "I feel like we have just taken a shower."

Don’t – Today we learn that a clever little bait-and-switch has occurred:

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Social Security

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There has been quite a bit of wrangling lately about whether or not there is a Social Security crisis and if there is, exactly when it becomes a crisis.  Instead of wading in to that again, I’m going to talk about how Social Security has changed, and how it could change again.  (If you are … Read more

On Justice and Other things

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A few days ago, Reihan of The American Scene commented on the sometime injustice of the U.S. justice system:

What angers me, and I realize that I haven’t been very coherent, is that a middle-class person can mess up again and again, falling through safety net after safety net, and still thrive, given time and a bit of gumption and stick-to-it-iveness. If you’re not middle class, and you’re not from a stable, intact, literate, ambitious family, you will have a very, very hard time. Your likelihood of death is vastly higher, as is the likelihood that you’ll live at the mercy of a criminal justice system you scarcely understand. (That I, in my infinite idiocy, scarcely understand.)

Jonah Goldberg responded, "I can certainly understand where Reihan is coming from. But I just can’t quite get where he’s going with this. Is it a shock that the Middle Class have more resources than the lower class? Is it news? Is it unique to the issue of drug addiction? The answer is no on all fronts."  (Reihan responds to Goldberg here.)

There’s not really a dispute here; rather, a debate over a dressed-up cliche. (Shorter Goldberg:  Life ain’t fair.)  Still, it can be a bit shocking when the essential unfairness of life suddenly presents itself, unhidden and without euphemism, in your full view.  Knowing that life ain’t fair in some esoteric sense isn’t the same as seeing that life ain’t fair in the human being before you.

Now, I don’t have much experience with the criminal justice system as an attorney (or a citizen, I hasten to add).  A stint as a law student working at 26th and California in Chicago for Judge, now Justice, Fitzgerald; a little pro bono time donated to the Federal Defender program while an associate at my old firm.  But I suspect that I have more experience than either Reihen or Goldberg in this area.  So let me tell you a story. 

This is a story about the day I met the Smooth Criminal. 

(The story of the possibly insane but clearly innocent alleged arsonist and the ATF agent who decided that Javert was, in fact, the hero of Les Miserables will have to wait for another day.)

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Retired Military Officers Express “Deep Concern” About Gonzales Nomination

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From the Washington Post:

“A dozen high-ranking retired military officers took the unusual step yesterday of signing a letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee expressing “deep concern” over the nomination of White House counsel Alberto R. Gonzales as attorney general, marking a rare military foray into the debate over a civilian post.

The group includes retired Army Gen. John M. Shalikashvili, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The officers are one of several groups to separately urge the Senate to sharply question Gonzales during a confirmation hearing Thursday about his role in shaping legal policies on torture and interrogation methods.”

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My Take on Talk Radio: Part I

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I have a job that puts me in the car several times a week. The radio is usually on and it’s frequently tuned in to talk radio. How did I get started? Back in the late 1980s, after several hours out in the field and getting bored with music stations, I switched over to the AM band and heard Rush Limbaugh for the first time. Quite frankly, I was hooked because outside the Wall Street Journal and a few low-circulation magazines, there was no real outlet that represented and articulated my conservative views. The alternative was to fume at the obvious bias of CNN and network news coverage. Judging by the growth of Rush’s listenership and the number of subsequent offshoots, I wasn’t the only one was frustrated with TV news.  So began my journey as a talk radio listener.

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Freaky Phobia Monday: Open Thread

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OK, in an effort to lighten the mood around here, I’m posting an open thread on nonpolitical phobias. What do you irrationally fear? I know I should not admit this in a public forum, but I have a near paralyzing fear of whales. There. I’ve admitted it. Whales scare the bejesus out of me.

I think I always knew this, but never having encountered a whale, it didn’t become clear until I watched the Japanese film Dr. Akagi. There’s a scene where a man and woman row out into the sea in a tiny row boat and there’s this amazing aerial shot of a massive whale swimming right below them, dwarfing them. I nearly had a seizure, and even now, just visualizing it makes me shiver.

My friends find this highly amusing. After all, whales get really good press overall. There’s "Free Willy" and "Save the Whales" and Shamu…but I’m telling you, it’s just not right. Nothing should be that much larger than I am.

There’s a scene in 20000 Leagues Beneath the Sea where Captain Nemo opens the portal covering in his submarine and you can look out into the deep abyss. As a kid watching that film, I nearly freaked out during that scene. I used to think it was the wide open space I was afraid of, but now I believe it was simply a sense that "that’s enough room for a whale to come along in."

This will prevent me from ever taking up scuba diving seriously. Even now when snorkeling, as I love to do, if the distance between the ocean floor and the top of the water becomes, er…well, whale size, I have to turn back. I just know that if I stay, merrily enjoying the adorable (i.e., smaller than me) marine life around me, I’ll bump into this wall that I swore wasn’t there a moment ago, and just as I being to explore the barnacles and bumps on its surface, the really large one will open to reveal a giant eyeball as big as my whole head and I will die right there, on the spot. I can’t explain it.

Feel free to scoff…but only if you offer your own phobias first.

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Credit Where It’s Due

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Now this is the sort of gesture that makes me proud to be an American: President Bush has tapped former Presidents Clinton and Bush to lead a nationwide charitable fund-raising effort for victims of the Asian tsunamis, the White House announced Monday. The two men will lead an effort "to encourage the American people and … Read more

Bob Matsui Dead at 63

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We all take what we want from a man’s or woman’s passing.  Some cherish the old agreements (thank you for your brave stand for NAFTA); others respectfully note the disagreements (but I could’ve done without the pre-emptive opposition to Social Security reform).  Still others take the simplier route — that the person was a good … Read more

Posting Rules Reprise

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I haven’t talked to my co-bloggers about this, but I’m taking this opportunity to repost the posting rules.  If I say something out of line, I’m sure they will set me straight.  In other words, to quote the Vigilantes of Love, "I could be wrong, I could be wrong, but I really don’t think so." 

We have had about four examples of threads which have degenerated into hellish examples of ugliness while us regular posters have been on vacation. 

Quit it.

I will be the very first to admit that I have, on occasion, responded inappropriately to people.  I’m not as good at setting the tone as Moe was.  But people… please try to respond to ideas.  Please try to explain ideas.  Please try to come up with ideas.  Please try to think things through.  Please respond to people who disagree with you without becoming monsters.  I think we have an excellent site here, and it is one of the few places where people have been able to come from different sides to talk about lots of different things.  The blogosphere doesn’t need dKos III, FreeRepublic IV, LGF V, or heaven help us WashingtonMonthly II. 

So I’m reposting the posting rules.  But as we know from the discussion of law around here, the letter of the law doesn’t always cut it.  Fortunately we are all adults here, (or if you aren’t we are going to give you the courtesy of treating you as one) so think about the spirit of the rules–pointed discusssion without vilification.  So without further discussion, the posting rules…

Be reasonably civil.

No profanity. For the record, ‘hell’, ‘damn’ and ‘pissed’ are not considered ‘profanity’ for the purposes of this rule; also for the record, the more offensive racial slurs and epithets will be deemed to ‘profanity’ for the purposes of this rule

Don’t disrupt or destroy meaningful conversation for its own sake.

Do not consistently abuse or vilify other posters for its own sake.

Like Tac, we don’t ban for ideological reasons (unless you’re a Nazi or something equally vile) and/or simple disagreements (never mind that it’s not the easiest thing in the world to find someone who can manage to disagree with Katherine, von and me on the same topic). We’re all adults here, so I’m sure that this should be sufficient – with one caveat: there are a couple of notable trolls out there who will be banned the moment that they show up. As of 1:18 PM EST, Sunday, November 30, 2003, they haven’t, so if you’ve made a post here before then I’m not talking about you.

Lastly, just a reminder that Left and Right have very broad definitions and that people are going to take it personally if you inform them that of course all Xs eat babies, should they themselves be Xs (or Ys trying to keep things cool).

UPDATE (05/19/2004): As you may have noticed, we delete and ban spambots on sight. This is because comments sections are for original and/or interesting thoughts, not mass postings. Therefore, please note that if I come across a overly-long comment that is obviously a cut n’paste job, out it goes, no apologies, no regrets. Small cut n’pastes are fine; entire articles are not: when in doubt, it’s too long. Mind, if you have seen or made a comment elsewhere that would be perfect for a particular thread, you are more than welcome to link to it; just don’t give us the entire thing. We don’t have unlimited storage space.

ANOTHER UPDATE (10/24/2004): Calls for the assassination of any politician will be subject to immediate banning. An exception is made for legitimate military targets in time of war; due to the unique nature of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, members of the Palestinian Authority are to be considered ‘politicians’ for the purpose of this rule.

The above should be explicitly not read as being a prohibition on (but is not limited to) criticism, vituperation, espousal of conspiracy theories, disagreement, speculation on personal habits and/or motivations, expressions of contempt, unfavorable extrapolations of past behavior in order to guess future behavior, mild cursing or any other traditional method of expressing disapproval with a politician’s policy positions or personality, provided of course that such behavior does not violate another of the Posting Rules.

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Regarding Saudi Arabia

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I think it is quite clear that Saudi Arabia is a big part of the problem in the spread of the dangerous side of fundamentalist Islam.  I submit that there are two major problems in dealing with them, one economic and the other cultural.  First, they have a lot of oil which we want them … Read more

Getting Gonzales Ready for His Close-up

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Late Thursday night, with no public announcement, the Justice Department updated its defintion of "torture" on its website. In a memorandum (pdf file) written by Daniel Levin (acting assistant attorney general in charge of the Office of Legal Counsel), the DOJ essentially now takes it all back. Specifically, this new memorandum rejects the earlier assertion … Read more