"This was the voice of moderation until 13 Sept, 2025"
by von ARMANDO’S "SECRET" IDENTITY has been revealed. (H/T Rilkefan.) There will be no link to the "outers" because, well, they’re scumbags and scumbags don’t get a link. Leon Wolf, however, has an excellent entry on the subject at SwordsCrossed. Like John Cole, my first reaction to the news was was: "You have to be … Read more
by von AND THIS may be how the worm turns: from The Mail & Guardian, we hear of a second victory in Iraq (H/T, our own Charles Bird): It was an impressive double whammy for Iraq’s new prime minister: first announcing the death of the country’s most notorious terrorist, then getting approval for his government’s … Read more
by von IT’S LIKELY THAT most have heard by now that "Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the mastermind behind hundreds of bombings, kidnappings and beheadings in Iraq, was killed Wednesday evening by an air strike northwest of Baghdad, U.S. and Iraqi officials said Thursday." This is unabashedly, unambiguously, and uncontrovertibly good news. It’s a huge political victory … Read more
by Charles
Whether a war crime by U.S. Marines happened or not, there are problems in Haditha, just as there were in Fallujah. The failure is, in part, ours. As the Vietnam War and other insurgencies have shown, the clear-and-hold strategy works. Haditha has been cleared at least once (or at least attempted), but it has not been truly held. In the Guardian last August:
by von ANN COULTER, plugging her new book, has something she wants you to know (video): LAUER: Do you believe everything in the book or do you put some things in there just to cater to your base?ANN: No, of course I believe everything.LAUER: On the 9-11 widows, an in particular a group that had … Read more
–by Sebastian Useful data on medical malpractice costs in the court system is notoriously difficult to come by. Much of the time the researchers totally ignore defense costs–which leaves an analysis of ‘payouts’ woefully inadequate because it assumes that a suit which doesn’t lead to a payout doesn’t have a cost to the doctor. Other … Read more
by hilzoy This week, the Senate is taking up not one but two completely idiotic issues. Von has already commented on the first: a constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. I watched some of the debate on this while eating a late lunch, and it was surreal: endless talk about the importance of marriage, which supporters … Read more
by von AND SO we come to the payoff: A transparent two-faced tirade on gay marriage, fooling no-one and annoying everyone. As The Sully says, when you lose LaShawn Barber, the gig is up. (Though it must be noted that Ms. Barber was against the Amendment before being against the Amendment was cool. That canary … Read more
by hilzoy From the Boston Globe: “The board of governors of the American Bar Association voted unanimously yesterday to investigate whether President Bush has exceeded his constitutional authority in reserving the right to ignore more than 750 laws that have been enacted since he took office. Meeting in New Orleans, the board of governors for … Read more
by hilzoy Now I remember why I hate to move. All those boxes. All that cleaning. (The thought that this is the only time I will ever be able to clean behind the bookcases without its being a major production is a spur to effort. A pity it’s true of the entire house at once, … Read more